TOPPINGS: PORK BELLY CHASHU

PORK BELLY CHASHU

Pork belly comes in different sizes depending on the butchers cut. Try to flatten it to get a flat surface and roll the pork belly and wrap it with string. If you see excess fat on the pork belly you can cut it off.

First we want to boil the sauce and once it hits the boiling point we will lower the heat to marinate slowly. If we boil it in high heat the meat will be hard. We want the chashu to be soft and juicy. Make sure to add some water if the sauce level goes low.

Ingredients:

Pork Belly 500-600g

Scallion 2 bunch

Ginger 40g

4 cloves of garlic

Soy Sauce 1 cup

Sake 1 cup

Sugar 4 table spoons

Water 3 cups

String

Step 1: Preparing The Pork Belly Chashu

• Pork belly comes in different sizes depending on the butchers cut. Try to flatten it to get a flat surface and roll the pork belly to a size of your liking. If you need to cut it into a smaller size, now is a good time. Once you’ve figured out the right size and rolled it to your liking, it’s time to string it. The important thing is to string it tightly. Pork belly should contain half fat and half meat. Because of high fat content the fat will begin to melt during the cooking process. This is why we recommend stringing the pork belly tightly.

Step 2: Cooking The Pork Belly

• Boil enough water to submerge the entire pork belly. First start at high heat and once the water reaches boiling point, submerge the pork meat. We only start with high heat in the beginning to extract the scum off the meat. Once scum is removed, lower the heat to simmer for approximately 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Step 3: Prepare the Tare (Sauce)

• While the pork belly is being cooked it is time to prepare the tare.

• Combine the following ingredients in a saucepan

  • 1 cup Soy Sauce

  • 1 cup Sake

  • 4 table spoons of Sugar

  • 3 cups Water

Step 4: Marinate Pork Belly

Why do we need to cook the pork belly a second time in the sauce? Have you ever experienced dry pork? When you cook with seasoning like salt/shoyu it sucks out the moisture, which results in hard and dry meat. For this reason we use two steps when cooking chashu.

• When the ingredients are combined, place the prepared pork meat in the saucepan. Add the following ingredients to the saucepan.

  • 2 bunches of Scallion

  • 40g Ginger

  • 4 cloves of garlic

• Cook at low heat for approximately 1 to 2 hours.

• Remove it from the heat and let it cook for awhile. Wrap the pork and store it in a refrigerator.

*The remaining sauce can be used as sauce for your ramen or can be reused up to 3 times if placed in the refrigerator.