# So, fat is back (food porn) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086 "2003-06-06T14:41:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/1 "2003-06-06T14:41:30Z")
At dinner this evening, I ordered the “organic pork belly”. I was unprepared for what arrived. I realised the days of non-Chinese restaurants serving overcooked and overlean pork have gone, but when the waiter put my plate on the table, it wobbled. On top there was skin. At the bottom was a layer of flesh about the thickness of a piece of ham. In between was an inch of ivory-coloured sweet fat. Not meat heavily marbled or streaked, a slab of pure fat. I ate the whole damn thing, and now I’m sitting here quietly oozing. ---
**Author:** ![Pixelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ad7895/32.png) [@Pixelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixelle)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/2 "2003-06-06T16:00:23Z")
Urrrgggh! Even if I wasn’t a vegetarian that still would’ve grossed me out 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gumbercules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gumbercules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gumbercules)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/3 "2003-06-06T16:48:53Z")
SOunds good. Isn’t bacon made from pork belly? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/4 "2003-06-06T16:58:41Z")
_hack_ _hack_ _bleagh_ ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/5 "2003-06-06T17:03:59Z")
\ ugh ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/6 "2003-06-06T17:58:56Z")
The trick of using cuts like pork belly is to cook it sufficiently long whereby the meat is carmelized while the fat is melted off into the pan bottom and reduced. The “feather” layers of belly fat are some of the most delicately flavored of all. Their use in a good sauce can create a most silken of gravies without the appallingly unctuous texture of lard based concoctions. I would tend to think that your chef was following the Pom tradition of barely searing a rasher of bacon before plating it for brekkies. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/7 "2003-06-06T18:15:20Z")
I hear what you’re saying, Zen, but still… Ick. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/8 "2003-06-06T18:16:44Z")
There’s a ramen shop here in the Silicon Valley, in Saratoga, which puts slices of long-braised fatty pork belly in their noodle soup. The classic meat to add is slices of a basic Chinese roast pork, but Do-Henkotsu goes a different route. I have to admit, once I got used to the idea, that it was delectable. Of course, it was only 2-3 thin slices, so you don’t get consume that much fat. Mmmmmm, Do-Henkotsu. I think I know where I’m going for lunch today. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/9 "2003-06-06T18:36:06Z")
I’ll meet you there, **pug**. I’m starving and have to make another batch of dolmades and salsas tonight. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/10 "2003-06-06T18:39:46Z")
I’m trying to get there - the boss just dumped some stuff on me. Maybe I can leave in 10 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/11 "2003-06-06T18:44:32Z")
I need 25 minutes to get to Saratoga. Where is the place? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/12 "2003-06-06T20:21:36Z")
Drat! I left before seeing your last post, Zenster. Sorry about that. I thought you had been there before, you foodie you. For future reference, it is at the corner of Moorpark and Saratoga. From the 280, take Saratoga Road south. The strip mall containing both Do-Henkotsu and the big Japanese supermarket called, I believe, Miyako, is barely a small block south of the freeway. Do-Henkotsu is in a breezeway between the supermarket and a small strip of buildings containing a sushi bar, a bakery, and a bar. We’ll try it again soon. It’s a real Japanese ramen joint, and I love the food there. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/13 "2003-06-06T21:01:27Z")
**pug** , you were next door to my most favorite sushi bar in the entire Valley. **Tomisushi** is simply superb. **Mitsuwa Marketplace** is also my grand secret for home made sushi ingredients. The place is fantastic. Let me know a little more in advance next time. I’d love to have lunch with you. And now back to our regularly scheduled thread. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/14 "2003-06-07T14:52:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > The trick of using cuts like pork belly is to cook it sufficiently long whereby the meat is carmelized while the fat is melted off into the pan bottom and reduced. The “feather” layers of belly fat are some of the most delicately flavored of all. Their use in a good sauce can create a most silken of gravies without the appallingly unctuous texture of lard based concoctions. I would tend to think that your chef was following the Pom tradition of barely searing a rasher of bacon before plating it for brekkies. You are indeed a man who knows his food. I was expecting what you suggested. That’s certainly what I’ve had before. And the restaurant in question is known to be a new-Brit place - lots of game, fish with chicken-stock sauces etc. But this way of serving pork belly is in, it would seem. I saw a New York Times article about it, but I can’t find it. Slabs of it are mentioned in [this](http://www.sptimes.com/2003/05/11/Columns/Pork_bellies__This_fa.shtml) piece. A couple of people have mentioned Chinese style pork. Anyone remember the name of the dish that is just fat cooked to the consistency of custard? That was the closest to what I had last night. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-fat-is-back-food-porn/180086/15 "2003-06-07T20:49:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\ ***Tomisushi** is simply superb. \*\* Is that the same as Sushi Tomi off Castro in Mountain View? I like good sushi but I don’t get down to Saratoga very often.