In the Philippines, people from from all walks of life love to eat pork and one particular part which is popular to serve is the "pork belly" or "liempo" in Filipino, the Philippine language. Aside from the fact that the pork belly part can be prepared and cooks easily, it does taste better than most of the other parts perhaps due to the alternate of fat and meat fibers.
My favorite, the "Crackling Pork Belly" is a bit harder to prepare than it's counterparts like Grilled Pork Belly, Dinakdakan or Ensalada (other great tasting Filipino dishes which I'll share to all of you soon) but the effort and preparation is well worth it.
Here are the things you need to make yourself this scrumptious dish (good for 1 serving)
- 250 grams pork belly
- black pepper, salt, garlic powder
- garlic
- cooking oil
- Mang Tomas Lechon Sauce
- your choice of salad
First thing to do is boil water with a few pieces of garlic. Once boiling, put in your whole 250 gram pork belly until it's half-cooked. While doing so, prepare to heat you oil in another pan for deep frying. Once the meat is half cooked by boiling, bring it out and stick it onto with a metal skewer with the skin part aligned on one side. Rub and season the meat with salt and pepper and a dash of garlic powder.
Now, carefully dip the skin part "only" of the pork belly unto the hot oil. If you have some way to measure its temperature, best would be at around 350°F (175°C). Be very careful while doing this since it is given that oil would most likely have little bursts and splashes which can hurt you. Do this until you see the skin part crisp and hard. Once the skin part is cooked to the desired texture, dip the while pork belly for around another one to two minutes until all the meat parts are fully cooked but not overdone.
Then, take it out and cut to bit size portions like shown in the picture. After doing so, again dip the cut pieces in the heated oil for only around 30 seconds and bring out. Let it set on a table napkin for awhile to take out unwanted and excess oil. Heat Mang Tomas Lechon Sauce in a pan adding just a little water and butter to make it smoother and serve on the side of the cooked meat.
Crackling Pork Belly is best served with salad on the side.
Enjoy !