Pan con Chicharrón with Salsa Criolla & Red Onion

Ingredients

• 1½ lb pork belly, cut into 1-inch slabs
• 1 lb sweet potato, peeled and sliced ½ inch thick
• 4 crusty bread rolls
• 1 Red Onion, sliced paper-thin
• 1 cup water
• 6 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 1 ají limo or red chili, sliced
• 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• Salt

Method

1. Simmer the pork belly in the water with garlic, peppercorns, and 1 tsp salt in a heavy pan, covered, for 35 minutes until the meat is fully tender.
2. Uncover and keep cooking. The water evaporates and the pork begins frying in its own rendered fat — this is the whole technique, and it takes another 15–20 minutes of turning.
3. When the outsides are crackling and deep bronze and the internal temperature has long passed 145°F (63°C), lift the pork out and let it rest. Keep 2 tbsp of the fat.
4. Fry the sweet potato slices in the reserved fat plus the oil until browned on both sides and tender through, about 8 minutes.
5. Soak the sliced Red Onion in cold water 10 minutes, drain, then toss with lime juice, chili, cilantro, and salt to make salsa criolla.
6. Split the rolls, layer sweet potato, then pork, then a heap of salsa criolla, and press the top down. Eat before it cools.