Braised Pork Belly with Asian-Style Slaw

Braised Pork Belly with Asian-Style Slaw

Lauren,

The pork belly part of this recipe will take a day or two to make, so plan accordingly.

Braised Pork Belly

1 Cheap bottle of unoaked white wine
3 tbsp Ground cumin
3 tbsp Garlic powder
3 tbsp onion powder
1 heavy pinch Salt
lots of grinds of Pepper
1/2 cup Brown or Demerara sugar
Optional:  2 Star Anise, 1/3 tsp Cloves, 1/3 tsp Cardamom, 1 tsp Caraway seeds, 1 whole Nutmeg grated
(Substitute with 2-3 tbsp of good chinese 5 spice)
1/4 cup GF/Wheat Free Soy Sauce
1/3 cup Rice vinegar (Substitute with 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar)
2 Carrots
3 Ribs Celery
1 Shallot or Small Onion
1 Head Garlic
1 lb Pork Belly

 combine all spices with sugar in a large bowl and mix thoroughly

 carefully remove the skin from the pork belly

coat all sides 

 wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate overnight and save the spice mixture

 in the morning roughly chop the vegetables and put them in a large pot

 put the pork belly in the middle of the pot

 bake in of 450° oven for half an hour

 mix the spices left over from yesterday with the soy sauce vinegar and white wine

 add to your pot until the pork belly is nearly covered
 if you do not have enough liquid just add water
Return the pot to the oven and reduce the temperature to 250°F
Let it cook on this low temperature for 7 to 10 hours

 it should look like this when it's done

 remove from the liquid and refrigerate both the pork belly separately for a couple hours

 after a couple of hours the fat should have floated to the top of the liquid and solidified

Remove the fat

 put the liquid into a small frying pan on high heat

 the pork belly should have firmed up enough be be able to cut it in half

 add the pork belly to a hot and dry frying pan

 reduce the liquid by about a third

 Sear all sides of the pork belly

 in a small container place about a tablespoon of cornstarch

 add COLD tap water and mix thoroughly with your finger. Making sure there are no dry parts

Pour the cornstarch slurry into the liquid stirring constantly

 in less than a minute it should start to tighten up. turn off the heat at this point

 coat the pork belly in the sauce and it is ready for plating.

Asian-Style Slaw

Lauren,

This recipe is a guideline, if you want to just use a bottled asian dressing, feel free, but make sure that the ingredients are safe. It makes a very large salad as everything is scaled to the cabbage

 one small head of Napa cabbage
 Half a bag of bean sprouts
 a bag of washed  Snow peas or sugar snap peas
One bunch cilantro
One bunch radishes
One lemon
1/4 cup of sesame seeds
1 tablespoon of wheat free soy sauce
 3 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
 1/4 cup of canola oil ( or other neutral vegetable oil)
not pictured:
 1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon tahini
 one small bunch of green onions

 chop the scallions
 in a small blender cup add all the liquid ingredients,  the sugar, space and the tahini
 add the zest of the lemon ( always use the zest of the citrus, as it contains the oils that have all the flavour)
Add the juice of half the lemon
Blend your dressing, and adjust to taste.  I would tend to make this on the tart side because the pork belly can be rich.

 and a large salad bowl add your scallions and bean sprouts

 next,  slice and add your peas

Slice up to your head of cabbageInto pieces half an inch thick

 wash and spin the cabbage before adding it to the salad

 chop and add the cilantro

 next slice a couple of radishes and add them as well

 in a dry pan lightly toast your sesame seeds if they are not already toasted

 add to your salad

 pour your dressing over the salad

 toss it until thoroughly mixed

Plate with the pork belly

 bon appétit