Pork belly too thin for bacon...options?

Started by PrairieSailor, May 25, 2019, 08:08:02 AM

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PrairieSailor

Howdy,

I picked up some slabs of skin-on belly that I had ordered and once I got home realised they are way too thin to make bacon from.  Once the skin is removed they will be maybe 1/2 thick in some places.  Does anyone have a suggestion or recipe for what to maybe use these for?

Habanero Smoker

Sorry you ended up with such poor bellies. I hope there is more meat than fat on them. I'm not sure how many pounds you are working with, but you have a few options. For the skin you can make crackling. There is a recipe on this site, or search the internet. Marinated fresh pork belly is great either roasted or grilled. There are plenty of recipes out there, but you may have to adjust your cooking times to accommodate the thinnest of the bellies.

If they are thick enough in some places to make average width bacon, trim them accordingly and cure them, though you may have smaller slabs then you originally wanted. If you can't salvage any, or for the trimmed parts; you can still cure them and use them in stews, stir-fry etc, but you will definitely need to reduce the cure time, due to their thinnest. If you have your own grinder, you can mix the cured pork belly in with beef, pork shoulder, or other meats to make sausage or hamburgers.



     I
         don't
                   inhale.
  ::)

Roget

YCDBSOYA

PrairieSailor

Quote from: Roget on May 26, 2019, 05:10:16 AM
One word.

Pork belly burnt ends.  ;)

Yeah that IS a good idea though truly the thin parts are too thin for that. 

TedEbear

Quote from: Roget on May 26, 2019, 05:10:16 AM
One word.

Pork belly burnt ends.  ;)

Actually, those are FOUR words.   ;D