Arby's Hints at More Pork Belly and Venison in 2017

In a holiday newsletter, Arby's gave a few hints about what's coming in 2017, including the return of the Smokehouse Pork Belly sandwich, which was available for a little over a month in 2016, as well as the Venison Sandwich.

The Smokehouse Pork Belly (review) featured thick slabs of pork belly (the same cut of meat as bacon but much thicker and slow-cooked), crispy onion strings, mayo, smoked cheddar cheese, and Smoky Q sauce on a toasted star-cut bun.

The Venison Sandwich was only available in 17 restaurants in areas where the chain found deer-hunting is popular. The sandwich's key aspect was a 5.5-oz venison steak, marinated in salt, pepper, and garlic, that was cooked sous vide for 3.5 hours and then quickly seared. Apparently, there's a good amount of demand for it as it sold out in an average of 30 minutes in each restaurant. Unlike the Smokehouse Pork Belly, it seems unlikely that it'll be served nationally (at this point anyway) but I'd look for it to be made available in more restaurants in 2017.

Photo via Arby's.