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So this isn’t going to be the typical dessert post about cakes, cookies or even macarons. But since it is too awesome not to share, I am willing to make a deviation from the norm for this deliciousness.
It tastes like something you’d eat at some high-end restaurant in Changkat or Bangsar or.. I think I’ll stop here before I give away my non-existent knowledge on high-end restaurants in KL, or anywhere else for that matter.
Gordon Ramsay’s video on making this slow-roasted pork belly is by far my favorite cooking video ever. I’m not a fan of watching videos, I’d rather read about something than watch it. So it’s really something when I say I probably contributed to a good portion of its 1.9 million views on YouTube.
The crisp crackling of the pork skin as it is cut, the sizzle of the pan when the vegetables touch the olive oil, still gets me every.single.time. Not forgetting Ramsay’s clipped British accent, threatening sarcasm at every turn. I’d imagine one could probably make a lot of money selling it as a CD soundtrack.
My initial hesitance to make this recipe comes from my experience with other cooking videos. You know how in these cooking shows everything looks so nice and dandy – from the shiny stove pots to the smiley host. But when you actually attempt it, your kitchen ends up becoming the perfect scene for a horror story with dirty utensils everywhere, onion juice in your eyes, and a burnt chicken in the oven. Well, so I may be exaggerating somewhat.
Still, videos don’t show the reality of having to clean up and the million minions behind the scene who actually do make those neat nicks in the meat, and chop that enviously perfect, equally sized vegetables.
Another peeve I have is that I never can find ALL the ingredients, I always end up having to substitute one or two even after having visited all of five supermarkets in Miri.
But with my resolution to eat more often at home this year, and since Ramsay deems this slow cooked pork belly an “easy way to cook a cheap cut of meat” I figured if this slow-roasted pork belly didn’t work out it wouldn’t be that big a loss. The most expensive ingredient in this recipe is probably the white wine, and the recipe doesn’t require all that much.
Anyway, let’s talk ingredients.
So surprise, surprise I couldn’t find all of them: substituted celery for fennel; Ramsay’s video specifies bay leaves but I didn’t know where to get those. I saw some leaves at the supermarket and just threw them in. I still have no idea what kind of leaves they are but I thought they couldn’t be poisonous if they were selling them at the food section.
I also found this website really helpful ‘cos they give you measurements for each ingredient, whereas Gordon Ramsay just effortlessly throws stuff in a pot, measured by the palm of his hand – which obviously isn’t helpful for newbies like me.
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Coupla things I thought I’d point out from the video:
At the beginning, what he describes as “nicks” in the pork belly are actually relatively deep cuts. When he folds the meat to better rub the salt in, you can see how the diamond cuts go pretty far in. So I sliced the skin to just above the fat layer. Oh and be generous with the salt, it’s what helps to dehydrate the skin and give you that crackly goodness.
Next, when cooking up the vegetables, note that he uses quite a lot of olive oil. If you watch the video, you can see after he sears the pork skin in the pan how “wet” it actually is from the oil. So I added in more olive oil after frying the vegetables – luckily it heated up pretty quick and gave off an extremely satisfying sizzle upon contact with the pork skin. At least that part sounded like the video.
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During this whole time I was frantically forwarding and rewinding the video as things were cooking to try and figure out what was next. I don’t even know how long I left the meat skin-side down in the pan, but I did found out after that it was supposed to be seared till “golden brown”.
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Not bad, eh?
Another thing he doesn’t say in the video is that you need to push the vegetables to the side so the skin of the pork is in direct contact with the pan. Probably intuitive for seasoned cooks, certainly not for me.
Also if you notice after he adds in the white wine, he says to “allow it to bubble away and reduce until the alcohol is burnt off”. Now, how am I supposed to know when the alcohol is burnt off?
It’s at times like this I wish someone would hurry up and figure out how to make videos emit smells real-time – indeed the day we start transmitting smells via Internet is truly a glorious world I look forward to.
It was only after I was done I read up that there is an actual name for cooking alcohol: reduction. And it means exactly that. To slowly cook off the wine until there is 30 – 50% less of the original volume. Duh.
My concern on whether the skin would turn out crispy went away after about 30 minutes of the pig sitting in the oven. I could literally see the skin starting to bubble and hear gentle crackling and popping sounds of the splattering fat.
I knew that having to wait two and a half hours before it was finally done was going to be excruciating so I went out to the supermarket and guess what I saw?
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A melon the size of a little girl! Imagine that.
Anyway, fast forward two and a half hours later, as you probably guessed (since I’m blogging about it) the pork belly came out as fantastic as the heavenly smell it was giving off throughout the kitchen.
But who cares what it looks like; quoting the Mulan soundtrack “it all depends on what she cooks like! Beef, pork, chicken. Mmmm.”
I digress.
The skin was crispy as anything and gave a resounding crunch when it was cut through with a knife. The saltiness of the skin was also perfectly balanced by the lower layers and the combination of flavors agreed whole heartedly with my palate. Mouthfuls of the meat, so juicy and tender, juxtaposed with the golden, crispy skin prompted me to share this goodness with all of you too.
So please forgive my half-baked photos taken with my phone camera and random teacloths in the background.
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A couple more things before I sign off:
You can see that the pan I used was way smaller than what Ramsay used which was why the liquid level in my pan came up pretty high. Not to mention the cut of meat I used was a lot thicker. So, the gravy came out more “soupy” than I expected. Still tasted perfect, though.
And please take his advice on frying that bread, it really is as delicious as he says it would be.
In conclusion, despite all my muck-ups, the pork still turned out amazing, which I think is a good testament to the solidness of this recipe. Hope you guys are inspired to give it a shot. Let me know how it turns out for you!
Happy new year, everyone!
The post Gordon Ramsay’s Slow-Roasted Pork Belly appeared first on Marie's Cravings.