Pork bellies

The twice-cooked pork discussion got me thinking about pork belly. When I was growing up you never saw fresh pork belly, only cured bacon. The only time I ever heard the term "pork belly" was in the financial news--the price of pork bellies on the Chicago commodities exchange was one of the things reported every day.

Over the last few years fresh pork belly has shown up everywhere. I used to see it only in Chinese butcher shops, but now our local supermarket regularly carries it. I think this is great because we can make and use real lardons. Older cookbooks such as Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking call for using blanched bacon or salt pork as a substitute.

Is there some particular dish or food fad that has sparked the interest in pork belly?

-Paul W.

That's a good question, Paul. I thought that it had possibly "leaked out" from the Asian markets, which have always carried pork belly (at least around here). But that's probably not a good explanation. I haven't seen anything that might explain pork belly showing up in regular grocery stores.

I've never seen pork belly... it does not mean it has not been around, I just have never wanted to cook with it, so I never looked. I prefer leaner cuts of meat and often remove most of the fat from certain cuts. I love pork chops and pork tenderloin. I also love bacon, but I cook it in the microwave on paper towels and have it down to a science.

[Jenise]

It might have started before David Chang's Momofuku, but it's my observation that it was about then (the success of his restaurant and the namesake book) that America, who had steered away (no pun intended) from fatty meat on the advice of their cardiologists for decades, suddenly embraced pork belly as a fine dining experience. And suddenly all manner of chefs were doing it on TV in cooking competitions--which have also exploded exponentially--using proper pressure cookers which most Americans didn't have--until!!!--the invention of instapots also of that era put that technique within reach of the average household.

Fuchsia Dunlop has observed that the Chinese have a much more developed appreciation for the texture and mouth-feel of food than Westerners do. For them a lot of the appeal of pork belly in dishes such as red-cooked pork and twice-cooked pork is the contrast between the texture of the fatty parts vs. the lean parts vs. the skin. Most Westerners are put off by the texture of fat, a phenomenon certainly not helped by the fat phobia encouraged by health professionals.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I completely agree with her about that. Btw, I have been a fat lover (beef AND pork) since childhood. Not that I've ever allowed myself to indulge much, but if I could wake up tomorrow and find a genie had granted a wish to make certain foods fat-free, pork belly would be one of them. I love that textural contrast.

I think Jenise is on right track with Momofuko comments. When I was growing up and in college the only Asian food most places had were takeout style Chinese and sushi counters. Now a huge proportion of upper end restaurants are Asian (Chinese and Korean both do a lot of pork belly), cooking shows feature Asian cuisines, and Hmart and its ilk are nationwide.
I just looked at NYT recipes, 45 for pork belly, all but one from this century (one 1982 for a gallantine using feet and belly)