I love Ramen. When I went to Japan, I had Ramen from Ichiran and it was amazing!!! Since I brought home their “instant” version, I decided to make pork chashu to go with it. Chashu is pork belly that has been braised for an hour and refrigerated for 24 hours. Although it takes a day to make this, you will not regret it. The pork is nice, tender, juicy, and tasty. There is a balance between sweet and savory. This recipe is a MUST TRY!

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Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs pork belly

1 cup of water

1/3 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of soy sauce

1/2 cup of sake

2 stalks of green onion tied

1 knob of ginger

3 garlic cloves smashed

Special tools: Kitchen twine and a wooden drop lid aka Otoshibuta

Instructions:

1. Roll pork belly into a cylinder shape and tie with kitchen twine. See video for detailed instructions.
2. Heat oil in a heavy pot.
3. On high heat, brown all sides of the pork belly.
4. Set pork belly aside and ditch the oil in the pot.
5. Mix water, sugar, soy sauce, and sake in a bowl.
6. Place pork belly back in the pot and pour the sauce in.
7. Add green onions, ginger, and garlic.
8. Bring to boil and skim off impurities.
9. Cover pot with the wooden lid. You can make a lid using aluminum foil with holes or place a lid ajar.
10. Turn heat to low and simmer for an hour to an hour and a half.
11. When halfway done, turn pork over/ rotate pork and baste with sauce.
12. When sauce has reduced (about an hour to an hour and a half), take pork out and place into a container, zip lock bag or food saver bag. Add the sauce and seal. Take as much air bubbles out of the bag if you are placing your pork in a bag.
13. Let the pork hangout inside the fridge for 24 hours.
14. The next day, take pork out of the fridge, and remove kitchen twine.
15. Slice pork into 1/8″ slices.
16. Heat pan and sear so pork carmelizes on both sides.
17. Serve with Ramen or add it to fried rice (recipe coming soon).

Music Credit: David Cutter