Pork belly question.

So Wednesday was pork belly braised in a mirin/shoyu/ginger combo,

Ok, I am wondering what the big deal about pork belly is. When I was a child, we called it "streak o' lean", and is what we ate when our parents were too broke to buy any other meat. My sisters and I grew to detest the vile stuff after years of eating it boiled in beans (at least the beans were tasty) or sliced and fried crispy. Like bacon but all fat and without the flavor of cured meat.

So after seeing it on Iron Chef, Top Chef, and here, I am baffled at how such a poor man's food can have become chic??

So after seeing it on Iron Chef, Top Chef, and here, I am baffled at how such a poor man's food can have become chic??

For the same reason BBQ and chicken wings have become chic. BBQ developed from slaves making the best they could with the leftover cuts of meat given them. Chicken wings used to be given away to make soup.

Peasant foods become chic when the ingredients are treated with a little imagination and creativity.

My father still can't understand why everyone makes a fuss over polenta - during the Great Depression, his whole family had to live on it. He never wants to see the stuff again, let alone pay fifteen bucks for a bowl of it.

As to pork belly, there's a big difference between a hunk boiled in water along with some beans, and a well seasoned piece given a slow cooking in a well crafted braising liquid. I know it's become trendy, but I have had several, outrageously delicious pork belly dishes over the last year or so.

So after seeing it on Iron Chef, Top Chef, and here, I am baffled at how such a poor man's food can have become chic??

For the same reason BBQ and chicken wings have become chic. BBQ developed from slaves making the best they could with the leftover cuts of meat given them. Chicken wings used to be given away to make soup.

I have read that BBQ was actually a technique already in use by Carebbean Indians well before Columbus came along. They would cook the meat and fish over a low fire, on a grid of thin withes or reeds.

..... after seeing it on Iron Chef, Top Chef, and here, I am baffled at how such a poor man's food can have become chic??

Where I come from it's now hugely popular because of the Asian influence to our Cuisine. But the New Zealand Maoris have traditionally cooked pork (boiled pork and puha) and I've always been able to buy pork belly. It used to always be cut into inch-wide strips - perfect for braising or casseroling, but now whole pork bellies are easy to find. Like John T said, it's become so 'trendy'.
But I hate when I get a buy a piece that has a nipple on it.

Peasant foods become chic when the ingredients are treated with a little imagination and creativity.

Actually John, I believe this applies more widely than chic.

The Hesses in their classic book The Taste of America pointed out that most of cooking history, specifically the history of good recipes, consisted of housewives making something interesting from ingredients "the gentry wouldn't touch."

When I want to buy pork belly (or pork "butt" for that matter) I pretty much have to go to the Oriental Market. Regular grocery stores don't seem to carry it, at least in New Jersey.

I didn't have much appreciation for it until I had some cooked with long slow "sous vide" technique and then scorched in a frying pan. Chef Shola in Philadelphia, it's a specialty. Then I got interested in obtaining some and cooking it myself.

F

We had similar dishes when we were kids. Bread and beans comes to mind as the premier example.

Ingredients:
A couple of loaves of stale Italian bread, cubed.
A can or two of cannellini beans.
Garlic
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Method:
Slice the garlic and sweat it in some olive oil. Toss in the cubed stale bread, stir and heat through. Toss in the beans, stir and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste.

If we had some extra cash that week, Mom added some red chile pepper flakes and a small can of Hunt's tomato sauce to make the whole thing reddish.

That fed a family of five for about $1.50 back then. We knew not to ask for our allowance on the Fridays we had it. Now, I drool when I think of that dish.

Where's the greens? Here's the link to the recipe I posted a few years ago. I make this every year for the NiagaraCOOL picnic.

Beans & Greens

When I want to buy pork belly (or pork "butt" for that matter) I pretty much have to go to the Oriental Market. Regular grocery stores don't seem to carry it, at least in New Jersey.

I didn't have much appreciation for it until I had some cooked with long slow "sous vide" technique and then scorched in a frying pan. Chef Shola in Philadelphia, it's a specialty. Then I got interested in obtaining some and cooking it myself.F

Frank, where you say pork butt, are you talking about that portion of the porks shoulder from the above the knee without the leg bone, only the shoulder (clavicle) (paddle shaped) bone? I do pork shoulders on my grill, and can find them in any regular grocery store as well as Sam's Club, sometimes for as little as $0.99 per pound.

When I want to buy pork belly (or pork "butt" for that matter) I pretty much have to go to the Oriental Market. Regular grocery stores don't seem to carry it, at least in New Jersey.

I didn't have much appreciation for it until I had some cooked with long slow "sous vide" technique and then scorched in a frying pan. Chef Shola in Philadelphia, it's a specialty. Then I got interested in obtaining some and cooking it myself.F

Frank, where you say pork butt, are you talking about that portion of the porks shoulder from the above the knee without the leg bone, only the shoulder (clavicle) (paddle shaped) bone? I do pork shoulders on my grill, and can find them in any regular grocery store as well as Sam's Club, sometimes for as little as $0.99 per pound.

That is because you live in the enlightened metropolis of Lexington Kentucky and I am stuck here in the wild outreaches of the Greater New York Area. Come here and find me a pork butt anywhere outside of the Asian Markets...

F

So Wednesday was pork belly braised in a mirin/shoyu/ginger combo,

Ok, I am wondering what the big deal about pork belly is. When I was a child, we called it "streak o' lean", and is what we ate when our parents were too broke to buy any other meat. My sisters and I grew to detest the vile stuff after years of eating it boiled in beans (at least the beans were tasty) or sliced and fried crispy. Like bacon but all fat and without the flavor of cured meat.

So after seeing it on Iron Chef, Top Chef, and here, I am baffled at how such a poor man's food can have become chic??

It joins a long list of things that impoverished peasants ate because starvation was the only alternative, but are now considered gourmet "delicacies". (I never understood that word "delicacy". Most of the foods given that title seem far from delicate. ):

snails (escargot)
oysters
coq au vin
lobster

-Paul W.