Pork Belly with Agave Glaze

This process must be started the day before serving. It should also be noted we used a gas grill.

Pork Belly with Agave Glaze – serves 10-12
5-pound pork belly (without bones)
4 teaspoons kosher salt plus more
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
6 poblano chiles, stemmed, halved
4 serrano chiles, stemmed, halved
1 cup agave nectar

Preheat oven to 250°F. Season pork belly all over with salt and pepper.

Place chiles in a large roasting pan. Place pork belly skin side down on top of chiles, and drizzle pork belly with 1/2 cup agave. Pour the remaining 1/2 cup agave nectar and 2 cups water into pan. Cover the pan tightly with foil.

Place pork belly roasting pan into the oven and cook pork for 3 hours, basting with pan juices every hour. Turn pork over and cook for 4 more hours, or until very tender.
Transfer pork to another roasting pan and cover pork with parchment paper. Top it with a large plate, and use large heavy cans as weights. Chill overnight.

To serve: Remove pork belly from pan, slice pork belly into 1″-thick pieces. Heat grill to medium and cook until warmed and crisp, about 2 minutes per side.

To prepare Pork Belly sandwiches – makes 24 mini sandwiches
Vegetable oil
1 ripe pineapple (about 3 1/2 pounds), peeled, cored, cut into 1/4″ rounds
Kings Hawaiin dinner rolls

Heat to high. Brush grill rack with oil. Grill pineapple until nicely charred, 2–3 minutes per side, set aside.

Split Hawaiin dinner roll, cut grilled pineapple to fit a piece on the bun, and top with pork belly. Serve immediately.

ALTERNATE VERSION OF ASSEMBLING THE SANDWICHES

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 avocado, halved, pitted, and sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 8 sandwich-style croissants split in half
• 1/4 cup Smoked Aioli
• 1/2 cup drained Pickled Radishes
• 1 cup arugula leaves, watercress sprigs, or flat leaf parsley
• 1 ripe peach, persimmon, or apple, halved, pitted, and sliced (optional)

1. Peel the rind off the pork belly and discard. Wrap the belly tightly in plastic wrap and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, at least 2 hours and up to 5 days.

2. To make the sandwiches: Unwrap the pork and slice it into 8 even slices. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and sear on both sides until crisp, about 1 minute per side. Drain on paper towels.

3. Sprinkle the lime juice over the avocado slices and season them lightly with salt and pepper.

4.  Spread 1 tablespoon of the smoked aioli on the split croissant bottoms. Top the remaining 4 pieces of bread with 2 slices pork belly each, followed by some pickled radishes, one-quarter of the arugula leaves, and one-quarter of the avocado slices; top with several peach slices, if using. Put the top croissant slices in place and serve immediately.