Chashu Pork

• servings: 6 servings
• active time: 10 minutes
• total time: 10 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup mirin

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vegetable oil (such as avocado oil or other high heat, neutral flavored oil)

2 pound pork belly - skinless

2 large garlic cloves (crushed and peeled)

3 green onions (cut lengthwise into 2-inch pieces)

2 inches fresh ginger root (thinly sliced (peeled if desired))

Directions

Preheat oven to 250F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together water, soy sauce, mirin and sugar until sugar dissolves. Set aside.

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or other heavy, oven-safe pot until shimmering, but not quite smoking. Add pork belly and sear on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Remove from heat.

Flip pork belly if needed so that the fat / skin side is down. Pour soy sauce mixture over (the liquid should come about half way up the side - add a bit more water if it doesn't) and add garlic, green onions and ginger to liquid. Cover pot and place in the center of preheated oven. Cook for 1 1/2 hours; then flip pork belly to meat side and cook 1 hour more. Let pork belly cool in liquid, then transfer to a smaller container, pouring cooking liquid over the top; cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, scrape the fat off of the braising liquid and transfer pork to a cutting board. Strain solids from braising liquid and save for another use. With a sharp knife, cut into thin slices and pan fry until lightly golden in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Serve as desired.

Notes

1. Use this recipe for skin-on or skinless pork belly. The main difference you'll notice is how much more fat renders from the skinless cut. Look for a thick cut of pork belly with even thickness. Very thin cuts will cook faster and you'll need to reduce the overall cook time. I recommend checking it every 15 minutes or so once you've flipped your pork belly.

2. With skin-on pork belly, the belly may curl somewhat so that it doesn't lie flat when you flip it. If this happens, cook skin side down for 1 ½ hours, then, instead of flipping completely, cook on each side for 30 minutes each. Skinless pork belly is less likely to curl and you can just flip it completely, following the recipe instructions. Either way, you'll need 2 ½ hours total cook time unless your pork belly is thin (see recipe note above).

3. Use the braising liquid to drizzle over any kind of meat or seafood, to flavor stir-fries or ramen broths.

4. I recommend enjoying it in my Pork Belly Ramen with Homemade Ramen Noodles!

Nutrition

• Calories: 464 kcal
• Total Fat: 41 g
• Saturated Fat: 16 g
• Cholesterol: 54 mg
• Sodium: 1257 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 14 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1 g
• Total Sugars: 9 g
• Protein: 9 g