Pork Bellies

Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless, fatty cut of pork from the belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in American, British, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Polish, Hispanic, Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai cuisine.

Regional dishes

France

In Alsatian cuisine, pork belly is prepared as '' choucroute garnie''.

China

In Chinese cuisine, pork belly () is most often prepared by dicing and slowly braising with skin on, marination, or being cooked in its entirety. Pork belly is used to make red braised pork belly () and Dongpo pork () in China ( sweet and sour pork is made with pork fillet).

In Guangdong, a variant called crispy pork belly () is also popular. The pork is cooked and grilled for a crispy skin. Pork belly is also one of the common meats used in char siu.

Latin American and Caribbean

In Dominican, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Puerto Rican cuisine, pork belly strips are fried and served as part of '' bandeja paisa'' ''surtido'' (''chicharrón'').

In Venezuela, it is known as , not to be confused with (pork skins) (although the ''arepa'' uses fried pork belly instead of skins). Local tradition uses tocineta as one of the fillings of traditional ham bread ('' pan de jamón''), and some use it for the typical ''hallacas''.

Denmark

In traditional Danish cuisine, whole pork belly is prepared as '' flæskesteg'' (literally 'pork roast'), traditionally eaten at Christmas. The dish is called (literally 'rib roast') when prepared from pork belly. It is typically oven roasted with the skin on, seasoned with salt and bay leaves. The skin turns into a crispy rind, which is eaten with the meat. Prepared in individual slices as ''stegt flæsk'', it is the national dish of Denmark.

Germany

In German cuisine, pork belly is used as an ingredient in '' schlachtplatte''.

Italy

In Italian cuisine, pancetta derives from pork belly.

Korea

In Korean cuisine, pork belly with the skin removed is known as '' samgyeop-sal'' (), while pork belly with the skin on is known as (). The literal meaning of is 'three-layered meat' as () means 'three', () means 'layer', and () means 'flesh', referring to what appears to be three layers that are visible in the meat. The word () in means 'five', referring to the five-layered pork belly meat with the skin.

According to a 2006 survey by National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, 85% of South Korean adults stated that they prefer pork belly
2006 ACK Survey;70% of those surveyed recipients ate the meat at least once a week. The high popularity of pork belly makes it one of the most expensive parts of pork.

South Korea imports wholesale pork belly from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain and United States for price stabilisation, as imported pork is much cheaper than domestic. The South Korean government planned to import 70,000 tons of pork belly with no tariff in the second half of 2011.

Pork belly is consumed both at restaurants and home, grilled at Korean barbecue, or used as an ingredient for many Korean dishes, such as '' bossam'' (boiled pork wraps) and '' kimchi-jjigae'' (kimchi stew).

'' Samgyeop-sal-gui'' () or () refers to the '' gui'' (grilled dish) of pork belly. Slices of pork belly meat are usually grilled, not marinated or seasoned. It is often marinated with garlic and accompanied by soju. Usually, diners grill the meat themselves and eat directly from a grill. It is typically served with ''ssamjang'' (wrap sauce) and ''ssam and perilla leaves to wrap it in.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands the is very popular, as the , slowly baked pork belt.

Norway

In Norwegian cuisine, pork belly is eaten by 55% of the population for Christmas dinner as of 2014. The tradition is to cook it slowly in the oven with the skin on and serve it accompanied by potatoes, ''medisterkake'' (pork meatballs similar to ''frikadeller''), sausages, and lingonberry jam, as well as stewed cabbage ('' surkål''), comparable to sauerkraut. The crispiness of the pork rind is considered vital to the pork belly.

Okinawa Prefecture

In Okinawan cuisine, rafute is traditionally eaten for longevity.

Philippines

In Filipino cuisine, pork belly ( Tagalog: ; Philippine Spanish: ) is marinated in a mixture of crushed garlic, vinegar, salt, and pepper before being grilled. It is then served with soy sauce and vinegar () or vinegar with garlic (). This method of preparing pork is called in Filipino and in Cebuano. Being seasoned, deep-fried, and served by being chopped into pieces is called '' lechon kawali''.

Switzerland

In Swiss cuisine, pork belly is used as an ingredient in the '' Berner Platte''.

Thailand

In Thai cuisine, pork belly is called (; lit: 'three-layered pork') refers to rind, fat and meat, often used to make '' Khao mu daeng'' and '' Khao mu krop'', or fried with kale.

United Kingdom

In British cuisine, pork belly is primarily cooked using two methods. For slow roast pork belly, the meat is baked at a moderate temperature for up to three hours to tenderize it, coupled with periods of approximately twenty minutes at a high temperature at the beginning or end of the cooking period to harden off the rind or " crackling". For a barbecued pork belly, the meat is seasoned and slow-cooked in a pan by indirect heat on a covered barbecue, on a bed of mixed vegetables to which (hard) cider is added. Heat is again varied to produce tender meat with hard crackling. Pork belly is also used in the UK to make streaky bacon.

United States

In American cuisine, bacon is most often made from pork bellies. Salt pork is also made from pork bellies, which is commonly used for making soups and stews.

Futures

The pork belly futures contract became an icon of futures and commodities trading. It is frequently used as an example of commodities in general and appears in several depictions of the arena in popular entertainment, such as the 1983 film ''Trading Places''. Inaugurated on August 18, 1961, on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), frozen pork belly futures were developed as a risk management device to meet the needs of meat packers who processed pork and had to contend with volatile hog prices, as well as price risks on processed products held in inventory.

The futures contracts were useful in guiding inventories and establishing forward pricing. The unit of trading was 20 short tons () of frozen, trimmed bellies (bellies typically weigh around ). Pork bellies can be kept in cold storage for an extended period and, generally, the frozen bellies were most actively traded. Spot prices varied depending on the amount of inventory in cold storage, the seasonal demand for bacon, and the origin of the pork. In the past, the former drove the prices of the futures as well.

In more recent years, pork belly futures' prominence declined; eventually, they were among the least-traded contracts on the CME and were delisted for trading on July 18, 2011.

See also

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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pork Belly

Cuts of pork
Commodity markets
World cuisine