Pork belly

Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless, fatty cut of pork from the belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in cuisines including American, British, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Polish, Hispanic, Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai.

In Alsatian cuisine, pork belly is prepared as choucroute garnie.

In Chinese cuisine, pork belly (Chinese: 五花肉; pinyin: wǔhuāròu) is most often prepared by dicing and slowly braising with skin on, marination, or being cooked in its entirety. Pork belly is used to make red braised pork belly (紅燒肉) and Dongpo pork (東坡肉) in China (sweet and sour pork is made with pork fillet).

In Guangdong, a variant called crispy pork belly (脆皮燒肉) is also popular. The pork is cooked and grilled for a crispy skin. Pork belly is also one of the common meats used in char siu.

In Dominican, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Puerto Rican cuisine, pork belly strips are fried and served as part of bandeja paisa surtido (chicharrón).

In Venezuela, it is known as tocineta, not to be confused with chicharrón (pork skins) (although the arepa de chicharrón uses fried pork belly instead of skins). Local tradition uses tocineta as one of the fillings of traditional ham bread (pan de jamón), and some use it for the typical hallacas.

In traditional Danish cuisine, whole pork belly is prepared as flæskesteg (literally 'pork roast'), traditionally eaten at Christmas. The dish is called ribbenssteg (literally 'rib roast') when prepared from pork belly. It is typically oven roasted with the skin on, seasoned with salt and bay leaves. The skin turns into a crispy rind, which is eaten with the meat. Prepared in individual slices as stegt flæsk, it is the national dish of Denmark.

In German cuisine, pork belly is used as an ingredient in schlachtplatte.