Slow-Cooked Pork Belly

Think of Thai food and the first images that come to mind are fragrant herbs and aromatics — lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves — tropical fruits, creamy curries, stir-fried noodles and jasmine rice.

While these are all typical Thai ingredients and dishes, visitors to the Land of Smiles might be surprised to find that there’s another common ingredient found in everything from noodle soup and phad grapao to simply grilled on a stick — pork.

In the northern part of the country, pork plays a particularly prominent role with local sausages like naem, a fermented sour sausage, and sai oua, stuffed full of chillies and herbs, eaten both in dishes and on their own. 

While pork may not be quite as prevalent in the rest of Thailand, specifically in the deep south where seafood and beef reign supreme, many Thai dishes show influences of traditional Chinese flavours and cooking techniques which regularly include the succulent meat.

At 5-star hotels across the country, talented chefs are raising the humble ingredient up to new levels and, with the Year of the Pig just around the corner in 2019, what better time to take a peek at some thoroughly indulgent pork dishes. 

To bring out the flavours even more, the dish below highlights a pairing recommendation made by Bart Duykers of Andaman Wine Club from each restaurant’s wine list.   andaman-wine-club.com; [email protected]

Four Seasons Koh Samui

Slow-Cooked Pork Belly may sound like a simple dish, but pair it with potato puree, delicate slices of poached pear, sliced black truffle, roasted shallots, diced green apples and fresh microgreens and you’ve got a next-level meal. In Executive Chef Renato Rizzi’s decadent recipe at Pla Pla restaurant, the pork belly is slow-cooked then grilled creating a rich and savoury juxtaposition between the pork and the flavourful sides. To add even more brightness and an element of surprise, the dish is finished with a dollop of green causa sauce made in-house from roasted green tomatoes, sliced jalapenos, lime juice and coriander.

Wine companion: It’s taken me awhile to get to a pinot, but here we have a real gem, the Jamsheed Harem, Pepe Le Pinot, from Australia’s Yarra Valley. Light and refreshing, this wine has a dark berry fruitiness that will, when lightly chilled, amaze you and compliment the pork all the way.

View: fourseasons.com/kohsamui