Cooking pork belly in the microwave? Surely not? I have had my eyes opened this week in discovering just how easy it has been to put a meal together than looks like it should have taken ages to prepare and cook, yet was all done within thirty minutes and on the table.
I use my microwave quite a bit for bits and pieces, cooking vegetables, breakfasts etc, but rarely do I use it to cook meat. I think I have previously discounted the microwave as a vessel for cooking meat until now.
I decided to cook my pork belly as per the instructions in the video below. It’s important to make sure the meat is cooking evenly when using a microwave.
I began with placing my pork belly on a raised microwavable dish, seasoned with salt and pepper after scoring lightly to encourage the skin to crisp up nicely.
I also added some water to the tray underneath where my pork belly was resting. In a combination microwave you can cook on convention settings for 20 minutes.
If you have a standard microwave as I do, then I chose to cover my pork in wrap and cook on low power for a few minutes at a time, turning frequently to ensure even cooking.
If you’re not too worried about having a nice crispy skin then you can serve after the pork is cooked through.
It would be advisable to check microwave settings to make sure you’re cooking at the correct temperature and time. I decided I would quite like to crisp up my skin, and without the aid of a combination microwave to do this for me, I flash fried skin side down to create some crispiness.
With this method of cooking very very quick, I chose to accompany my pork belly with some garlic and herb potatoes that I was also able to cook in the microwave whilst the pork belly was flash frying. I also added some broccoli and carrots which had been happily steaming away.
I couldn’t quite believe how quick and easy it was cooking pork belly in the microwave and it’s certainly opened my eyes to the possibilities of dinners becoming that little bit easier and more exciting in the future.
I didn’t even know what pork bellies really were and had never eaten them until a neighbor gave me some he had smoked. I tried frying them in a pan but since I’m not a cook I wasn’t sure when you would know they are really done so I transferred them to a microwaveable plate and was surprised how quickly they cooked , so I tried another slice directly into the microwave and in less than 2 minutes it was done, although I guess the thickness of the slice would vary the cooking time. You could tell my neighbor had really used a lot of spices when smoking as the smell was as good as the smell in a Texas BBQ place.