Pork belly

Pork bellyorbelly porkis a boneless, fattycutofporkfrom thebellyof apig. Pork belly is particularly popular inAmerican,British,Swedish,Danish,Norwegian,Polish,Hispanic,Filipino,Chinese,Korean,Vietnamese, andThaicuisine.
InAlsatian cuisine, pork belly is prepared aschoucroute garnie.
InChinese cuisine, pork belly (Chinese:五花肉;pinyin:wǔhuāròu) is most often prepared by dicing and slowly braising with skin on, marination, or being cooked in its entirety. Pork belly is used to makered braised pork belly(紅燒肉) andDongpo pork(東坡肉) in China (sweet and sour porkis made with pork fillet).
In Guangdong, a variant calledcrispy pork belly(脆皮燒肉) is also popular. The pork is cooked and grilled for a crispy skin.Pork belly is also one of the common meats used inchar siu.
In Dominican, Colombian, Venezuelan, andPuerto Rican cuisine, pork belly strips are fried and served as part ofbandeja paisasurtido(chicharrón).
In Venezuela, it is known astocineta, not to be confused withchicharrón(pork skins) (although thearepade chicharrónuses fried pork belly instead of skins). Local tradition uses tocineta as one of the fillings of traditional ham bread (pan de jamón), and some use it for the typicalhallacas.
In traditionalDanish cuisine, whole pork belly is prepared asflæskesteg(literally 'pork roast'), traditionally eaten at Christmas. The dish is calledribbenssteg(literally 'rib roast') when prepared from pork belly. It is typically oven roasted with the skin on, seasoned with salt and bay leaves. The skin turns into a crispy rind, which is eaten with the meat. Prepared in individual slices asstegt flæsk, it is the national dish of Denmark.
InGerman cuisine, pork belly is used as an ingredient inschlachtplatte.
InItalian cuisine,pancettaderives from pork belly.
InKorean cuisine, pork belly with the skin removed is known assamgyeop-sal(삼겹살), while pork belly with the skin on is known asogyeop-sal(오겹살). The literal meaning ofsamgyeop-salis 'three-layered meat' assam(Korean:삼;Hanja:三) means 'three',gyeop(겹) means 'layer', andsal(살) means 'flesh', referring to what appears to be three layers that are visible in the meat. The wordo(오;五) inogyeop-salmeans 'five', referring to the five-layered pork belly meat with the skin.
According to a 2006 survey byNational Agricultural Cooperative Federation, 85% of South Korean adults stated that they prefer pork belly;70% of those surveyed recipients ate the meat at least once a week. The high popularity of pork belly makes it one of the most expensive parts of pork. South Korea imports wholesale pork belly fromBelgium, theNetherlands, and other countries for price stabilization, as imported pork is much cheaper than domestic. The South Korean government planned to import 70,000 tons of pork belly with no tariff in the second half year of 2011. Thus, the importation of pork belly was expected to expand.
Pork belly is consumed both at restaurants and home, grilled atKorean barbecue, or used as an ingredient for many Korean dishes, such asbossam(boiled pork wraps) andkimchi-jjigae(kimchi stew).
Samgyeop-sal-gui(삼겹살구이) orogyeop-sal-gui(오겹살구이) refers to thegui(grilled dish) of pork belly. Slices of pork belly meat are usually grilled, not marinated or seasoned. It is often marinated withgarlicand accompanied bysoju. Usually, diners grill the meat themselves and eat directly from a grill. It is typically served withssamjang(wrap sauce) andssam(wrap) vegetables such aslettuceandperilla leavesto wrap it in.
In the Netherlands theZeeuws spekis very popular, as thespeklap, slowly baked pork belt.
In Norwegian cuisine, pork belly is eaten by 55% of the population for Christmas dinner as of 2014. The tradition is to cook it slowly in the oven with the skin on and serve it accompanied by potatoes,medisterkake(pork meatballs similar tofrikadeller), sausages, and lingonberry jam, as well as stewed cabbage (surkål), comparable tosauerkraut.The crispiness of the pork rind is considered vital to the pork belly.
InOkinawan cuisine,rafuteis traditionally eaten for longevity.
InFilipino cuisine, pork belly (Tagalog:liyempo;Philippine Spanish:liempo) ismarinatedin a mixture of crushedgarlic,vinegar, salt, and pepper before beinggrilled. It is then served with soy sauce and vinegar (toyo't suka) or vinegar with garlic (bawang at suka). This method of preparing pork is calledinihawinFilipinoandsinugbainCebuano. Being seasoned, deep-fried, and served by being chopped into pieces is calledlechon kawali.
InSwiss cuisine, pork belly is used as an ingredient in theBerner Platte.
InThai cuisine, pork belly is calledmu sam chan(หมูสามชั้น; lit: 'three-layered pork') refers to rind, fat and meat, often used to makeKhao mu daengandKhao mu krop, or fried withkale.
InBritish cuisine, pork belly is primarily cooked using two methods. For slow roast pork belly, the meat is baked at a moderate temperature for up to three hours to tenderize it, coupled with periods of approximately twenty minutes at a high temperature at the beginning or end of the cooking period to harden off the rind or "crackling". For a barbecued pork belly, the meat is seasoned and slow-cooked in a pan by indirect heat on a coveredbarbecue, on a bed of mixed vegetables to which (hard)cideris added. Heat is again varied to produce tender meat with hard crackling. Pork belly is also used in the UK to make streakybacon.
InAmerican cuisine,baconis most often made from pork bellies.Salt porkis also made from pork bellies, which is commonly used for making soups and stews.
The pork bellyfutures contractbecame an icon of futures andcommodities trading. It is frequently used as apars pro totosynecdochefor commodities in general and appears in several depictions of the arena in popular entertainment, such as the 1983 filmTrading Places.Inaugurated on August 18, 1961, on theChicago Mercantile Exchange(CME), frozen pork belly futures were developed as arisk managementdevice to meet the needs of meat packers who processed pork and had to contend with volatile hog prices, as well as price risks on processed products held in inventory.
The futures contracts were useful in guiding inventories and establishing forward pricing. The unit of trading was 20 short tons (40,000 lb or 18,000 kg) of frozen, trimmed bellies (bellies typically weigh around 6 kg (13 lb)). Pork bellies can be kept in cold storage for an extended period and, generally, the frozen bellies were most actively traded. Spot prices varied depending on the amount of inventory in cold storage, the seasonal demand for bacon, and the origin of the pork. In the past, the former drove the prices of the futures as well.
In more recent years, pork belly futures' prominence declined; eventually, they were among the least-traded contracts on the CME and were delisted for trading on July 18, 2011.