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Chashu Pork is a Japanese-style pork belly braised in a sweet-salty soy marinade with ginger and garlic. This is the melt-in-your-mouth pork that tops bowls of ramen at your favorite noodle joint.
Pork belly is one of my all-time favorite cuts of meat to work with because it has so many different expressions: Dry-Cured Bacon, Italian Lardo, and pancetta, pork belly confit, a Porchetta Roast covered with crispy crackling…. and Chashu Pork. Chashu is super tender meat with gelatinous skin all rolled up into a log for easy slicing.
It is really easy to make Chashu at home and a fun weekend project. Simply buy a skin-on piece of pork belly (you may need to order this ahead of time from your grocery meat department), roll it into a log, tie it with butcher twine, and braise it in a simple soy marinade. Then let it cool completely in the braising liquid and use it over the next couple of days for ramen and rice dishes.
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Home-Made Chashu Pork for Ramen
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 lbs 1x
- Category: Meat
- Method: Braise
- Cuisine: Japanese
- Diet: Low Lactose
Description
Japanese-style braised pork belly for ramen and rice.
Ingredients
2 1/2–3 lb piece of skin-on pork belly
2 cups soy sauce
2 cups water
1 cup sake
1/4 cup burnt honey (see note)
1/4 cup sugar
4 inch piece of ginger, halved or quartered lengthwise
8 green onions
1/2 cup sugar
Instructions
Roll the pork belly into a log and tie it with butcher twine.
Place the pork belly into the smallest sized pot that will fit it snuggly. Cover with water and bring up to a boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes. Drain and rinse.
Add all the other ingredients to the pot with the pork belly. Let this sit at room temperature to marinate for at least 3 hours, or refrigerate overnight.
Preheat to oven to 275 F. Bring the pot with the pork belly and marinade up to a simmer on the stovetop. Transfer to the oven and cover with a lid left slightly ajar.
Braise for approximately 4 hours, turning the pork belly every 30 – 45 minutes. It is done when a skewer can be inserted all the way through with little resistance. At this point, the skin will be very fragile so be careful handling the pork belly. It will firm up once cooled.
Place the chashu in a ziplock bag. Strain half the marinade into the bag, squeeze the air out, and seal. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Strain the rest of the marinade and set aside to use as seasoning later on or for making ramen eggs or drizzling over rice or grilled vegetables.
Melt-in-your-mouth braised pork belly for ramen.
When ready to use, remove from refrigerator and marinade and thinly slice. You can reheat in a frying pan with a little of the marinade or simply dip it in the hot ramen broth for a moment before you serve it.
I usually cut this in half, tightly wrap one half with plastic wrap and freeze for later.
Notes
Burnt Honey
I stumbled upon this ingredient trick by accident. I had a little honey in the bottom of a large mason jar that had solidified. So I put it in the microwave and pressed start. Three minutes were left on the timer from the last time it was used. I had intended to only let it go for 30 seconds or so but I got distracted digging around for a pacifier for my fussing baby. When I got back to the honey, it was all bubbled up and the color of mohagony. I could tell by the appearance of the bubbles that it was going to cool to a hard caramel. It smelled of toast with notes of dandelion. It was less sweet, with more acidity and a pleasant bitterness. I added it to my braising liquid and was really happy with the nuanced sweet-earthy flavor it imparted. It may be one of the new seasoning agents in my kitchen.
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