Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Slow Braised Pork Belly - recipe of a dish from private dinner


I received a few requests asking for the recipe of this dish from the private dining event which I posted here and here. The full name of this dish is Slow Braised Pork Belly with seared slipper lobsters, accompanied by crushed minted peas and marsala jus. Here it is, for those into gourmet food with a cooking process competing to be longer than the list of ingredients.

An additional step not in recipe: grilling lamb bones to enhance flavour
Adding grilled bones to the braising liquid
750ml beef stock made on previous day
Stringing the pork belly with a culinary string

Browning to seal in the juices


Add herbs to meat in braising liquid
Slipper lobsters, also known as crayfish


Ingredients (serves 4-6)
For the slow-braised belly
1 kg slab of pork belly, skin off
1 carrot
1 onion
1 celery
1 leek
few sprigs of rosemary and thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
750ml chicken stock
750ml beef/veal stock
300ml dry white wine (a standard chardonnay will do it)

For the Marsala jus
500ml marsala (costs $30 in cold storage)

Slipper lobsters
12 slipper lobsters
salt and pepper

Mint peas
400g peas (frozen petit pois are perfectly fine)
mint to taste
salt and pepper

Instructions
Preheat oven to 140 degrees celsius
Season pork belly with salt and pepper, tie up into a log. 
Chop all the vegetables into medium dice and sweat in a casserole pot for 4-5 mins, add herbs. 
Deglaze with white wine, boil down by at least half. Add log of pork belly into casserole
Cover with the stocks, bring to a boil
Once boiling, take off stove, seal tightly with aluminum foil, and braise for 3 hours until pork belly is tender.
Turn the pork belly to ensure even cooking every 1 hour.
To test tenderness, insert skewer into log, if the skewer comes out easily then correct tenderness has been achieved.
Take pork belly out, reserving the braising liquid.
Untie pork belly, and layer a tray large enough to hold the belly with cling film. 
Lay pork belly on cling film, cover with another layer of cling film
Put another tray on top, and weigh down with heavy weights of at least 3kg to ensure pork belly will be perfectly flat and uniform
Chill for at least 6 hours to set shape

Reduce the marsala by half until syrupy, boil down braising liquid by half.
Combine both liquids and boil down some more, until desired taste and viscosity

Deshell slipper lobsters by twisting off heads and cutting the shell off, season with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Saute for 1-2 mins per side until slipper lobsters curl up, and are springy when pressed

Boil frozen petit pois for 3 mins, DO NOT ADD SALT to the boiling water. Peas shell will harden and make it unpleasant to eat. 
Put peas and mint in a food processor and blend lightly until half-mashed.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

4 comments:

  1. Now I know the reason why my frozen peas are hard, even though I boil them. Thanks for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. You actually read this long post? Haha. Glad you found something useful in there. I need you to teach me about wild yeasts - have been reading your bread posts.

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  2. Browning doesn't seal in juices, it is only for flavour and appearance. Calum

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    Replies
    1. Hi Calum, I've heard from many chefs that it does, and I've heard from just as many chefs that it doesn't. It seems there are 2 camps out there, and both have their own arguments for and against, which only leaves a very confused extra virgin chef. So I just make my own observation and in my very own personal opinion, I choose to think that it does.

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