question about pork belly


 
N

Nick Smith

New member
I went to a local place and they said they had frozen pork belly for $2.99 per lb and came in anywhere from 8-10 lb slabs. Does this sounds right? Everything i have read points towards 2-3 lb slabs.
Thanks!
 
When I get them at the local meat counter, the pieces on display are cut up in smaller 2 or 3 pound pieces but when I ask for more, they go to the freezer in the back, what they carry out is much larger, probably 15 or more pounds.
 
If you start with frozen pieces, how critical is it that they're completely thawed before starting the curing process?
If they're still a little frozen, do you have to cure longer? Longer cure=saltier?
 
Steve Cole said:
If you start with frozen pieces, how critical is it that they're completely thawed before starting the curing process?
If they're still a little frozen, do you have to cure longer? Longer cure=saltier?
Click to expand...

You can start from fully frozen if you're willing to wait it out. A longer cure doesn't mean it will be saltier necessarily but it depends on your method of cure. Longer time curing just means it will approach equilibrium between the meat and the salt you add to the bag and any liquid extruded from the pork while it cures, if using a dry cure, or equlibrium between the meat and the brine you cure it in, if using a brine cure. If you limit the added salt you can cure for weeks and it won't be any saltier than a piece of meat that cured for 7 days assuming they are both fully cured.
 
I read some posts discussing whether or not to remove the skin and it was mentioned that if the side still had the teets on it, they removed the skin. Is that for cosmetic reasons or is that tissue not good to leave on?

(not trying to hijack your thread Nick, really :))
 
I remove mine before smoking or curing. I have to think it slows down the curing process, and it definitely slows down the smoking.
 
Smoked skin will be much easier to remove, but you lose that smoke from the bacon. A "few" guys talk about preferring bacon with the rind on. Most of them are slicing their bacon pretty thin. If you thick slice it, you aren't gonna enjoy the results unless you got teeth like this guy:

jawsqa.jpg


We are making Chicharrón from the pig skins that we removed from previous bellies. They were removed before curing or smoking. I don't know if a cured and smoked pig skin can be used for Chicharrón but it might be a tasty experiment.
 
Chicharrón after smoking, not so good. Apparently the Weber is not quite as effective as a good dehydrator. No puffy, crunchy bit of pig skin wonder going on. Oh well, back to the drawing board. What did work very well for softening the skin was pressure cooking them instead of the traditional hour of boiling. Very tender skin, so from there, it needs to go to the dehydrator or something similar. Then the deep fryer. So my recommendation if you want to convert those unused pig skins to Chicharrón, you need to remove them before smoking.

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If you plan to remove the skin after smoking, then remove it before smoking. There is nothing special with nipples/teets. It's a natural part of the animal. If someone have a problem with that part of the meat, tell them i detail how a natural casing sausage is made. Then again, it's a very small part of a belly, so you would not waste much to cut it off.
 
IME, they are 7-10 lbs. per belly (skin on, no ribs).

I'm buying 40# frozen cases (3-4 per case) in the condition above for $2.48/lb.
 
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