Pork belly

Poitrine de porc

What it is

Bacon before it becomes bacon: alternating strata of fat and lean that answer to every slow method on Earth. Nagasaki braises it as kakuni, a technique borrowed from Chinese dongpo pork; Italy rolls it into porchetta — and the 2000s gastropub made its crisp-topped square a signature of the decade.

In the kitchen

Two acts, always: long and low until a skewer meets no resistance, then fierce heat for the crackling. Score the skin, dry it overnight, salt it like a beach.

Goes with

Soy sauce Ginger Miso Apple Fennel

Same species

Andouillette Boudin blanc Natural casings Caul fat Chorizo Ciauscolo

Also used with

Fish mint (diếp cá) Dried oyster Kkaennip-jangajji Maneul-jangajji Mei gan cai Sheng pu-erh

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