Tuesday, February 19, 2013

My Cha-siu for Ramen

Looks good, hah!  Actually, I almost blew it.  The liquid in the pot evaporated faster than I expected, so the meat got small-kine burnt.  Luckily, I caught it just in time and was able to trim off some of the burnt portion of the outer fat .

The recipe is my own, and as you know I'm not a cook, so please adjust it to your own liking.
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Wendell picked up this slab of pork belly for me.  I looked at it, and wasn't exactly sure how I was gonna be able to roll it.
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I scored it like this to kinda help stretch it out a bit.
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I forgot to ask Wendell to pick up some twine, but luckily we already had some, otherwise I woulda had to use some fishing line or maybe yarn.  Hahaha.
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I couldn't really roll the meat.  It was more of a fold instead.
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 I threw it in a pot with 1 c. water, 1/2 c. shoyu, 2 Tbsp. sake, 1 Tbsp. mirin, 3 smashed garlic cloves and 1/2 a small onion. I let it simmer for 1 hour on LOW HEAT.  I was planning to cook it longer, but after the liquid all evaporated even on LOW HEAT and I started smelling that something-burning smell, and after pandemonium broke loose thereafter, one hour of simmering turned out to be good enough.
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Then, since Wendell already had a nice fire going on the hibachi for his steaks that he was making for dinner, I cut the log in half and threw them on . . . 'cause as you know . . . a little hibachi flavor don't hurt.
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You're supposed to let the meat cool before cutting, otherwise it'll just fall apart.  In fact, you're supposed to let it cool in the liquid that you simmered it in, but since I had no liquid, I skipped that part. I tasted a tiny sliver from one end (ONO), and after cooling it on the counter for a little while, threw it in the 'fridge.  Ramen would have to wait for another day. Wendell had already made steak and some watercress soup for dinner.  Hoo hooo!!

12 comments:

Kalin's Mommy said...

Looks oishi!

K and S said...

looks awesome!

gracie said...

omg, i've got to try this one out. i've been on a huge ramen kick later. probably because of this chilly weather!! thanks for sharing, jalna! you da bestestestest!

jalna said...

I still haven't tried it in ramen yet Mich, but Landon did and he said that it was good.

Thanks Kat!

I hope you get to try it Grace! I was surprised how easy it was to make . . . except for having to scrub the pot after. LOL!

DNakamaru said...

Looks super ONO!!!

You are GOOD!

I tried to comment from my phone earlier but i think it didn't go thru. Sorry if you get 2 comments.

Nippon Nin said...

I love how it looks - little bit burned on edges. Jalna, this looks awesome!

jalna said...

Thanks Dean!!

Thanks Akemi. You shoulda seen all the burned parts that I had to cut off!

Kalin's Mommy said...

Thanks for the sample today! Was ONO!

Erick said...

That looks great! I gonna buy pork belly and make too.

jalna said...

You're welcome, Mich. I think I'm gonna cook it a little longer next time.

Yay Erick! Was easy!

:) josefina :) said...

well, for a non-cook, that sure looks yummy!

jalna said...

Awwww, thanks Jos!