Day 23: Braised Pork and Squash Pasta
This is my chef d'oeuvre of my quarantine. Pork belly, braised to perfect melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. It's a Korean dish called su-yοοk (수육) and it's normally paired with napa cabbage and freshly made kimchi, but I have neither, so instead I paired it with salty fermented shrimp (새우젓) and radish kimchi (깍두기).
The fat and skin at the top were bouncy and decadent, and the meat was perfectly tender. I didn't put any salt in the meat itself as I was braising it except the oyster sauce that I rubbed it with. The fermented shrimp is very salty and a perfect pairing with the pork. This method of cooking pork belly ensures that the meat stays juicy and delicious and doesn't dry out, but prevents it from tasting too fatty or being greasy. It also takes out all the game-y nasty smell of pork that can stay in the meat with the moisture. It's also not very hard to make!
I used about 1.5 lbs of pork belly, which made a good dinner for two people. It has to be thick cut, not in thin slices like bacon. It has to be a whole slab. The HMart near me sells pork belly cut specifically for this purpose and any Korean supermarket should do the same.
Ingredients
- 1–1.5 lb pork belly
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- Black pepper
- 2 tablespoons miso
- 1 large green onion (I used about 5 scallions instead)
- 9 cloves garlic
Steps
- Rub the pork belly all over with black pepper and oyster sauce. I did the pepper first then oyster sauce.
- In a preheated pan, sear the pork belly on all sides. You shouldn't use any oil here. Pork belly is very fatty to begin with.
- Put the seared pork belly in a pot with enough water to cover it completely. Add the bay leaves, miso, green onion, and garlic.
- Bring up to a boil, and cook on high heat for 40 minutes, medium heat for 20 minutes, and low heat for 5 minutes. Add more water if it reduces too much, and flip halfway through.
- Cut vertically (NOT like bacon!) as shown in the photo.
- Serve with kimchi, rice, fermented shrimp, and cabbage, or whichever of these options you have. Enjoy!
For lunch, I just had this pasta that I threw together with olive oil. I used gray squash (my favorite kind of squash) and the last of my frozen shrimp.
