Pork Belly

Know this

This is why pork belly goes wrong. The meat and fat underneath want low, slow, moist heat for hours until the fat renders and the whole thing goes soft. The skin on top wants the exact opposite: bone dry surface and fierce heat, all at once. Try to do both at the same temperature and you get either soft meat under leather, or crackling over something still tough. They are two jobs and they happen in that order. Buy a thick center piece, skin on, with clear layers rather than one solid band of fat. Chef secret: dry the skin. Uncovered on a rack in the fridge, twelve to twenty four hours, salted. Water is the only thing standing between you and crackling, and a fridge is a dehumidifier you already own.

Cook

Score the skin, salt it, then roast low at 300°F for two to three hours until a skewer slides through the meat with no resistance. Then crank to 475 or run it under the broiler until the skin blisters and pops. Low first, hot last, never the reverse.

Season

Any time, but it is cold weather food and it rewards a slow afternoon.

Best pairings

soy · star anise · ginger · garlic · five-spice · rice wine

Also worth trying: brown sugar, chili, scallion, apple, mustard, vinegar, fennel, rosemary, hoisin, pickled cucumber.

Recommended wine