The idea was to make a watermelon gazpacho, which utilized the rind and the flesh of the fruit. With that idea in mind, we bantered about the flavor of char. I opted to grill the rind with a thick layer of flesh on it to add some sweet cooked and caramelized notes to the soup. While grilling the slabs of watermelon rind we realized that the contrast of rind to flesh reminded us of pork belly. A new idea was born. We took the grilled the 4 pieces of watermelon rind and seasoned them individually with a variety of flavors from lemon cordial and lovage to walnut oil. We vacuum sealed them with their seasonings and cooked them at 85°C for 30 minutes. Once the melon "bellies" were cooked we cooled them down. We cut open the first bag, in this case lovage and lemon, and trimmed up the watermelon into a rectangle. Then we realized that they looked more like duck breast than pork belly. We accentuated the look by scoring the watermelon rind and sauteeing it in olive oil. We finished them with butter and crushed garlic cloves. Once the watermelon was nicely caramelized we drained off the fat and added the watermelon braising liquid to the pan to glaze the slab of melon. The result was a beautiful breast of watermelon. A new kind of steak that is as flavorful as it is enticing to the eye.
