If you have eaten in ANY restaurant in the last 12 months, you have surely encountered the “pork belly” trend. Delicious it certainly is. The question, however, is what exactly qualifies as pork belly and what is just pork that wants to be…ya know, belly.
The thought did not immediately occur to me. I went with the trend just as I did for months on end, two years ago assuming all lemons were really meyer lemons…uhhh huhh, sure. All Limes, key limes….right. But then as I received dish after dish of varied pork texture and dissimilar flesh types, it suddenly occurred to me that everyone markets things to the buzz of the moment. As a teenager I worked in a restaurant where Purdue chicken breast was presented as capon.
Last summer I decided to make Key Lime Pie on the fly. I had no Key Limes, so regular limes would have to do. I would never tell and everyone declared it the best Key Lime Pie they had ever eaten! Well, do you think I would ever use a real Key Lime after that? Hell NO!
So, here’s the point: How do we know what we are eating? I’m sure Craig LaBan does. But, how does the regular consumer? Pork Belly literally comes from the belly of the pig. It has a layer of fat over the meat and must be braised for hours to tenderize it. That being said, it is not pork shoulder, or pork butt or any other braised pork roast. I personally love tender juicy braised pork shoulder, but that doesn’t make it pork belly!
Pork Belly is essentially bacon before it is cured, as described in this article for a recipe of pork belly sandwiches in Serious Eats.
Pork Belly Picture From Serious Eats
So restaurants, call a spade a spade. If you are serving braised pork shoulder, be proud of it and tell us. If you want to serve pork belly, then serve pork belly! Be honest – we are on to you!