Don't Make This Mistake When Cooking Pork Belly In The Oven

While bone-in chicken or roast beef are classic choices for the oven, cooking pork belly in the oven is a little more complicated. The succulent, tender interior and crispy, crackly skin that have earned pork belly a high spot on our ranked list of pork cuts usually involves a couple of different cooking methods from smoking to grilling. However, oven-cooked pork belly is delicious with the right technique, and we've consulted an expert to help guide you through.

Rich Parente and his wife Cassie are restaurant and farm owners, raising the pigs that end up on customers' plates at their restaurant Clock Tower Grill in Brewster, New York State. Rich is also the executive chef, and has shed valuable insight about the dos and don'ts of cooking pork belly in the oven.

Parente starts with the don'ts: "Personally, I wouldn't just put a hunk of pork belly on a sheet pan and then go straight into the oven with it. All the fat would render out and it would get leathery." If you've never seen raw pork belly, it has a thick layer of fat overlying the meat underneath, which is responsible for its rich flavor and decadent textural contrast when cooked right.

The chef advises, "Because pork belly is so fatty and tough, it needs to be treated some way before cooking or cooked low-and-slow, so an oven braise is a great way to go." The idea is to tenderize and lock in moisture with a treatment before or during the pork belly's stint in the oven.

Because oven braising uses a liquid, you'll be able to lock in the meat's moisture. This low and slow cooking method will result in tender and juicy pork belly while also creating a complex and flavorful sauce. It's sensible to start with a quick stove-top browning of the meat, however, so that its browned bits make a delicious foundation for the braising liquid. You can get creative with braising liquids, drawing inspiration from different culinary traditions. Take a lesson from our miso-braised pork belly recipe by mixing soy sauce, red miso, honey and gochujang for a pan-Asian profile. You could also braise the pork belly with a blend of broth and wine along with a mirepoix, tomatoes, and whole spices for a more Western approach. Braising usually takes a few hours in an oven at temperatures around 325 degrees Fahrenheit. You'll may still need to finish the pork belly off under a broiler if you want a super crispy skin.

Another oven-based option for your pork belly is to slow-roast it, which will take about two and a half hours at 285 degrees Fahrenheit, again finishing it off under the broiler for the crispiest skin. For slow-roasting, the best treatment is an overnight salt cure to both tenderize the meat and crisp up the skin. If you do decide to just roast the pork belly at high 400-degree Fahrenheit temperatures, an overnight soak in apple-cider vinegar or brown sugar brine will prevent leathery pork belly while also instilling flavor.