Oh pork belly, how I will miss thee!

The thing about pork belly is that it's highly addictive. Look at bacon. Who doesn't want to eat bacon at every meal everyday of the week? But even plain old roasted pork belly will do it for me. The meat is so succulent and the fat cap becomes so pleasantly crisp. Oh sure, I'm fully aware of how unhealthy it is, but it's not like we eat it every day. Just once a week. Just kidding! Okay, not really. We have eaten it once a week for the last 3 weeks (gasp!), but it's not likely we'll be eating it again for a while. Mostly because my local farmers' market, and thus my pork hookup, is packing up for the season. *Sigh*



To close out the pork belly eating season (at least at Chez Pedersen), I made a roasted pork belly short rib drizzled with a teriyaki sauce spiked with gochujang (Korean pepper paste). This dish was inspired by an evening out with my BFF (and our husbands, but we didn't really talk to them much ☺). We went to a sake bar that served a nice selection of Japanese and Korean specialities (kimchi bloody mary with kimchi shaved ice and goat curry udon, anyone?) to accompany the sake. Combining Korean and Japanese flavors is not something I admit to doing very often because I know it's bound to piss some people off, but I think the flavors can go very well together. They did in this case, anyhow.

Again, no real recipe, but so easy anyone can do it! The perfect cut of meat for this is pork belly with the bones still attached, sometimes called pork belly short rib. If you can't find pork belly or the short rib, butt or any other fatty cut will work (1.5 to 2 lb roast). Even better if it has the fat cap (one reason I love my pork guy; all the cuts come with fat cap!). Don't use tenderloin or a regular loin roast for this preparation because you'll be roasting this well over the 150 to 160F that's normal for pork.

To get this roast perfect, salt the meat with a generous amount of salt, score the fat cap, put it in a shallow roasting pan with a rack, then stick it into a 450F preheated oven for 15 minutes. Then lower the heat to 300F (or 275F with convection). The mantra is low and slow. In fact, you could go as low as 225F, but that would significantly increase the cooking time. Roast till the internal temperature reaches 200F (yes, 200F!). Depending on which cut you use and how big it is, roasting time could be about 1 hour per pound, so plan accordingly. Remember to let it rest for about 20 minutes before cutting into it!

For the sauce, simply combine equal volumes of tamari (or regular old soy sauce) and mirin. Add sugar (or honey) and gochujang (Korean pepper paste) to taste. You can add a splash of sake if you've got it too. Heat the sauce over medium heat until it reduces and thickens a bit. Use it to drizzle over the sliced pork, or as a dipping sauce. If you go the dipping sauce route, spruce it up with toasted sesame seeds or a splash of sesame oil and grated fresh ginger. Serve with Japanese sticky rice and an assortment of Japanese pickles or kimchi.

Fried Pork Belly and Potatoes with Parsley Sauce

I think people are surprised when they learn that I am (semi) fluent in the Danish language and I am pretty familiar with traditional Danish cuisine. It's my Thainess that throws them off and I completely understand. I would probably be pretty surprised if I met a 6'3" Dane who could speak fairly fluent Thai and cook a mean green curry from scratch.

Anyhow, I purposely chose Scandinavia as the spotlight region for Regional Recipes because whenever cold weather sets in, I get an itching for Danish food. It's stick-to-your-ribs-warm-you-to-the-bone-comfort food. Besides, I'm a sweet and loving wife who likes to give Hubby a little taste of home every once in a while.

Originally I planned to make a traditional Danish-style pork roast with pork belly served with pickled red cabbage and potatoes but MIL assured me that fried pork belly with potatoes and parsley sauce was as Danish as it gets. And not only did she suggest this dish, she cooked it! All I had to do was snap a couple of pictures and dig in. So a big, fat TAK FOR MAD! goes out to my awesome MIL!

Apparently all Danes can make this with their eyes closed, it's that easy. In other words, if Hubby can do this without a recipe, anyone can! Simply cut the pork belly (remove the skin if you wish) into 1/4 to 1/3 inch slices, season generously with salt, and fry until wonderfully crisp. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels. In the mean time, boil some small, cute potatoes (skins removed) until tender. Just before you're about to serve, make the sauce by melting a couple tablespoons of butter and adding about 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour to make a roux. Don't let it cook get dark. Add warm milk (about a cup to start with) while whisking vigorously to eliminate clumps. Turn up the heat a little bit. The sauce will be thin at first but will start to thicken up once it begins to simmer. If it gets too thick, add more milk. If it's too thin after it has been simmering for a few minutes, sprinkle in a little more flour while whisking vigorously. Once it reaches the desired consistency (see photo above), add salt and a healthy handful of finely chopped Italian parsley. Drizzle over the boiled potatoes and serve immediately.

Craving more Danish food? Try these:

karry sild (curried pickled herring)

leverpostej (Danish-style liver pate)

frikadeller (Danish meatballs)

lakridsis (licorice ice cream)

napoleanshatte (marzipan cookies dipped in chocolate)

This is my submission to Regional Recipes, where the spotlight region is Scandinavia. The host this month is Joanne of Eats Well with Others. Be sure to check her site on the 20th (or there abouts) for the round-up and she'll be announcing the next spotlight region.

Bacon is Healthy. Okay, Not Really. But It's Delicious.

We love bacon in this house, but we don’t eat it very often. I generally don’t feel guilty about most foods, but bacon is not one of them. The fat and salt is enough to induce heart palpitations just thinking about it. When I do buy it, it’s always from the deli counter so I don’t buy more than I need. Those deli guys must think I'm crazy buying two strips of bacon at a time.

Having said that, I must confess that we've already had bacon 3 times in the last 6 days. But before you do that disappointed health freak face, let me explain. We weren't just eating any old bacon. We were reaping the fruits of my labor, if you will. That's right, I made bacon! I'll say it was one of the most satisfying moments when I sat down to breakfast this past weekend and enjoyed my own delicious bacon.



You’re probably wondering why I would want to make bacon? I guess that’s just how I roll. I’m all about demystifying and doing it myself. Many commercial bacons are so salty that one bite is enough to send my blood pressure sky high. The thing I like about this bacon is that it didn't feel like eating a salt lick. Maple and brown sugar gave it a hint of sweetness and helped to cut the saltiness. I also used fresh cracked black pepper to give it a little subtle heat.



Seriously, it was easy. All you have to do is cure it for a week, then hot smoke it for an hour or two. The only difficult thing about it is the waiting. So no, I won’t be making this on a weekly basis, but it is a nice touch if we are having visitors or going to a special function.

This recipe I used comes from Charcuterie (see the right side bar). According to the authors, you can use whatever seasonings you like because it’s the cure and smoke that give bacon its wonderful taste. So if you don’t want to use maple but prefer to use cloves or bay leaves or whatever else tickles your fancy, then by all means. The original recipe calls for 5 pounds of pork belly. As big of a fan of bacon as I am, I thought that might just be a wee bit much. So I only started with 2 ½ pounds. However, after the smoking, there was a 20% weight loss (the bacon, not me)! After giving some to my neighbor for letting me use his smoker (thanks again, Dennis!), I was left with only about a pound. Even though that will stretch for 4 or even 5 uses, for the amount of waiting and daydreaming that goes into the process, I want the yield to be a bit more. Next time, I’m going for gold and making all 5 pounds. It freezes beautifully, so none of it will go to waste.



Note: if you want to do the whole 5 pounds, just double the recipe.

Maple Bacon (adapted from Charcuterie)
yields approximately 2 pounds

• 1 oz kosher salt
• 1 tsp pink salt (1/4 oz or 6 grams if you’re doing it by weight, which you should be)
• 1 tbs black peppercorns, coarsely ground
• 1 tbs whole allspice, coarsely ground
• 2 packed tbs light brown sugar (the original recipe calls for dark brown)
• 2 tbs maple syrup
• 2 ½ pound slab of pork belly (original recipe says skin on, but I did it with skin removed)

Start by combining all of the dry ingredients. You want to make sure the pink salt is evenly distributed. Add the maple syrup and stir to make a paste. Rub the paste over the entire surface of the pork.

Place the pork in a Ziploc bag large enough to hold it or in a non-reactive container that is just slightly bigger than the pork. During the curing process, liquid will be released and it will work to cure the meat. Keep the meat in the fridge, turning every other day to expose both sides to the brine. It should take about 7 days to cure. It’s ready if you touch the meat and it’s firm. Make sure you’re checking the actual meat and not the fat, because the fat doesn’t get firm.

Once you’ve determined the meat is cured, rinse it well under cold water. You want to get rid of the residual salt. Most of the spices will wash off too, and that’s okay. Their flavor will already be in the meat. Pat the meat dry and air-dry it in the fridge for at least overnight. When you air-dry it in the fridge, it needs to rest on a rack, uncovered, above a container that will catch any juices and allow air to circulate. The next day, hot-smoke the meat to an internal temperature of 150º. For me, this took less than 2 hours (I think) at 275º (the original recipe didn’t specify a smoking temperature). I expected it to take like 3 hours, but when I checked it a little after 2 hours, it was at like 160+. Yikes!!! Yet, the bacon turned out fine.

Once you remove the bacon from the smoker, let it cool a bit. If you started with skin-on pork belly, you should remove the skin before the bacon cools completely. I started with skinless, and the fat caramelized very nicely, so I think I’ll use skinless the next time as well. Do not try to slice the bacon into strips before it is completely cooled to refrigerator temperature. An extra half hour in the freezer might make it even easier. Unless you have Morimoto-sharp knives, you will just end up “squishing” the fat and the slices will be sloppy and too thick. Trust me on this. Once it’s cool enough to slice, you still have to fry it to get it crispy.


If you found this process interesting, you may enjoy making your own Canadian bacon. It’s just as easy as bacon, but requires only 2 days curing. It’s also a lot less fatty because it’s done with pork loin.