Servings: 20 slices
Ramen Pork Chashu チャーシュー
Make tender Japanese chashu with pork belly simmered in a delicious seasoning. Perfect for ramen, noodles, or a rice bowl.
Equipment
- twine
Ingredients
- 0.8-1 kg pork belly
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup sake
- 1/4 cup honey
- 3 cups water
- 2-3 scallions
- 1 knob ginger *about 20g/07oz
- 2 cloves garlic
Instructions
Prepare the Pork Belly
- Roll the pork belly into a cylindrical shape.
- Secure it firmly with butcher's twine at roughly 1 inch (2.5 cm) intervals.
- Make the brine. Dissolve 15g salt with 500ml water.
- Place the rolled pork in a ziplock bag, add the brine and submerge the pork. Press out as much air as possible, and seal the bag.
- Keep the pork refrigerated at 4°C (40°F) or below for 1 to 2 days.
Brown and Braise the Pork Belly
- Remove the pork belly from the ziplock bag and let a kitchen paper towel to absorb any excess moisture.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan, brown all around the outside of the tied pork belly.
- Add sugar, sake, soy sauce, scallions, garlic, ginger, and water to the pot with the pork belly. Bring to boil then turn the heat down to low. Place a drop lid (otoshibuta) over the pork belly and simmer for one hour.
- Skim scum off the cooking sauce at times and rotate the pork belly sometimes too.
- After one hour, turn the heat off and leave the pork belly in the cooking sauce. *1
- After the pork belly and the sauce cool down, refrigerate it overnight.
- Take the pork belly out of the pot and cut the twine to remove carefully.
- Slice the chashu 0.2 inch (5mm) wide and serve as ramen topping or store for later use. *2
Notes
- You can transfer to a container or leave it in the pot. I have enough space to leave the pot in the fridge, so left it in the pot.
- If you are going to eat the Chashu as a dish, remove the fat and discard the scallions, garlic and ginger cooked with pork in the pot. Drain the sauce with a sieve and pour the liquid into a small saucepan. Bring it to boil then, reduce the heat down to a simmer. Continue to simmer the sauce until it is reduced and thickened. Pour this over the sliced Chashu and serve. Also see other suggestions to use the sauce in the above post.
- Cling wrap the sliced chashu and place in a ziplock bag to store in freezer. It stores about 4 weeks in freezer and a week in fridge. I usually chop up the edge both ends of the rolled chashu to small bits and use them for "Chashu Don" or as fried rice or stir fry ingredients.
- To store the cooking sauce, strain the cooking sauce with fine mesh sieve and discard scallions, garlic and ginger. It stores for a week in fridge and a month in freezer.
- Brining the pork belly time does not included in cooking time.
Nutrition
Calories: 268kcal, Carbohydrates: 10g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 23g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 11g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Cholesterol: 29mg, Sodium: 663mg, Potassium: 107mg, Fiber: 0.1g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin A: 16IU, Vitamin C: 0.5mg, Calcium: 7mg, Iron: 1mg