Oven-baked pork belly is one of the most delicious meat dishes. The versatility of pork allows you to experiment with spices, herbs and various side dishes.
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Brisket is one of the most delicious parts of pork meat. Thanks to layers of thin and quickly cooked fat, the brisket is juicy and quite soft. The brisket is usually cooked very quickly (the cooking time for conventional frying is 13-17 minutes, for baking in the oven for 1 hour, for baking in foil - up to 1.5 hours). There are a lot of recipes for baking pork in the oven, a large number of recipes are copyrighted, that is, they are invented independently by each cook. Of the most famous, one can distinguish the brisket baked in herbs.
To prepare 2 servings of this dish, you will need the following ingredients: 1 kg of pork belly, 3-4 branches of fresh rosemary (or enough dried), 2-3 branches of thyme (thyme), 1 small head of garlic, salt and black pepper to taste. A large number of spices in the preparation of this dish is not necessary, as they conceal the natural taste of meat. Rosemary and thyme are best cut very finely, but black pepper should be taken in coarse grinding (it is best combined with meat dishes).
The brisket should be thoroughly washed and dried. Finely chop the garlic or pass through the garlic press. The breast should be cut into 3-4 small pieces (you can leave 1 large piece, however, the cooking time in this case will increase to 2.5 hours), salt, pepper and make small cuts 1-1.5 cm deep on top of each piece of meat. you will need to carefully put the crushed garlic. Next, grate the pork with rosemary and thyme.
The oven should be preheated to a temperature of 180-200 ° C and then put the meat there on a convenient flat baking sheet. After 20-25 minutes, after the breast is covered with a golden crust, the temperature of the oven should be reduced to 150 ° C. At this temperature, the meat will cook another 1.5-2 hours. Do not forget to regularly (once every 15-20 minutes) pour a piece of meat with melted fat. Thus, the meat becomes juicier, and in addition, a beautiful fried crust with a salty taste is formed.
The low baking temperature allows the fat to melt and thereby makes the meat juicy.
Immediately after cooking, the brisket should be transferred to a separate cutting board or plate with foil or cling film to insist a little. In general, it takes about 15 minutes and the brisket does not have time to cool, but it becomes more fragrant and soft. After that, you can serve meat with a side dish.
Boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, various vegetable salads are well suited to the brisket baked according to this recipe. One of the most successful garnish options for baked brisket is Greek salad. Chilled red semisweet wine is an ideal alcoholic drink for a dish; berry fruit drinks with sourness (cranberry, cowberry fruit drinks and juices) are well suited for non-alcoholic drinks.
Sauces for brisket cooked in the oven can be either spicy (chili, tabasco, etc.) or berry.
This kind of meat can be served both hot and cold (as an appetizer) with mustard and traditional sauces.