Crock Pot Belly

[GusRobin]

Last weekend I took the wife to Nashville for her birthday. We had a nice dinner at this restaurant that had bacon as an appetizer. It was actually a chunk of belly. It was very tender and had a great flavor. I asked how they made it and the server said they sous vide it.
So yesterday I remembered a slab of belly I had in the freezer. The closest I have come to sous vide cooking is heating up some Green Giant veggies. So I was thinking (which is always dangerous) why don't I try it in the crock pot.

So last night I took the belly


I cut a section off the slab and re-vacuum sealed and put the rest back in the freezer. Cut the section in half and put the pieces into the fridge to defrost overnight.


I thought I would keep it simple and just add some pepper, salt, and a little cayenne to add a bit of kick. I debated about searing first so I decided to run a test with one seared and the other not seared. I cut a corner off the one I was going to sear so that I could tell them apart.  The players:


Here is the seared one with the spices added.


Into the crock pot and see you in about 8 hours or so.

UPDATE
So its been about 7 hrs and I think it is done. Here they are in the crock pot.



Out of the pot and on the dish.



I didn't really make any plans on what to do with it once it was done, so I just added some sauce, added some onions and ate it as is.



I must say, it was excellent. I will definitely make it again soon. I just need to figure out different sides etc.

[iceman]

Looks like a killer recipe Gus. I'll take a few plates of that to go  ;D

[terry08]

Looks awesome. You can Google sous vide pork belly, and find lots of good recipe's. I sous vide all my steaks and they turn out great.
I have had this one and it was great. Never done it myself though.
http://blog.sousvidesupreme.com/2012/01/sous-vide-pork-belly-sliders/

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[mikecorn.1]

Wow! That does look good.


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[wetzel1977]

Bacon looks great !! I love bacon !! but who doesn't

[GusRobin]

Looks awesome. You can Google sous vide pork belly, and find lots of good recipe's. I sous vide all my steaks and they turn out great.
I have had this one and it was great. Never done it myself though.
http://blog.sousvidesupreme.com/2012/01/sous-vide-pork-belly-sliders/

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Problem is I don't have a sous vide cooker and if I bought another thing now it would screw up the dry cure stuff I am going to by. (By screw up I mean the wife would have me sleeping in the shed with my Bradley --hmm when you think about it, it doesn't seem that bad.) I could have used a roaster but I didn't want to fool with it for 10-18 hrs.

[wetzel1977]

Sleeping out in the shed with my smoker or with my wife. Hummm the smoker it don't take back!!

[Habanero Smoker]

I generally grill or roast fresh belly.

If you have a vacuum sealer, a crock pot and a PID, you have every thing you need to sous vide. Just google "sous vide" and you get plenty of instructions on how to do it. I have even sous vide in a stock pot over a one burner hot plate, and had it controlled by my BBQ Guru DigiQ II.

[GusRobin]

I generally grill or roast fresh belly.

If you have a vacuum sealer, a crock pot and a PID, you have every thing you need to sous vide. Just google "sous vide" and you get plenty of instructions on how to do it. I have even sous vide in a stock pot over a one burner hot plate, and had it controlled by my BBQ Guru DigiQ II.

I will have to try that with my Auber PID

[terry08]

Gus, this is how I do my steaks. Works great.
http://mobile.seriouseats.com/2010/04/cook-your-meat-in-a-beer-cooler-the-worlds-best-sous-vide-hack.html

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[slrpro02]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0088OTON4/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Best Bang for the buck, check out the reviews.