Mirin-Soy Glazed Pork Belly (Sous-Vide) Recipe
There’s few things better than sinfully fatty melt-in-your mouth pork belly. In fact, many of my favorite dishes include pork belly…braised pork belly, grilled pork belly, a good German pork belly roast, Chinese Charsiu and Siu Yuk, Vietnamese caramelized pork belly. Both my German and Asian side of me is obsessed with it. It’s just so delicious and versatile and to top this all off it’s one of the cheapest meat cuts around. I know it’s not for the faint of heart but fat is a flavor carrier so fear not my friends!
When it comes to choosing the right cooking method, pork belly is pretty straightforward and forgiving. The high fat content makes it easy to get great results because it helps keeping the meat moist and juicy. Braising is one good option but you want to be careful to simmer at low temperature because the one thing you don’t want to end up with is dried out stringy meat or tough chewy fat. And this is where sous-vide comes in. With sous-vide you can easily control the outcome and what’s more, you can achieve amazing buttery textures that are simply better than a regular braise, somehow more gelatinous and buttery soft. The temperature and time will determine the results so you just need to decide for the desired texture and be prepared to wait for quite a bit.
With the tons of recipes out there it’s not an easy task to find out which temperature and cooking time will be best for you. That will always depend on your own preference and I suggest try several and test for yourself which one you like best. After some research I followed the tips here which recommended a 10-hours cooking time for best results of getting tender, buttery soft but not completely jello-like pork belly. Less effort for great results sounded awesome to me. OK, you can’t exactly call it effort since all you have to do is wait while it’s taking a bath. You can meanwhile prepare sides, lurk around, go to sleep or do whatever takes 10 hours. While others suggest 24h, 36h and more I went for the shortest cooking time. (I’m sure longer cooking times perform great too, I just really wanted to try the 10h). And since I started out in the middle of the night, the idea of getting to eat earlier totally convinced me. You can always work your way up if it turns out you need a more gelatinous texture but it’s not a bad idea to start out with minimum effort and see if that’s enough, riiiiight?
I’ll try other settings next time but I can tell you that 10h turned out great! Especially when you decide to pop the pork belly slices into the oven, the fat will sizzle along and make insanely tender slices. Should you decide to give it a finish in the pan, make sure it can absorb a little juice from the sauce as you give it a quick simmer to heat it up. Of course it takes a few minutes longer when the pork is still cold from chilling in the fridge than when directly processed after the sous-vide bath. I made both versions and they turned out very delicious, choose whatever pleases you or do something completely different. The sweetness of the soy sauce goes very well with some steamed jasmine rice to soak it all up.
As for devices, in case you’re wondering, I’m using a sous-vide stick and a vacuum sealer from Razorri.
Notes
You will need a sous-vide precision cooker for this recipe.
Ingredients
For the Marinade
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup Mirin
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbs fish sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp 5-star powder
- 1 tbs white pepper
Other
- 1.5 kg pork belly (cut lengthwise into halves)
- sous-vide precision cooker
- vacuum sealer bag
Instructions
- Set up water bath and set precision cooker to 77°/10h
- Mix together all ingredients for the marinade
- Place meat slabs together with marinade into vacuum bag and seal, place into water (you might wan to put some weight on top to prevent the pork belly from floating
- When timer is up remove from water bath and chill for later or use immediately
Finish A
- Remove meat from bag and save liquid for reducing into a glaze.
- Cut meat into cubes and slightly brown from all sides in a pan. (Tip: cutting refrigerated pork slabs makes prettier squares and slices)
- In a saucepan heat the sauce. Strain through a sieve to remove impurities and add to the pork belly. Let simmer and reduce sauce for a caramelized glaze, be careful not to burn. At this point I'm adding 2-3 tbs sugar, because it helps the sauce caramelize and better stick to the pork chunks. You can season to taste tough. As soon as the sauce turns sticky, remove from heat and coat the pork belly with it.
- Serve along with veggies or/and steamed white rice
Finish B
- Cut pork belly into slices and pop into the oven at 220° (reserve liquids for making a sauce)
- Broil on high heat for a couple of minutes until slightly browned, beware of the explosive fat when removing from oven.
- Strain and reduce liquids to a thick sauce, add some sugar for a better caramelization. Season to taste.
- Brush meat slices with sauce or serve as a dip
- Place between bao buns or eat with steamed rice.
Notes
You will need a sous-vide precision cooker for this recipe.
Ingredients
For the Marinade
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup Mirin
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbs fish sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp 5-star powder
- 1 tbs white pepper
Other
- 1.5 kg pork belly (cut lengthwise into halves)
- sous-vide precision cooker
- vacuum sealer bag
Instructions
- Set up water bath and set precision cooker to 77°/10h
- Mix together all ingredients for the marinade
- Place meat slabs together with marinade into vacuum bag and seal, place into water (you might wan to put some weight on top to prevent the pork belly from floating
- When timer is up remove from water bath and chill for later or use immediately
Finish A
- Remove meat from bag and save liquid for reducing into a glaze.
- Cut meat into cubes and slightly brown from all sides in a pan. (Tip: cutting refrigerated pork slabs makes prettier squares and slices)
- In a saucepan heat the sauce. Strain through a sieve to remove impurities and add to the pork belly. Let simmer and reduce sauce for a caramelized glaze, be careful not to burn. At this point I'm adding 2-3 tbs sugar, because it helps the sauce caramelize and better stick to the pork chunks. You can season to taste tough. As soon as the sauce turns sticky, remove from heat and coat the pork belly with it.
- Serve along with veggies or/and steamed white rice
Finish B
- Cut pork belly into slices and pop into the oven at 220° (reserve liquids for making a sauce)
- Broil on high heat for a couple of minutes until slightly browned, beware of the explosive fat when removing from oven.
- Strain and reduce liquids to a thick sauce, add some sugar for a better caramelization. Season to taste.
- Brush meat slices with sauce or serve as a dip
- Place between bao buns or eat with steamed rice.