Cubed pork belly, just beginning to caramelize.

I’m sick and tired of the miserable treatment I get at the hands of my local greengrocer. If I dare to visit her little shop with evidence of having purchased produce elsewhere, I’m in for an earful–never mind that she trades in fruits and vegetables way past their prime. (The only thing she’s genuinely good for, besides proximity, is avocadoes, which can be counted on to be ripe for mashing.)

If I could start every day as I did today, at The Best Butcher Shop In The Entire World, I would be a kinder, gentler person. Having tried and failed to obtain pork belly at the usually reliable Red Hook Fairway, I found myself crawling the walls on the morning of my dinner party. I had already resolved to make hongshao rou, or red-cooked pork, and the star ingredient’s absenteeism this close to proceedings was slicing it a little thin. Fortunately, the good denizens of the eGullet message boards had the answer: Jeffrey’s in Essex Market. I called ahead to make sure Jeffrey had the goods, and hopped on the next train to Manhattan.

What a reception! I was given a chair, offered everything from an onion to a tomato, complimented on my (apparently) transcendent beauty and given an all-access tour of the back of the store. All this for a customer who had spent just over $2. One of the butchers even agreed to pose for a portrait.

While I was examining their astonishing range of hard-to-find meats–I’ll be returning for the tripe as soon as I can be quite sure I haven’t contracted gout from tonight’s feast–

…Jeffrey himself was busy dispensing expertise to a customer shopping for a luau. At which this fellow is to star:

It sure makes a change from anaemic little loin chops and Saran-wrapped chicken breasts, doesn’t it?

I returned home with 1.3 pounds of pork belly, trimmed to my specifications (de-boned, with skin intact.) I didn’t have to do much with it other than get rid of this nipple, being unconvinced of its crowd-pleasing potential.

My house is now perfumed with the lush, dark scent of star anise, and a hybrid of Appetite for China and Red Cook’s hongshao rou is resting in a crock, awaiting tonight’s guests. Best of all, I’m feeling rather gorgeous, because two butchers said it was so.

Jeffrey’s On Essex
Essex Street Market
120 Essex, Unit C
New York, NY 10184
(212) 475-6521

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