I fired up the grill again this week for my third consecutive grill-focused sandwich this summer. The first one was chicken-based, and the second was steak-based so for the third option it only made sense to choose pork.
What is this sandwich?
This sandwich is grilled pork belly with a honey balsamic glaze, topped with slices of creamy brie cheese, grilled plums, and arugula tossed in a honey balsamic vinaigrette. The glaze and the vinaigrette use the same base so there are harmonious flavors throughout the sandwich. The tender pork belly is contrasted by softened sweet plums and the rich, creamy brie is balanced by vinaigrette tossed greens.
Last week I added grilled peaches to a flatbread and this week I went in a slightly different direction with plums. Both stone fruits work great on the grill and they get elevated levels of sweetness from being cooked.
Now that we have a bit of an idea of what we’re shooting for, I want to get started with the sandwich buns.
Honey wheat sandwich bun
I wrote about and shared the recipe for this sandwich bun two weeks ago and it’s a good one. As I have said before when I test a recipe I end up needing to bake the buns multiple times so it just makes sense for me to apply them to different sandwiches.
This is a fairly light bun that has a nice sweetness from the wheat but still has a little bit of chew, making it a tiny bit denser than my soft burger bun recipes. I’ve found that it’s perfect for a grilled chicken sandwich or this pork belly sandwich I am writing about. This recipe uses a 50/50 blend of all-purpose flour to wheat flour so it’s not 100% whole wheat. I don’t think this is an advanced baking recipe at all, but I would suggest first baking a simpler white bread bun if you’ve never baked before.
Painting melted butter on buns that are fresh out of the oven accomplishes two things. First, it softens the crust and second, it adds extra flavor to the bun exterior. Buns and some loaves of bread are benefited by softened crusts but you should not paint butter on breads that you hope will retain their crackly and crunchy crusts.
Here’s my honey wheat sandwich bun that my wife seems to think should replace all of my other bun recipes. It’s a great bun but she’s not correct—my V2 potato burger buns are better. But since it’s important that she doesn’t get angry at me, l will certainly be entertaining her ideas and making these great wheat buns from time to time.
Honey wheat sandwich buns
This bun introduces extra honey sweetness to a soft, but still chewy wheat bun. Squishy and flavorful, it's perfect for your next grilled chicken sandwich.
Get RecipeGrilled and glazed pork belly
Pork belly is a great grilling meat. I used pork rib belly for the sandwich I ended up photographing, but I have grilled thick sliced pork belly in this exact method with an almost identical copy of this glaze. The strategy that I use is to salt and pepper the pieces of meat and then grill them pretty hard on the first side for about 5 to 6 minutes.
After the first flip, I will start basting the cooked side of the meat with glaze. At this point, I will cook for about 3 minutes and then just flip and glaze every minute or so until the meat reads about 140 F to 145 F (62 F) at the thickest point.
The USDA suggests 145 F to be the minimal safe temperature for pork and that’s what I shoot for. This is vastly different from what they suggested back in the 1980s or earlier so if you are old like me and tried pork as a youth and didn’t like it, you should try to cook it to the minimum safe temperature and you will find it’s much better and less dry this way.
Grilled plums
Last week I grilled a sandwich with peaches and now we’ve moved on to plums. Both are really fun to grill and easy to handle while grilling other meat or protein. The sweetness seems to get amplified as the fruit is cooked which is good when you’re pairing it with a savory piece of meat.
Grilled and softened plums work great on a sandwich but you could also slice them and add them to a fresh summer salad. You could even use the same honey balsamic dressing we will make from the honey balsamic glaze in this recipe.
Honey balsamic glaze
The honey balsamic glaze is made from just three ingredients and it serves as the glaze for the pork belly slices as well as the base for the honey balsamic dressing that will be used later in the sandwich.
Because it’s being used in two different places, you can make the base for the glaze and dressing and then use half in the glaze and the other half in the dressing. Here are the 3 ingredients for this glaze. Remember this is double the amount I would make if I was just making the glaze.
- 2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Half of the honey balsamic mixture above goes into a saucepan to reduce until thickened enough to be painted on the pork belly while grilling. The reduction time is about 8 to 10 minutes.
When grilling, I add salt and ground black pepper directly on top of the pork belly, and then after I flip the pork belly the first time I will start painting glaze on them each time I flip.
This glaze brings sweetness and a bit of a vinegary kick to the grilled pork. The sugar in the honey will help to color the pork belly a bit more while grilling as well.
Honey balsamic dressing
To create this honey balsamic dressing you simply use the other half of the honey balsamic glaze and add around 1/3 of a cup of olive oil and shake to incorporate. After shaking, stick a spoon in the dressing to taste and add any salt and pepper that you think it might need.
This is literally one of the easiest dressings that you can make. It’s Balsamic vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, and olive oil and you can go straight from this point to all sorts of different flavors.
I like to build this directly in a mason/ball jar with a lid because you can easily shake the dressing up right before building a salad or dressing the arugula in this sandwich.
Speaking of arugula, I didn’t really write a whole section about it, but it is a great component of this sandwich when paired with this tangy vinaigrette. The two balance out the creamy cheese very well.
Sliced brie
I didn’t take one single photo of the brie that we used for this sandwich so I had to add “take a photo of a package of brie” to my grocery list.
Brie is a soft cheese with a soft rind. The rind is tender and edible. The type of brie that I used in this sandwich has a very mild rind, so I just sliced right through the rind and ate it all. But if you find that you don’t like the flavor, you can easily cut the edges of the rind off of each slice.
Brie works great in this sandwich because its creaminess balances the savory pork belly and the vinegar from the honey balsamic dressing.
Sandwich construction
Putting this sandwich together is super easy. I created a slideshow here that you can check out if you want, but for the most part it was just a factor of layering each ingredient.
If you are not building this sandwich right after the meat and plums have come off the grill, I would suggest warming up the pork belly slices in a pan or in the microwave. You could also add the pork belly to the bottom bun and broil it briefly with brie on top if you prefer meltier cheese. Just be careful because brie will get extra melty really quickly.
The pork belly and plum sandwich
Here are a few of the sandwiches that I made while working on this recipe. It’s a solid sandwich with two components that you can grill at the same time and a honey balsamic blend that functions both as a glaze and a tangy dressing. Scroll through to see some photos of this sandwich and get the full recipe to make it in your own kitchen.
Grilled pork belly, plum and brie sandwich
This grilled sandwich experience combines a savory and sweet combo of grilled pork belly and plums. Honey balsamic dressed arugula also swings through to provide a balance and contrast against creamy brie.
Ingredients:
Pork belly glaze and honey balsamic vinaigrette- 2⁄3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup olive oil (amount depends on how much glaze is left over)
- 4 to 6 pieces of pork belly (1/4 pound per sandwich)
- pinch of salt and ground black pepper
- balsamic glaze (from above)
- 2 plums, halved with pit removed
- 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup arugula
- 3 to 5 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette (from above)
- 2 buns
- pork belly slices (from above)
- 3 to 6 brie slices
- bite-sized plum pieces (from above)
Directions:
Pork belly glaze and honey balsamic vinaigrette: combine the balsamic vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, salt, and ground black pepper in a bowl. Mix to combine thoroughly.
Remove half of the balsamic mixture to a mason/ball jar or container with a lid. This is going to be the dressing and this part is a bit of a guesstimate but you want to look at the dark liquid in the jar and add that same amount of olive oil. It should be about 1/3 of a cup or so. Add the olive oil and shake the dressing to combine. There is salt and pepper in the dressing already, but you might want to taste it to make sure the dressing is seasoned properly.
Add the other half of the balsamic mixture to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes or until the sauce starts to thicken. Once the mixture has reduced and thickened, remove it from the heat and add it to a small bowl or container with a lid to be used to glaze the pork while it is grilling.
Grilling pork and plums: preheat a charcoal or gas grill (or a stovetop grill pan) for 10 to 15 minutes.
Salt and pepper both sides of the pork belly slices and then add them to the hot grill. Cook the pork belly slices for 5 to 6 minutes on the first side.
Flip all of the pork belly slices and then paint glaze all over the cooked side of the pork. Cook the second side for an additional 4 minutes.
Add halved plums to the grill and cook for 2 minutes per side.
After you remove the plums, flip and glaze the pork belly. Continue flipping and glazing every minute until the pork reaches 140 F (60 C).
When the pork has hit the temperature, remove it from the grill. to a plate or bowl and if there is any glaze left pour it on top of the pork.
Sandwich assembly: toast the buns.
While the buns are toasting, chop the plums into bite-sized pieces. Then slice the brie into quarter-inch thick slices. Toss the arugula with a bit of honey balsamic dressing like you're making a simple salad.
To build the sandwich, add slices of pork on the bottom bun with brie on top of the pork.
Add a few bite-sized pieces of plum on the brie and then top the brie with dressed arugula.
Close the sandwich and serve.
Check back next week
Next week I might be making a favorite sandwich from one of the coolest rappers from the 1990s. They might even be involved in the Paris Olympics. No one will ever figure out these clues. See you next week!
