description | category | tags | ingredients | hero_image |
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The king of all ramen toppings! |
sides |
meat, sous-vide |
pork-belly, soy-sauce, mirin |
chashu_ramen.jpg |
The king of all ramen toppings! Chashu pork at its best, in my opinion, is rich, fatty, and practically melts when it hits your tounge. Some people prefer it a little more firm and steak-like in texture, but that's not my preference.
This is based on Ramen Lord's recipe for sous vide chashu pork from his Book of Ramen. The biggest changes are that I added a bit less water to reduce the total liquid overall, because my vacuum sealer doesn't do well with lots of liquid. I also don't sear the pork ahead of time. It does result in slightly more flavor if you do, but it's so much easier this way, and it's not that different. I sometimes sear the sliced pieces with a propane torch before serving.
- 2-4 lbs. Pork belly (I prefer skinless for this recipe)
- 125 mL (approx. 0.5 cup) mirin
- 125 mL (approx. 0.5 cup) soy sauce
- 125 mL (approx. 0.5 cup) water
- 12.5 g (1 tbsp) brown sugar
- Large bowl of ice water
- Preheat a water bath to 79° C/ 175° F using a sous vide water circulator.
- Combine mirin, soy sauce, water, and brown sugar in a microwave safe vessel. Heat in microwave until hot enough to dissolve sugar. Stir. Cool to room temperature or below.
- Add all ingredients to either a vaccuum bag or ziplock bag. Remove air and seal.
- Cook pork belly for 12 hours in water bath.
- Remove from water bath and transfer bag into ice water until the pork is at room temperature.
- Place in refridgerator for at least 6 hours.
- Slice straight from the fridge while still cold (it's too soft to slice easily when it's warm).
- Ramen: slice thin, and char with a propane torch (the kind you get from the hardware store for sweating pipes, not the wimpy kitchen butane torches), then serve on top of the ramen of your choice.
- Chashu pork bowl: chop onto small pieces (1"x1"x1/8" or so), toss in a hot pan to get some color on it. Once browned a bit, drizzle in some Japanese BBQ sauce or teriyaki sauce or similar, and toss to coat. Serve on top of hot rice, along with crispy fried shallots.
- This is based on Ramen Lord's recipe for sous vide chashu pork from his Book of Ramen.
- The changes I've made:
- I added a bit less water to reduce the total liquid overall, because my vacuum sealer doesn't do well with lots of liquid.
- I don't sear the pork ahead of time. It does result in slightly more flavor if you do, but it's so much easier this way, and it's not that different. I sometimes sear the sliced pieces with a propane torch before serving.
- His recipe says for 7-12 hours. It's fully cooked at 7, but even at 10, the fat isn't quite melty enough for my taste, so I went with 12.
- Tip: save the gelatinous gelatinous and fatty liquid that's in the bag -- it's delicious stuff. If you add additional salt to it, it can function as a tare for your ramen.