Chashu Pork
I tried making chashu pork for the first time, and it was good enough to share.
A fairly easy recipe with only 8 ingredients: 1lb of pork belly, 2 tablespoons of olive oil (vegetable and canola oil will also work), 1/2 cup shoyu (soy sauce), 1/2 cup sake, 1 cup of water, 1 medium knob of ginger, 1 small bunch of green onions, and 3 tablespoons of sugar.
This recipe takes about 30 min of prep/initial cook followed by 1-3 hours of slow braising.
Step 1
In a tall sided pot or Dutch oven, add oil and bring to medium heat. Cook pork belly, starting fat side down for about 8 min. Once fat has rendered and cooked to a crispy crackling, flip and leave on heat until the sides of the pork are white.
My only recommendation would be if you can get a 1lb block of pork belly rather than slabs cut in half I think it would cook and later cut better. Unfortunately the two 1/2lb slabs was all I had to work with, ultimately leading to cooking four 1/4lb pieces.
Step 2
Once the pork is cooked off, remove from pot to rest. Slice ginger and cut green onions in half. Discard remaining oil and rendered fat and wipe out pot before returning to heat.
Step 3
Combine liquids into pot on medium heat. Add in sugar and stir to dissolve. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a slow simmer.
Step 4
Return the pork to the pot with simmering liquid fat side up. Once all ingredients are in, if you don’t own an Otoshibuta drop lid, you can cover with vented foil, to control heat while allowing steam to escape. Let braise on a low simmer for at least 1 hour. I cooked mine this time for 2 hours. The longer the better to absorb more flavor and tenderize the meat, but minimum 1 hour for a 1lb piece of pork.
I just sliced the pork thinly and served with rice and steamed Chinese cabbage over onions grilled in sesame oil with a shoyu egg. Add a drizzle of the sauce reduction it was cooked in for extra flavor.
Bonus
Use the left over cooking sauce to make shoyu eggs, perfect with rice, in ramen, or as a stand alone snack. Let marinate in fridge for 24+ hours.
Secret Pro Tip: Using the pointed end of a knife, drill a pin size hole in the bottom base of the egg. This will allow any air inside to be release when boiling, give you the perfect shaped boiled egg, and make it easier to separate the shell when peeling.
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil before adding eggs, cook for 6 minutes, then remove to a bath of ice water to stop cooking before peeling to get a perfectly creamy, runny yolk soft boiled egg.