Tasty Fat

We realized that the texture of slow cooked pork fat was very close to that of foie gras in both hot and cold preparations. The dish was designed around fat substitution. We also realized that if we served a slab of hot or cold pork fat we might get a less than enthusiastic reaction. In order to balance our beliefs with customer satisfaction we opted to slowly cook the Mangalista pork belly. The belly provides some incredibly delicious meat within the layers of fat. Yes, this is a lot of fat. So is foie gras. The point of the dish was to appreciate the fat. We served the belly seared on one side with mole, stone fruits and a tamale. We could have happily served the belly chilled with grilled bread and marmalade. In fact, if it were not for a larger stigma of eating vast quantities of cold pork fat we may well have done so. The key to the dish and the preparation is the fat. More often than not meat is marbled with fat. In the Mangalista it is reversed. The fat is marbled with meat. The meat is extraordinary and imparts a rich flavor to the fat. Perhaps that is what I missed at first when looking at this animal. The meat seasons the fat rather than the expected and norm of the fat supplementing the meat.