Braised Pork Belly

By tulawdog

Ingredients

• 1 * 1 pound of pork belly, you can purchase this at Asian grocery stores or the butcher
• 2 * 2 tablespoons sugar or brown sugar
• 1 * 1 big stalk of leek (or 2 small stalks), washed and cut into 1 inch long pieces*
• 4 * 4 slices of ginger
• 3 * 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 * 2 tablespoons cooking wine (sake, or white wine is fine too)
• 2 * 2 cups water
• 1 * 1 tablespoon Chinese 5 spice powder
• * green onions for garnish

Preparation

Step 1

1. When buying pork belly, make sure you get leaner pieces. Pork belly is fatty, really really fatty. Generally I would look for something that is 50/50 fat to meat ratio. Usually they will be ~3 inches thick. I cut it into 1×3 inches, or 2×3 inches, like so.
2. This is the hardest part. Heat up your dutch oven, no need to add any oil. Brown the pork belly in batches. It WILL splatter, a lot. Wear an oven mitt to protect your hand. I got 2 small oil burns this time around, but damn it’s worth it. You can skip this step too but I find this step gives it a better texture.
3. When you are done browning the pork belly, there will be quite a bit of fat at the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat to medium and add the sugar. Stir vigorously and don’t burn yourself, let the sugar get a little caramelized, it adds another layer of flavor. This process should only take about 20 seconds so be very quick here!
4. Add the browned pork belly back into the pan and stir. Add the 2 cups of water right away. At this point, the water should reach a boiling point instantly. Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Your pot should look like this, all nommy and stuff.
5. Cover the pot and simmer for 2 hours. Then uncover and simmer for another hour. Be sure to stir every 30 minutes or so, especially that last hour. You might need to add a little extra water depending on how dry your climate is. It should look like this. At the end of 3 hours you should have about a cup of thickened sauce/fat mix at the bottom of the pan.



Serve over some white rice and spoon a little bit of sauce over the pork belly (minus the oil) and garnish with green onions.