Sunday, June 27, 2010

Porcine Pleasures (home cookin')

Just in case you haven't heard me gush enough about Polyface Farms Food, let me start by saying that they have awesome food. Look at this pork!
I started out with a pork belly. Gordon Ramsay's recipe for "Pressed Pork Belly" seemed appetizing and of course he had to say, "That's fucking good!"Score the skin, but not all the way down to the meat. Season well with salt and pepper. Let it come to room temperature. Cut a few heads of garlic in half, throw in a few handfulls of thyme, put the meat over the herbs/garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, put some white wine and chicken stock in the pan and roast for 2 hours @ 325. I basted about every 15 minutes or so. Pull it out of the pan and let it sit while you add some more wine and stock. Deglaze, reduce, chinois the solids. Let that sit in the fridge and seperate so you can get rid of the fat.
Put the meat back in the pan, then put another pan on top of that and weigh it down. This will flatten out the belly and make for a nice presentation.After 6 hours in the fridge you're ready to rock. Let it come to room temp, then put it in the oven at 425 for 10-15 minutes. Don't let it burn, but you want the cracklin' to be crisp. Serve with some of the gravy.Have your friends bring sides! Et Voila!


Yum....
BTW, the prep on this can be done easily the day prior to serving. Very impressive dish with minimal time setting it up before service.
Hope you enjoyed!