Pork belly... Where did I go wrong

[Brsboarder]

I tried cooking pork belly for the first time following the recipe at epicurious "dan barbers
Pork belly" I followed the recipe although I cooked it in the oven for an extra hour. However I felt
that while the taste was excellent there was still too much fat. My thoughts are that I need more time vs higher temp to render out more of that fatty layers however I'm looking for other peoples thoughts. I'm worrie that if I cooked it longer it might start to fall apart and lose some of it's consistency.

Thanks

[ipsedixit]

You do realize that pigs don't do ab workouts, right?

Their belly is going to be about 75% fat, if not more.

[Robin Joy]

This might be of interest:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/576552

[smtucker]

It may just be that you don't like pork belly. Pork belly is mostly fat, and recipes for this ingredient are trying to celebrate that.

[table4onthefly]

When you pull the belly from the oven, put a sheet of parchment over it followed by a sheet pan. Weigh down the belly with a couple cans of tomatoes. The weight squeezes out any excess liquified fat and also compresses the layers, giving you a denser, more succulent piece of meat. Keep the weight on at room temp until the belly is completely cooled. I find it's usually the liquified fat that re-solidifies in the belly that makes it unpleasantly fatty, so this method should solve your problem.

[Harters]

This must depend on how much fat is "too much". Personally, I cook pork belly because it is fatty and I find the layers of fat intrinsic to the taste and texture that I like.

For, say, a 1kg piece, I'd give it a really high blast for 15 -20 minutes to start to crisp the skin and then turn the heat down to around 170C for 2.5 hours. It may still need another half hour or so. The texture I get is very similar to American "pulled" pork.