Pork belly how we done it....

To make the pork belly we went through 3 phases of its production.  First phase is to dry the belly well(or cure it if you are going for a milder sauce then our kobayaki) and after drying it to brown it and braise it as low as possible until meltingly tender.  Although we are going to put soy sauce into it, we still season the belly liberally with salt because all that fat will absorb it and it will take a good amoung.  we try and braise it as low as possible so that not to much fat renders out and the fat itself becomes meltingly tender and delicious.  in our case we braised the pork belly (skin on) with mirepoix, apples, and a mixture of 1 part soy 1 part mirin and 2 parts chicken stock (enough to almost cover the belly).  this took about 5-6 hours because of the size of our piece and the temperature(about 300 degrees in a standard oven).  That is part one.

Part two is to take the belly cool it down, and to press it (take it out of its braising liquid and keep that for the sauce)  by pressing it we not only create a prok belly that is uniform thickness but also forces meat and fat together to create not only distinct layers but also areas that have both meat and fat almost as if we forced the fat into the meat.  It then pressed overnight with about 100# of weight on it.  (a beer keg works well)

the next day we come back and cut the pork belly into thick strips in which we will cut out the portions.... in the pan with the belly is all this heavily gelatinized liquid which makes a great addition to the sauce(its kind of like when you confit duck and all the liquid settles to the bottom and reduces into a salty great jelly)  in this case that liquid is a mix of juice and liquid from the belly and collagen that was broken down.  now that we have our portions we reheat the belly with some sauce and chicken stock, adjust the seasoning of the sauce(most likely adding some sugar to balance the saltiness) and then once the belly is hot we sear the skin side after scoring it to crisp it and give another layer of texture.  THATS IT!

I know it seems like a lot but its obviously a 2-3 day process but the results are outstanding.  in our case we made a caramelized apple puree by cooking some apples in water, pureeing them mixing in a good amount of sugar, cinnamon and cayenne and then continuing to cook them until thick and caramelized like a quince paste.

If you ever need help or want some other ideas feel free to shoot me an email and I'd be glad to help!