I’ll never forget the first time I made this dish – which also happened to be the first time I ever made pork belly. I had this particular dish I wanted to make and I had a deviled egg recipe I wanted to try that interestingly contained nori (dried seaweed). I could not find pork belly or nori at my usual grocery store so I set out searching for the two. There was a Korean market by my house and it got great reviews online so my husband and I took a trip there. The market was a one-stop shop; it had groceries, a hot bar, clothes, electronics, a hair salon… anything you could want. I started browsing the aisles and I didn’t even know what a lot of the food was. On top of that, a lot of it wasn’t in English. I was in over my head. But that’s okay. It was a new experience. I ended up finding my pork belly and my nori and came home to make both of my new dishes. The deviled eggs were amazing. (I’ll be sure to post about them sometime.)  And the pork belly was heavenly.

I got this recipe from Amy Thielen. If you are no stranger to this blog you know that I love Amy Thielen and I love her cookbook. You can view this particular recipe in the Google books preview here. You cook the pork belly low and slow in the oven. When you pull it out of the oven it’s so soft and tender it clings to the roasting rack for support. Frankly it’s delicious enough at that point. But the recipe takes the pork belly to the next level. On the stovetop you reduce down a sauce of maple syrup, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger and garlic. Then you brush the glaze on the pork belly and finish it off roasting in a hot oven. The meat itself is as tender and lush as butter. And then the glaze gives the meat a crisp sugary coating. It’s beyond amazing. It is comfort food to the max.

If you are looking for a new recipe to try this weekend I would highly suggest this one. Until next time, happy cooking!