Braised Pork Belly with Pickled Ramps and Pork Caramel
Marc of No recipes was kind enough to share this picture with me. It’s one of the five dishes we made at Forage & Feast and one that received rave reviews from everyone. If you read Zested, Constables larder, No recipes or Lab 24/7 you probably know all there is to know about this great foraging-cooking expedition we went on last week-end. If you don’t, i suggest you visit the blogs aforementioned for a detailed view and the complete menu of this fantastic cooking event organized by Marc of No Recipes and Jonathan of Lab 24/7. In short, the goal was to drive up to a park in Yonkers to pick ramps, fiddlehead ferns and stinging nettles in the wilderness and bring the fruit vegetable of our labor back to The Lab in Brooklyn to cook a 5 courses feast. I also wanted to kill a bear but i couldn’t find any. What a disappointment.
We came back to The Lab with our spring bounty and we improvised, we made mistakes, we took risks, we drank, we drank again… Ahh! those ramptinis. After a few of those you should have seen this bunch of cooking maniacs chopping, cleaning and chatting to the sound of reggae! Claire of Colloquial Cookin’, who is the embodiment of French glamour, was there to ensure no line of glamourism were crossed. She’s so efficient that by the end of the day everyone was completely fluent in French. Amazing! And she can cook too! Not your average Easter Sunday but definitely a great day for everyone.
Let’s zoom on this Braised Pork Belly with pickled ramps and pork caramel. I think it deserves a post of it’s own cuz it’s good… it’s real good. It started 48 hours before the show with a spice-cure to perfume (and cure) all this porky goodness. Then it was washed and slowly simmered in an aromatic broth for about 3 hours to a perfect pork-fork-tenderness and paired with sauteed ramps, sauteed morels, pickled ramps (that packed a punch) and brought full circle with what i like to call a pork caramel; a caramel deglazed and reduced with the pickling juice from the ramps and the pork cooking liquid.
Liz of Zested shared the pictures of the pickled ramps with me. Why didn’t i take my own pictures? Why did i have to beg to everyone? Well.. err.. their cameras were bigger than mine. I don’t want to be the one pointed at for having a small camera! It’s traumatizing!!
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Braised Pork Belly with Pickled Ramps and Pork Caramel
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- Serves 6
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For the spice-cured pork belly:
- 3 whole star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
- 1/2 cup coarse sea salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 pounds boneless pork belly
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For the aromatic broth:
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaves, rosemary, parsley stems)
For the pickled ramps:
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- 3 bunches of ramps, white parts only
- 1 cup white wine vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 T. kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon coriander seed
- 1 tablespoon mustard seed
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried chili flakes
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Pork caramel:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup ramp pickling juice (see above)
- 1/2 cup pork cooking liquid (see above)
- sea salt to taste
- fresh chervil for garnish
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Garnish and finishing:
- 3 bunches ramps, cleaned
- a dozen fresh morels, cleaned
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped
- 1 small shallot, chopped
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt and black pepper
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For the spice-cured pork belly:
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- Put the star anise, cinnamon sticks, peppercorns, coriander, fennel seeds, and cloves in a skillet and toast until fragrant. Crush the spices in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Stir the spices with the salt, sugar, and garlic.
- Score the skin of the pork belly with a sharp knife. Rub the spice mixture on both sides. Put in a baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 48 hours.
- While the pork belly is curing, clean ramps and separate white from green, reserving greens for another use.
- Prepare brine, bringing vinegar, water, sugar, honey and salt to a boil for 1 minute. Add dried spices and bay leaves and boil for 1 minute.
- Blanch ramp bottoms in heavily salted water for 1-2 minutes. Drain and cool quickly using ice and running cold water.
- When the pork belly is cured you are ready to proceed.
- Scrap off the spice mixture from the pork belly and run it under cold water until clean.
- Put the belly in a deep stockpot along with the celery, the carrot, the onion and the bouquet garni. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 3 hours, skimming off the fat that rises to the surface. The belly is done when fork-tender. Keep in cooking liquid until ready to use or refrigerate.
- Put sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Make a caramel.
- When the color turns deep mahogamy deglaze with pickling juice and pork stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a sauce consistency. Season with a pinch of sea salt. Keep warm.
- Sautee the ramps in olive oil until the green leaves start to brown. Season with salt and pepper.
- Sautee morels in olive oil, season with salt and butter. Finish with a touch of butter, chopped garlic and shallots.
- Serve the pork belly warm, cut in nice big cubes on a bed of sauteed ramps and morels. Garnish with pickled ramps and chervil. Drizzle with pork caramel and a grind or two of black pepper. Enjoy!
For the pickled ramps:
Pour brine over ramps and let sit for 3 days in the refrigerator.
For the aromatic broth:
Pork caramel:
Garnish and finishing:
Tags: Add new tag, Entree, Pork
April 18th, 2009 at 3:42 am
This sounds divine. I love the idea of the pork caramel.
April 18th, 2009 at 8:33 am
There is a great restaurant in NJ (yes, there is ONE) called A Toute Heure. The chef has a new menu weekly, sort of a like Blue Hill concept.
Farmers Market stuff.
She did pickled ramps on eggs on toast this week for lunch! We loved it.
Thought of you!
April 18th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I can only imagine how delicious this braised pork is with all of those flavor from the spices. Delicious!
Cheers,
elra
April 18th, 2009 at 10:28 am
i had pork belly for the first time last week… sad, I know! It was great though! I should make it sometime!
April 18th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Such a time-intensive dish, but totally worth it, I’m sure! Pork caramel is one of those word combinations you should hear of more often, hehe!
April 18th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Hi,
I would like to include your recipe in our “Grow Your Own” roundup this month! For information on how to enter, please go to
http://chezannies.blogspot.com/2009/04/hosting-april-2009-grow-your-own.html
Aloha, Nate
April 18th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Sounds like y’all had a blast.
April 18th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
I still have dreams about that pork. It really was THAT good. Although now that I have the whole stash of smoked pork belly home I’m wondering how this would have tasted with smoked pork. BBQ + pickles is a natural combo so I’m thinking braised them smoked pork belly with pickles would be mind-blowing.
April 19th, 2009 at 2:34 am
I just found your blog - I love it!
April 19th, 2009 at 9:24 am
I can’t even imagine making this dish myself, but I certainly can imagine eating it! Everything about it sounds wonderful. I always wondered what I would do with ramps if I had them!
April 19th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
not that old same dish again
i make that every tuesday. so you know, tuesday is pork night and this is in my regular rotation.
April 19th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
The glamour police has just given its stamp of approval for that post. Consider yourself lucky.
April 20th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
we were sad we couldn’t join you all at this. but porky caramel sauce looks amazing and i think i’d even put it on my ice cream. you guys make a great team - this dish is almost intimidating! great job.
April 20th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Damn you for reminding me of a dish I never got to taste! That Sunday was a blast, and it was fun to work in a kitchen with you, Claire, Marc, Liz, Liz and Jonathon.
Bear? Just be glad we didn’t catch other Yonkers “wildlife”
April 21st, 2009 at 7:26 am
Wow! Look at this new blog! Looks fantastic.
April 21st, 2009 at 4:49 pm
one word… YUM!
April 21st, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Can I go next time? I could take ice creams and sing. Ok maybe just the ice creams..
April 21st, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Lovely stuff. Pork belly is fantastic, and I love seeing it served with pickled what-nots. Looks modern, clean and simple. fantastic.
April 22nd, 2009 at 6:03 am
Good work! Bears, really now…aren’t ramps the best!
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Mmmm…pork belly. I’m still thinking about how much I need to try ramps. I’d go foraging, but I have no idea what I’d be looking for.
If you want a bear, there are plenty of them in the woods behind the stable where I ride in Sussex NJ. They’re considered a nuisance to the locals, so no one will mind if you pick off one or two.
April 24th, 2009 at 10:18 am
I’d like to know more about how to find ramps- do you think they grow in MI? When I lived in France I went to a ramps festival once, but sadly I don’t think I’ve eaten them since. I have eaten dandelion greens out of my backyard, but that is about the extent of my foraging
April 28th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
[...] and a tiny , all mashed together to taste with a mortar and pestle. We served this with some pickled ramps, and a chilled pinot [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Love the new blog and design!
Marc sent me some ramps over the weekend and they made it intact! Woohoo!
I was thinking of preparing them like “poireaux vinaigrette”. I miss those terribly.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:47 am
[...] I served these pies with some pickled red onions, and the combination (taking them both in the same bite) was just fantastic. You can do a fast pickle, where you put the sliced onions in a hot mixture, or take a more patient approach. In this case, I applied Stephane’s pickling method for ramps, which you can find halfway down this post [link]. [...]
May 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Love it! Quite frankly, you had me at pork caramel. Perhaps I can make just that and sop it up with bread!