Pork belly on the BBQ Asian version

Barbecue pork belly: the Asian recipe

Pork is loved and used all over the world: cooked on the grill, in tasty soups, as a flavoring or in delicious bacon, in short it goes well with everything. In particular, fresh pork belly is a boneless cut of meat that comes from the belly of the pig with a very high percentage of fat and therefore perfect for long barbecue cooking and creating that tasty crunchy crust given by its rind.

We are used to seeing it in many formats and we are not always able to find a whole piece of belly at the butcher, so our online butcher's shop offers a perfect cut for experimenting with new recipes and fabulous BBQ cooking.

Pork belly: recipes and uses

This cut of pork meat is used by American cousins ​​to prepare the typical crispy pork belly at the BBQ or as we would call it, crispy pork belly: the rind is scored and all the meat is massaged with homemade spice mixes or rubs, first to proceed with cooking on the grill.

Fresh pork belly is also widely used in Asian cuisine, to prepare caramelized bacon, for tasty stir-fries, in soups or in the recipe for Hong shao rou, braised pork belly.

So, taking inspiration from these two worlds, we decided to combine the two cuisines and offer you a super tasty recipe: Japanese-style barbecue pork belly.

BBQ pork belly ingredients

• 1.2 kg of pork belly with rind

For the Asian style sauce:

• 1 teaspoon each spice: black pepper, cloves, cardamom, dill seed or dill powder, ginger powder
• Alternatively 2 tablespoons of Pork rub 18
• 1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Pork Belly BBQ procedure

To prepare the pork belly for the BBQ, a first step is often necessary. We take the meat and boil it for 2-3 minutes in boiling unsalted water. Once seared, we make small holes in the rind (a wooden skewer stick is fine) so that the marinade can enter and it cooks evenly on the grill.

In the meantime, we prepare the mix of spices by placing them all in a mortar (if you don't have them all in powder form) and crush vigorously until everything is homogenized. Now let's add the liquid part to the powdery part; we add the two Asian sauces and the rice vinegar (a grappa is also fine) and create a nice homogeneous and silky mixture.

We make very small cuts in the meat and now sprinkle the pork belly on the meat side with the marinade, only if there is any liquid left over, also pass on the rind. Well, the ideal would be to marinate the pork belly in the refrigerator overnight, but even 4 hours may be enough.

Once the meat has been marinated, remove it from the fridge and let it return to room temperature, light the burners and as soon as the barbecue reaches a temperature of 200°C, take the pork belly and place it on the heat with the rind side.

We grill for about 30/40 minutes over indirect heat and checking that the skin does not burn too much. If we want we can sprinkle with the marinade even during cooking. Last step, we can turn the belly on the meat side for a final searing over direct heat. Once ready, serve with a cucumber salad, grilled carrots, fennel or a fresh salad: it will be a real pleasure!