hunan savory braised pork belly 湖南紅燒肉

I have never met an Asian that does not like pork belly. If there is one that must be me. I used to be very afraid of eating pork belly for the fear that it would go straight to my belly and stay there. In time I would realize animal fat is not as bad as the world health professionals make them out to be. Rather, carb and sugar are much worst, and don't even get me started with processed food-like matter. Further, I would even to go out to the limb that most vegetable oil in the west that are not cold pressed but process with heat and chemical are likely worst than eating animal oil in moderation.



With the biggest piece of pork belly that I'd ever bought I save some to make a Hunan savory braised pork belly 湖南紅燒肉 dish. There are may variation of this dish in China. The basic ideas are largely the same. It is supposed to be eaten with a bowl of "steamed" rice.

I saved may be 6 once of pork belly with skin intact intended to make this dish

Ingredients:

• pork belly
• cooking oil
• star anise
• hot chili pepper
• Asian cinnamon
• bay leave
• black pepper
• salt
• sugar
• dark soy sauce
• ginger
• garlic
• spring onion
• sake or Chinese cooking wine
• water
• there is one twig like herb that I can't translate - it has a subtle saccharine-like sweetness 

As dark soy sauce is quite sweet hence I use only slightest of sugar.

a few spices from my pantry

I went and harvest some spring onions from my garden

I would soon realize I need a bit more meat as they will shrink during braising so I added a bit more that do not have skin

I did the initial browning of the meat in an cast iron skillet with the spices and transfer to this small clay pot to braise to perfection

the idea is you start out with enough liquid to slow cook the meat to tender, and then reduce the savory broth to a concentrated glaze

braising by slow cooking need to have a lid on to maintain even temperature throughout

the liquid have reduced significantly though was only half way there; already the house was filled with the most amazing fragrance

done!

a bite of the pork belly with a bit of plain rice and you think you died and went to heaven

the thick and dark glaze has umami x10

as the flavors are so concentrated you don't eat that much pork

I seldom cook with dark soy sauce as it makes the dish too dark most of the time. However with this dish it is expected that the more concentrate the glazing the darker the color.