Pork Belly Strips
Step 1: Brine for 1 hour min (4hours is optimal)
50g salt
1 Litre water
5 pepper corns
2 sprigs rosemary
Dissolve the salt in the water and add the aromatics (all are optional & its worth trying out a few different flavours - pink peppercorns, sancho pepper, star anise, bay leaves…).
Add the pork belly & make sure they are covered by the solution. Leave in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Remove from the brine, rinse under cold water & pat dry.
Step 2: Sous Vide for 24 hours
For 500g Pork belly:
5 sprigs of thyme/rosemary/sage
Pinch of Sea Salt
5 peppercorns
Sous Vide at 64ºC for 24 hours with the garlic, rosemary, sea salt & peppercorns. This will achieve a soft & tender finish - not at all like pulled pork - but easy to slice.
Let it rest for 10 mins or so before Step 3.
Step 3: Pan fry
Melt butter & oil in your frying pan and make sure it is very hot when you add the pork belly. It will be quite smokey so get your extraction on!
Caramelise the pork by spooning the hot butter over it and brown each side quickly. Give some extra time to the fat on top to render & caramelise it. But make sure not to cook each piece for too long - you don’t want to raise the internal temp as this will dry it out.
Leave to rest out of the pan for a couple of minutes and serve with some mash potatoes (I have a sous vide recipe for that if you’re interested).