← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 900 g pork belly block, skin on, cut into 5 cm wide strips
• 1 l water, plus extra for the first boil
• 15 g bonito flakes (katsuobushi)
• 120 ml awamori or sake
• 80 g kokuto (Okinawan black sugar) or dark muscovado sugar
• 5 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Mirin
• 3 cm piece Ginger, sliced
• hot Japanese mustard (karashi), to serve (optional)

Method

1. Sear the pork strips skin side down in a dry heavy pot over medium heat for 5–6 min, until the skin is browned. Turn and briefly brown the other sides.
2. Cover the pork with fresh water, bring to the boil and simmer for 1 hour. This removes a lot of the fat. Drain, rinse the pork in warm water and cut each strip into 5 cm squares.
3. Meanwhile make a bonito stock: bring 1 l water to the boil, add the bonito flakes, turn off the heat and steep for 5 min, then strain.
4. Put the pork back in the cleaned pot with the stock, awamori or sake, black sugar, 3 tbsp of the soy sauce and the ginger. Cover with a lid slightly ajar and simmer gently for 1 hour.
5. Add the remaining soy sauce and the mirin and keep simmering for 30–40 min, turning the pieces now and then, until the liquid has reduced to a dark, sticky glaze and a chopstick slides through the meat.
6. Serve the pork with a spoonful of glaze, a dab of mustard, rice and some greens.

Tips

• Make it a day ahead and chill it: the fat sets on top and lifts right off, and the flavour deepens.
• The alcohol cooks off during the long simmer; use water and a little extra mirin if you prefer.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook Chopstick Chronicles