A couple of months ago I was coming back from Vernon after a visit with my relatives. I was starving by the time I got to Kamloops, so on the way through town, I stopped into Arby's. I'm not the biggest fan of Arby's but it was on the way and quick and something different. When I pulled up to the drive-thru they had a sign for a limited time special, the Pork Belly sandwich. I had pork belly before at a Korean BBQ place and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. It was like thinly sliced pork tenderloin. It was a far cry from what pork belly looked like on the food network. I always thought pork belly was almost like a thick bacon cooked until it was tender and then sliced. The picture of the Pork Belly sandwich looked like the pork belly I had longed to try. I decided to try one. It was the most delicious fast food sandwich I had ever tried.
The sandwich had chunks of Pork Belly in a tangy BBQ sauce, with a battered onion frizzles on the top, a smoked cheddar cheese, and a bit of mayo on the bottom. The pork belly was like giant soft bacon, without the saltiness of bacon. The whole sandwich was a perfect consistency. It was so soft, and the onions gave it a little bit of crunch. The BBQ sauce was tangy yet sweet, and the mayo gave it a bit of creaminess. I am pretty sure I ate this thing in maybe 4 bites. My mouth watered the entire 1 hour drive to my house.
The Happy Man Snacks review of the Arby's Pork Belly Sandwich was literally exactly what my reaction was to this sandwich. Check out their youtube channel here: Happy Man Snack Review
Love this review of the Sandwich from Whitfield's Food Revue as well! Check out their youtube channel at: Whitfield's Food Revue
Sadly, a month or so later I went to get another one and it was gone. It was only available for a limited time and to my disappointment I missed the boat on getting another one. Since I had driven to Arby's for lunch, I figured I would just get something else. I decided to get a buffalo chicken sandwich. It was terrible! I was probably pre-judging the buffalo chicken because it was not what I was expecting. It was sloppy, way too spicy for me, had far too much sauce on it. I ate it only because I paid for it and needed to eat something before heading back to work.
I was at a local butcher last week picking up something and asked if they ever got pork belly. They were able to pre-order me some, which came in this week. I picked it up after work yesterday, along with some buns. I was determined that I was going to make a Pork Belly sandwich of my own.
I ran into a couple of issues right away. First being, I have no idea how to cook Pork Belly. I researched most of Friday night on methods of cooking. Some recommended slow cooking, fast cooking, two-part cooking where you cook then cool in the fridge then cook again. Since I just got an instant pot last week, I was really looking for a way to cook it in the new gadget. The second issue, I really had no idea how to score the skin of the belly. After looking at what seemed like a thousand recipes, I settled on one for one that used the instant pot. I modified the recipe, as always, because I didn't have all of the needed ingredients. This is an all day kind of recipe and you will most likely use a million dishes but it's totally worth it.
Jen's Pork Belly Sandwich Recipe
Ingredients
2 lb of Pork Belly - Skin On
8 Soft Buns
8 Slices Cheese
Marinade:
4 Tbsp Lemon Juice
3 Tsp Epicure Oh Canada Dry Glaze (or 1/2 tsp each Garlic, Salt, Black Pepper, Paprika, Onion Powder plus 1 tbsp maple syrup)
Stock:
2.5 Cups Water
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Red Wine
1 Bay Leaf
1/4 tsp Thyme
2 tsp Epicure Satay Seasoning (or 2 tsp Chinese 5 spice)
1/2 Cup Honey
Frizzles:
2 Med Thinly Sliced Onions
2 Cups Buttermilk (or 2 Cups Milk with 1 TBSP Lemon Juice)
1 Cup Flour
Salt & Pepper
Oil for Frying
Preparing the Pork Belly - Get the pork belly out of the fridge and cut it into smaller chunks because it was massive. I cut a chunk about 12 inches by 6 inches. The next step was to score the skin on top of the slab of porky goodness. I grabbed my sharpest knife and scored through the skin in a crisscross manner. This was actually pretty hard to get through even though I sharpened my knife prior to trying. I cut down about 2mm into the skin.
Marinating the Pork Belly - Add all ingredients for the marinade into a ziplock bag with the scored Pork Belly. Get as much air as you can out of the bag. Stick in the refrigerator for an hour.
Preparing the Stock - Pour all ingredients for stock into a microwavable bowl and heat for 3 minutes on high. Let sit until you are ready to add to pot.
Searing the Pork Belly - Turn on the Sear function on the instant pot, which essentially is like a really quick heating frying pan. Sear both sides of the belly for 3 minutes. I would highly recommend throwing a pot lid over the instant pot while you are searing the skin side as it pops and sprays and makes a big mess. Luckily my biggest lid in my pot set fits perfectly on top of the instant pot inner "pot." That is a lot of the word pot in one sentence! I may have left the skin side of my belly in a bit too long, the honey carmelized to the bottom of the pan and created a bit of char.
Cooking the Pork Belly - Once seared, pull the piece of meat out of the instant pot, stick the cooking rack in, sit the belly on the cooking rack with the skin side up. Pour the stock into the pot, avoiding getting any on the top of the belly. It would probably be easier to just pour the liquid in first then put the belly on the rack. Check all seals and gauges on the instant pot lid, then close the lid and turn the pressure gauge to closed. Set the unit for stew/soup for 18 minutes. Because the unit was hot from the searing and the stock was warm, pressure built in my unit in less than 5 minutes. Once the 18 minutes is up, manually de-pressurize the unit by using tongs to turn the pressure gauge to release. It only took about 2 minutes to come down in pressure.
Cooking and Pressing - The next step is to cool and press the pork belly with something heavy for a couple of hours. I used two glass pans with parchment paper under and on top of the belly, and then put a couple of heavy cans of tomatoes to weight it down. I really need to get a kitchen weigh. I have been talking about it for years, like every time I make grilled cheese. Apparently, they are called "Gill Press" according to Amazon. I may have to purchase this super cute Norpro one that has a piggy on the top, and has great reviews. I stuck it in the fridge and waited about 2 hours for it to cool down.
Prepping the Onions for Frizzles - Slice the onions as thin as humanly possible. I used my mandolin. Add onions and buttermilk to a bowl and let sit in the fridge for an hour.
Slicing the Cooled Pork Belly - Dig the pork belly out of the weighted contraption and slice it with a sharp knife, with the grain. Slices should be about 1/4 of an inch thick. It should look like thick slices of pork with layers of fat in between.
Saucing the Pork Belly - Use your favorite BBQ sauce to coat the pork belly slices and fry in a pan on low until the pork is hot.
Coating and Frying the Frizzles - Mix the flour and salt & pepper in a bowl. Take the onions out of the milk bath and put a handful at a time into the flour coating. Using a deep fryer or in a pan, fry the frizzles until golden brown.
Assembling the Sandwich - Split buns in half and toast the cut side so it is a bit crunchy. Add may to the bottom half. Add a slice of cheese to the top half. Add 2 slices of pork belly to the bottom half, then cover in frizzles. Stick the top bun with the cheese in the microwave for about 25 seconds to melt the cheese a bit. Add the top half to the bottom.
What to pair with this sandwich? This sandwich is rich and needs to be accompanied by something like a side salad. Coleslaw or broccoli salad would also be good choices.
You will most definitely need some napkins when eating this beauty!
Oh my god, this sandwich may be better than the Arby's version! My pork belly wasn't quite as soft as theirs but I will perfect it. This sandwich is like BBQ angels put heaven into a bun. This may be the best thing I have made in a long long time. My mouth is still watering after finishing it off about 20 minutes ago.
Pork Belly may be my new favorite cut of meat!
I hope you enjoyed and you try this out if you have a whole day to kill.
Jen
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