I’m all about quick and easy meals. However, sometimes a little time and patience are necessary for an ingredient to reach its full potential. Pork belly happens to be one of those ingredients.
As the name implies—pork belly is the soft, succulent meat from the underside of a pig. With a high-fat content, the meat is packed with flavor and simply <begs> for a low-and-slow cooking method. Why is this?...
Cooking the cut in this way allows for the fat to render. It naturally bastes the meat as it cooks, resulting in an irresistibly succulent (and tender) texture.
In East and Southeast Asia, pork is the primary protein of choice for most dinner tables. So, it will come as no surprise almost every country in the region has its own signature pork belly dish.
In China, there is ‘siu-yuk’, seasoned and roasted pork belly with a crispy skin. In Korea, there’s ‘bossam’ which is a thinly sliced pork belly wrapped in salted napa cabbage. Moving to Vietnam, ‘thit kho tau’—pork belly simmered in fish sauce, coconut milk, and hard-boiled eggs. What about Japan? Famous in the southern island of Okinawa there is ‘buta no kakuni’. This translates to ‘pork cut squared, then simmered’. It is seasoned with soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and ginger. It’s sweet, savory, and most importantly… melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
The most critical part of buta no kakuni is the initial simmering of the pork belly in water after searing the meat. Rendering much of the fat prevents the final dish from becoming overwhelmingly heavy and greasy. Adding ginger and scallions to this 3-hour-long process also ensures the meat has been seasoned from the outside in.
Ginger isn’t just for adding flavor—it’s also an excellent natural meat tenderizer!
This is because ginger contains an enzyme called ‘zingibain’ (I promise this is a real word) which aids in breaking down collagen and connective tissue.
A great way to prevent wasting half of your ginger root is to use a dull spoon to scrape away the tissue-like skin gently. Compared to using a peeler or knife, the spoon allows you to get into the tight nooks and crannies you’d normally slice off. [I’m using one of the small titanium spoons from the ‘Titanium Plating Kit’ in the picture below.]
The second, much quicker simmer, is reduced to a glaze that coats the outside of the pork with a sweet and sticky sauce. Although untraditional, I love to add shiitake mushrooms to the pot for the following reason: Once everything is finished cooking… the shiitake has turned into soft, juicy, “umami bombs” adding a completely different dimension to the dish.
Show off your knife skills! As discussed in the ‘Autumn Sukiyaki’ recipe, cutting out little stars or flowers on the mushroom caps make for a beautiful presentation. In Japanese, this is called ‘hanagiri’.
To create the complete meal, we’ll be serving the buta no kakuni with a side of white rice, namasu, gomaae (both will be explained later), and a soft-boiled egg. All these accouterments complement each other and can be made as the meat is simmering.
Traditionally, buta no kakuni is served with either pickled vegetables or hot Japanese-style mustard. Because the meat is so savory and heavy, it’s important to have something on the side to help brighten/balance the dish. Refreshing quick pickled carrots and daikon called Namasu add a great temperature contrast and crunch! Namasu vegetables are commonly cut into thin, matchstick-like shapes; but I find daikon radish holds onto its signature ‘spiciness’ better when cut into cubes.
A classic Japanese side dish, gomaae, is made by blanching your favorite vegetable and dressing it with a nutty sesame dressing. Gomaae is an amazing way to incorporate vegetables into a meal and is commonly made with spinach. The name of this side dish can be broken into two separate Japanese words; ‘goma’ meaning sesame, and ‘ae’ translating to ‘sauce’.
Buta No Kakuni (Japanese Style Pork Belly)
Easy meals are great, but sometimes a little time and patience are necessary for certain ingredients to reach their full potential. This Japanese-style pork belly melts in your mouth and when paired with jammy eggs and rice, is truly worth all the effort!
Recipe and Photography by Maya Alderman
Forge to Table Knives
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 4 hours
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
Pork Belly:
1-½ pound pork belly, sliced into 2” cubes
1-inch knob ginger
3 each scallions
4 cups dashi
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup mirin
5 tablespoons brown sugar
8-10 each shiitake mushrooms (optional)
Namasu (Pickled Carrots & Daikon):
8 ounce piece of daikon radish, washed and peeled
3 ounce carrot, washed and peeled
1 tablespoon salt
¼ cup rice vinegar
2 ½ tablespoons sugar
Gomaae (Spinach):
8 ounces spinach, washed
2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoon mirin
2 tablespoon sesame seeds, ground
Soft-Boiled Jammy Eggs:
4 each medium sized chilled egg
1 tablespoon salt
Steamed White Rice:
3 cups Japanese style short grain rice
3 cups water
Directions:
SEAR & FIRST SIMMER. Gather all ingredients listed under ‘Pork Belly’. If the meat is not yet cubed, cut the pork belly into 2-inch pieces (you may end up with a few uneven pieces due to the nature of the meat, don’t stress it!). Heat a large Dutch oven or stock pot over high heat and sear the cubes on all sides until nicely browned. Be careful during this step, the rendering fat may splatter—use a splatter screen or a large, loose-fitting lid to place over the top of the pot. Once the pieces are seared and browned on all sides, place them on a paper towel to remove the excess surface fat. Slice the green onion in 2-inch-long pieces, throwing away the roots if they’re still connected. Grab the ginger and peel the tissue-like skin on the outside using the ‘spoon method’. Then, using the back of the knife, smack and crack the peeled ginger to loosen the fibers. Add the ginger, scallions, and pork belly to the Dutch oven or stock pot and add cool water to cover. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer the meat for about 3 hours, or, until you can easily pierce through the meat with a fork/chopstick. If the liquid is running low, add more hot water to the pot.
SECOND SIMMER. Remove everything from your pot and discard the remaining liquid, scallions, and ginger, leaving just the cooked pork belly in the pot. Add the dashi, soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, and shiitake mushrooms, and turn the heat to medium-high. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. Let the liquid simmer and reduce, occasionally flipping the pork belly. Once the liquid turns to a sticky glaze, turn the heat off and serve. This step should take about an hour. You can prepare pickled vegetables, gomaae, jammy eggs, and rice during this time.
NAMASU. Gather all ingredients listed under ‘Namasu’. Dice the daikon and carrots into ½” cubes. Place the vegetables into a mixing bowl and add the salt, tossing the cubes until evenly covered. Let the cubes sit in the salt to draw out excess water for about 20min. After 20min, discard the excess water and rinse the cubes well. In a separate bowl, combine the rice vinegar and sugar and lightly heat in the microwave for 30 seconds and mix until the sugar is completely dissolved. Pour the vinegar mixture over the cubes and refrigerate until ready to serve.
GOMAAE. Gather all ingredients listed under ‘Gomaae’. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and place all the spinach into the water. Blanch for 20-30 seconds and immediately ‘shock’ the spinach in ice water. Once the spinach has cooled, gently squeeze out all the excess water. Place the squeezed spinach on a cutting board and roughly chop. Combine the sesame oil, sugar, soy sauce, mirin, and sesame seeds in a bowl in a bowl. Mix until the sugar has fully dissolved. Add the spinach to the bowl, mix, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
EGGS. Grab a small to medium-sized pot and fill it halfway with water and bring to a boil. Add salt and your chilled eggs to the pot using a spoon or spider strainer to prevent the eggs from cracking on the bottom of the pot. Set a timer for exactly 7 min. After 7 min, strain, and shock the eggs in ice water to stop the cooking. Once the eggs are cooled, remove the shell. Slice the egg in half before serving.
RICE. Rice Cooker Method Wash the rice in a bowl with cold water until the water becomes clear. Dump the water and add the rice grains into the rice cooker. Fill the rice cooker pot with the measured water and let the rice soak for at least 30 minutes. Then, press the ‘cook’ button. Once the rice is done cooking, using a fork or rice spatula, fluff the rice and serve. Stovetop Method Wash the rice in a bowl with cold water until the water becomes clear. Dump the water out and add the rice to a medium sized pot with the measured water. Let the rice soak in the water for at least 30 minutes. Using a lid, cover the pot and bring the water to a boil. Turn the heat to ‘low’ and let the rice cook for 25 minutes, or until the grains have completely absorbed the water. Without removing the lid, turn off the heat and place the pot to the side and let the rice steam for at least 20 minutes. After about 20 minutes, use either a fork or rice spatula to full the rice and serve.
SERVE. With so many components, this meal is great to serve ‘family style’—plating each dish/side dish on its own vessel, placed in the middle of the table for everyone to pass around and serve themselves. On the other hand, you could also dish each individual’s plate with a portion of each component and serve. Up to you!
Chef’s Notes:
Depending on how you choose to serve the meal, garnishing with sesame seeds, scallions, or daikon sprouts can add a nice ‘color-pop’ contrast against the deep brown pieces of pork belly.
Learn all about dashi here, under ‘A quick guide to dashi’
Quick Vocab Recap:
Japanese is tricky! Here’s a quick review of some of the Japanese words mentioned in this recipe:
Buta no kakuni—A Japanese pork belly dish translating to ‘pork, cut square, and simmered’ usually seasoned with soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and ginger.
Shiitake—A type of edible fungus/mushroom, native to Japan and China.
Hanagiri—translating to ‘flower-cutting’, hanagiri is a decorative Japanese knife cut resembling flowers; typically found on shiitake caps.
Namasu—A Japanese pickle dish, consisting of uncooked (nama) vegetables, soaked/marinated in rice vinegar (su).
Gomaae—A Japanese side dish composed of a blanched vegetable and sesame dressing-- ‘goma’ meaning sesame, and ‘ae’ translating to ‘sauce’.
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