Pork Belly Confit Tacos

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Phil in BC said:
That drink looks great. I dont drink bloody mary's but I make a hell of a caesar. Going to have to kick it up a notch with some of that bacon vodka tho. Think I'll try that out at the wife's work xmas party in a couple of weeks. Should be interesting......... :cheers:
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To go with our Thanksgiving Day breakfast two days ago I juiced a couple stalks of celery, a carrot and some fresh horseradish root. With the bacon vodka, tomato juice and a few other additives it ended up being my favorite Bloody Mary so far.

But juicing the horseradish root, as good as it was in the BM, will never happen again. It was like cutting 100 onions all at once! Crazy tear gas!

Yeah...I used to drink maybe 2 Bloody Mary's in a year's time. I think that might up itself with the new recipe :)
 
spressomon said:
Since the first of the year I've been on a fresh pork belly kick. I've made pork belly a bunch of different ways including fresh bacon (NO SUGAR!). But the confit recipe from Keller's Ad Hoc at Home book is just crazy good.

But then I, from Eat It, Atlanta Fried Pork Belly Confit Taco | Eat It, Atlanta fried pieces of the pork belly confit for simple tacos with a little red cabbage/lime/mayo/hot sauce slaw and...well let's just say I can't imagine ever getting tired of it :) I had our guy's dinner the other night and they were begging me for more.

And damn it I don't have pics of the tacos but here's a photo of the pork belly confit as it was going in to the oven...

And here's a photo from an earlier off-road foray this year...on my night to cook I did French Lardon Salad with poached eggs and fried belly. And then did it again on our Explore Nevada 2011 trip in June.

You just can't get too much pork belly!
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wow...those look great. pork belly is so underused.
 
Shhhhh...don't tell anyone lest the price hikes to come :rolleyes:.
 
Speaking of pork belly...here's a shot of another batch of bacon vodka in the making.
Bacon Vodka.webp
 
spressomon said:
Shhhhh...don't tell anyone lest the price hikes to come :rolleyes:.
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As soon as Food Network lays their filthy paws on it, it's dead.
They just got through ruining taco trucks. *sniff*
 
Combat Chuck said:
As soon as Food Network lays their filthy paws on it, it's dead.
They just got through ruining taco trucks. *sniff*
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Our Whole Foods finally, after bugging them several times a week for the past year and a half, started bringing in very good quality bellies. And at $3.99/lb, although not uber cheap like the big house bellies, is a relatively good deal with very good flavor and white white fat (skin on).

CC: In your neck o'the woods: The small meats purveyor that typically has a booth at the Sunday Marin County Farmer's Market has wonderful belly...you have to contact them in advance for best availability. Their frenched baby goat racks are to die for too!
 
Neat, I may look into that, especially the goat.

I apprenticed as a butcher some years back at a local grocery that can special order anything (in fact, they keep bellies in the freeze).

It's nice to see what a dedicated meat or fish man can do in place of a generalized shop.
 
Belly Rancheros was on the menu this morning...
Belly Rancheros.webp
 
Made a batch of that bacon vodka and took it to the wife's xmas party last weekend. That s***'s yummy! Was the first bottle to be emptied and everyone was looking for more. Definitely making that again. Thanks for posting about that or I would never have tried it.

:cheers:
 
Right on! Glad you/they liked it! I've got another batch that's been brewing for 18-days...this is the longest steep I've tried.
 
Ok...just filtered the 18-day bacon & vodka steep and WOW what a difference, as most would expect, compared to the 3-day steep.

And you lose about 40% by volume for the entire process. But the results are incredible!

This might be an expensive habit even if using mid-level vodka for starter :rolleyes:
 
Our Whole Foods, after a year of bugging them almost daily, started carrying fresh-frozen pork belly a couple years ago. The volume of pork belly sales reached critical volume enough for them to now carry it fresh in the meat counter. All good! $3.99/lb and its super.

So...back in the midwest I grew up knowing and eating this as "fresh side of pork"...just another name for pork belly.

Picked an elbee up this morning from WFs here in Reno and then:

Brought it home :D
Sliced it about 1/2" thick
Removed the skin/rind
Put it in an oil rubbed cast iron skillet
Put the pan and belly on slow heat BBQ (supposed to be 100 degrees today...no belly but my own in the A/C :D)
Sprinkled it with course, extra bold/super smoked, sea salt. Here: http://www.saltworks.us/bonfire-smoked-sea-salt.html#.Uc3KfuCYW04 Habanero smoked salt would be even better methinks!
Rendered it slowly until caramelized on both sides
Enjoyed with a simple fried egg and corn tortilla for late breakfast

The above has been a fairly frequent fair for me. The bold smoked salt creates a sugar-free fresh version of bacon. I've grown tired of the sugar in almost all prepared bacon...not to mention super sodium levels for most and/or the purveyors act like they're afraid to slice the damn stuff anything but too damn thin!
 
I'll have to see if my local whole foods either carries or will begin carrying pork belly.
I have a supplier, but he's not local (i.e. conveniently located for my everyday needs)...
 
Speaking of pork belly :D

Trader Joe's now carries fresh cooked pork belly. Slice, saute and lavish yourself.

$4.99/12oz. Basically looks like it was cooked confit style. It was a bit more fatty than what I would normally buy raw/fresh. But a huge time saver!

photo 1.webp


photo 2.webp
 
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