Pork Belly

Pork belly is a rectangular, fatty cut from the underside of the pig with alternating layers of meat and fat. It renders richly and turns tender with slow cooking, while high heat can puff the skin into shattering crackling; common uses include braising, slow roasting, pan-searing, and grilling, and it is sold as skin-on slabs or skinless strips.\n\nThe cut is traditional across East Asian and European cuisines, featured in dishes like Chinese hong shao rou, Korean samgyeopsal, and Filipino lechon kawali. It is also the source cut for bacon and pancetta, produced by curing and sometimes smoking the belly.