This buttered fried pork belly is a very simple dish that can be cooked more or less within 30 minutes. The ingredients are also very simple that you can easily buy it on your local grocery stores or supermarkets. To describe the taste of this dish, it has a buttery flavor with the sweet and spicy taste along with the tender and juicy fried pork belly. I’m sure you will love the taste if your favorite dish is fried pork.
Butter Fried Pork Belly: Family Favorite
The smell of fried pork brings to the mind immediately memories of home. During childhood, home was primarily filled with the irresistible aroma of frying pork belly in the pan and always preceded one thing: a feast. Well, buttered fried pork belly is one dish that marks its staple favorite from so many years. The buttery sweetness with spicy spiciness plus a crunch while still tender crunch. It’s simply pleasurable in every sense, but it is not just the taste that makes this food special, because there are also memories attached to it.
A Generational Recipe
I learned how to make this dish from my Tita Emma, who actually has a knack for whipping up simple but forget-me-not meals. She would always say, “The secret is in the balance—don’t let the butter overpower the pork.” It was on one of those family gatherings on a Sunday when I witnessed her preparing this dish with her calm and practiced hands. She used the freshest pork belly she could find from the wet market, insisting that the quality of the meat would make or break the dish. I can still remember when she prepared all the ingredients with such apparent ease, doing each thing with intent and precision.
She marinated the pork that evening in a mixture of patis, calamansi juice, and garlic powder, allowing the flavors to soak in while she began preparing the rest of her meal. The patis and calamansi is a traditional Filipino combination, and it works amazingly well here because the saltiness of the patis enhances the pork’s natural flavor, and calamansi cuts through the richness of fat.
The Magic of Frying
Frying, and for that reason, is an inevitable step while preparing this dish. However, it is not only ensuring that perfect golden-brown crust on your food. Behind it lies some science. Fry the pork belly at just that right temperature, not only to lock the juices in but to create a crispy texture that everyone enjoys. My Kuya Ben swears that’s the crunchiness that makes the pork irresistible, especially when freshly come out of the pan. The trick is you coat the marinated pork belly with a thin layer of flour before frying. It gives the pork a thin crispy coating. It adds a light, crispy touch to the pork but does not weigh the pork down in texture.
I can never forget that summer spent with my cousin in Batangas, spending afternoons frying batches of pork belly, trying out various marinades and flour coatings. It was always the classic Tita Emma taught us though, that would end up being the winner. And she was right-the buttered fried pork belly is all about harmony.
Butter and Sweet Chili: A Match Made in Heaven
Now, once it is fried to a nice crisp, it takes this pork dish to be luxurious. I melt butter in the same pan and stir in sweet chili sauce. This butter added the richness and coated the pork with great beauty while sweet chili brings subtle heat and sweetness that goes so well with the savory flavors of the pork. But what sets this fried pork belly apart from the others is the addition of butter and sweet chili. Ah, my uncle Tito Boy taught me that-no sweet dish goes amiss with just a little savory in it. It’s all about playing with the flavors, he always said, and that’s really the case-the layers of taste here are relentless, so you find yourself slurping back for more.
The addition of the bell peppers makes this dish crunchy and has a sweet pop; thus, they temper the richness of the buttered pork. The pan toss in will give each piece of pork just the right amount of the sweet spicy and buttery sauce.
A Little History and Why It Works
Fried pork belly buttered sounds modern enough, but the roots of this dish reach deep down into the traditional Filipino cooking. Rich boldness in flavors, like calamansi, patis, and chili sauce with the pork belly itself – all of this can be found in some other classic Filipino dishes, combining sour, salty, and sweet elements with the meat, in this case, pork. Generations have passed on frying as a technique for cooking pork crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
The method works because it should have hit the right balance of textures and flavor. Locking the moisture in by first frying the pork gives a crisp exterior that will hold even when tossed in buttery sauce later on. Thus, inside, it stays juicy and soft while the exterior stays rich and flavorsome. This dish is Filipino masala-so, true to form in the sense that it wears its humble ingredients on its sleeve and enlivens simple flavors with bold texture.
Putting It All Together
Whichever time of the year I decide to cook, memories of lazy afternoons spent in the kitchen with the family come rushing into my mind. There is something comforting about bringing those recipes back up generations, especially when they are as straightforward yet tasty as this one. Buttered fried pork belly is a meal that transcends the fact that it’s just a meal-it’s a part of my past, of family, and of flavors that helped me to cultivate love for cooking.
Whether you’re a seasoned or first-time cook, this is simply the perfect dish for anyone who needs that quick, mouthwatering meal. Crispy fried pork, smeared with buttery sweet chili sauce, promises to become a favorite in your kitchen just as it is in mine. Trust me, that first bite alone tells why it’s a family favorite.
How to Cook Buttered Fried Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 1/2 kilo pork belly sliced
- 1/2 Tbsp. black pepper
- 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp. patis or fish sauce
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- 1 tsp. salt
- 5 Tbsp. sweet chili sauce
- 1 pc small bell pepper minced
- 1 Tbsp. spring onion chopped
- 6 pcs calamansi extract the juice
- cooking oil for frying
- 1 cup flour
Instructions
How to Cook Buttered Fried Pork Belly
- If the pork belly you bought is half an inch thick and sliced into strips, slice the pork belly strips into 2 inch wide.
- Put in a bowl and add patis, calamansi juice, black pepper powder, garlic powder and salt.
- Mix all the ingredients and massage the pork belly to coat it with the ingredients. Marinate for 30 minutes.
- Before frying, add flour and mix to coat each of the pork belly slices.
- Heat cooking oil in a frying pan about 1 cup then fry the pork belly until golden brown.
- When cooked, remove from pan and transfer to a bowl or plate lined with paper towels.
- In an empty pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and add butter. Stir until the butter is melted.
- Add sweet chili sauce and bell pepper. Stir again until sweet chili sauce is well mixed with the butter.
- Add the fried pork belly and toss until coated with the sauce. Sprinkle with spring onion as garnishing then serve hot.
Notes
Cooking Tips:
Marinate the Meats for Greater Flavor
Letting the pork belly marinate for at least 30 minutes will have the patis, calamansi, and spices soak all in to the meat. This will ensure that in every single bite, it is so full of flavor that even if you're shallowly dipping on the outer side of the pork, it's still more than flavorable. To make it even better in taste, you could also let it marinate overnight for stronger and tangier taste.Fry at the Right Temperature
To achieve that golden brown crust, make sure your oil is hot enough to fry but not too hot. If the oil is too cool, the pork will absorb too much oil and become soggy; too hot, and it will burn without cooking throughout. This takes that crispy exterior while tender and juicy inside.Not Skimp on Butter Sauce
What makes this dish stand out is the combo of butter and sweet chili sauce. So take your time in this step and see that the butter is fully melted and well blended with the sweet chili before tossing in the pork. Then, you can make sure that every piece of pork belly will have it uniformly coated in that rich sweet spicy sauce for a more distinguishable flavor.
