braised pork belly - for ramen

I have been making ramen a very long time. Each time I prepare a batch of ingredients I learn something new. Cooking is like everything in life, is a continuous discovery. Hence, I can never keep any recipe as few of my preparation of the same dish are the same process.
Most often when preparing the braised pork for ramen noodles, I use a whole piece of pork butt. While I have used pork belly occasionally, it never occur to me to truss it with a butcher's string. Somehow the idea occur to me this time. I bought a good size piece and trimmed off the skin and the excess fat. I roll the piece up and truss it tightly to keep it together. It worked really well as when the pork belly would melt in the mouth after being slow braised for a few hours.

i trimmed off the skin and excess fat; then rolled up the piece of pork belly

here is trussed with butcher's string ready to be braised

filled with water, seasoning, and my assortment of spices

the braised pork belly separated from the juice; there is quite a lot of shrinkage (about 30% by volume) but all are captured in the delicious juice which is also use to prepare the ramen

nothing goes to waste - I fried up the pig skin as cracklings; i should have cut them into bite size pieces before frying

the pork belly is so rich and flavorful that only two thin slices is adequate for a serving

it can only be slice nicely and thinly when cold

only with this it dawned on me the products that I admired so much at Cochon Butcher is trussed in a similar way

here is a bowl of ramen with pork belly and sea scallops

Japanese ramen is seldom served with any amount of vegetable. I suspect the reason is the aesthetics of the presentation. Any amount of vegetable would ruin the balance appearance of the bowl. Mine do because I can. I want a meal in a bowl that is healthy hence I can and I do.