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. 

Private Dining - Behind-the-Scene

Here are some behind-the-scene photos I took from the recent private dining event.

Lamb bones just out of the oven...

And into a pot of sweated mirepoix, with chicken stock and beef stock made from the previous day.

One slab of pork belly stringed and cut into half before going into the pot above.

Heating sugar to make syrup and pralines.

Almond pralines. One of the rare occasions I'm prepared to put that much sugar into my mouth.

Yiyi also prepared home made ice cream. Here, he taught me how to know when heating cream and milk in a pot is ready. With your finger, draw a line across the wooden spoon. When the cream mixture does not drip into the dividing line, that's when it's at 84 degrees Celsius and ready.

He invested in an Epicurean bread making board and swears by it.

A Southern France bread - Fougasse (which means Focus) with sundried tomatoes and kalamata olives.

The starter dough was prepared the night before, and the process which needs 3 proofs took almost all day.

Fougasse is distinguished by its slashed holes, traditionally cut in a ladder or tree shape.

And yes, unfortunately, our young friend got over-enthusiastic and sliced off some of himself on a mandolin. We can now certify him a real chef who has said his farewell to the good life of a doctor, lawyer or engineer.

Next up: Recipe of Slow Braised Pork Belly - because you asked for it!

Heston Blumenthal's 36-hour Sous Vide Pork Belly

"It's going to revolutionise home cooking in ways that the microwave didn't even dream of doing."

Heston Blumenthal on Sous Vide cooking

So, this post kicks off my sous-vide (SV) recipe collection, starting with Heston Blumenthal's 36-hour sous vide pork belly. 

Pork Belly - A very cheap cut to be experimenting with SV.

Temperature-controlled

Timing set

I set the temperature and timing on Friday night 9pm and woke up on Sunday morning 9am to become the proud owner of 2 slabs of Sous Vide Pork Belly.

Here's what I did:

Friday morning: Rubbed salt all over the meat and left in the fridge
Friday evening: Vacuum seal meat with marinade of apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar, mirin. Place in SV for the next 36 hours
Sunday morning: Remove meat from SV, kept in fridge under heavy weight overnight
Monday evening: Remove from fridge, pan sear few minutes to get crispy skin and serve for dinner.

Verdict:
1. You don't need patience even if it's 36 hours. Just plonk your meat in and forget all about it.
2. SV is interesting as you can cook your food in a vacuum and chill or freeze it until the day of your party, and just finish off with a 5-minute pan-sear to serve. I've been told many fine dining restaurants do that.
3. The SV machine is low maintenance - a tub of water to fill, then throw and just wipe dry to clean.
4. No real culinary skills needed. Anyone who can set the temperature and timing can SV.

Check my other SV recipes and more pictures:
- Duck Breast, featured on Asian Food Channel Official FB Page
- Beef Cheeks, featured on AFC
- Pork Tenderloin, recipe by Chef Lee Bennett who trained under Gordon Ramsay

Taste Tradition - Braised Pork Belly with Preserved Mustard Cabbage a.k.a. Mui Choy

OK, so I think I got some momentum on this now and managed today to capture a third post on traditional Chinese recipes from mom. 

Have you seen or eaten Mui Choy/Mei Cai/Preserved Mustard Cabbage before? It looks like this after soaking for 2-3 hours.

So here's what I managed to download from mom's head. She learned to cook this as a teenager - mind you, we're talking about somewhere around the 1950s. 

Ingredients:

500g Pork Belly (wash it in hot boiling water on the stove for 15 min - see pic below)

300g Mui Choy/Preserved Mustard Cabbage (soak for 2-3 hours)

6 Garlic, minced

Rice Vinegar, 1 Tbsp

Dark Soya Sauce, 1 Tbsp

Sesame Oil, 1/2 Tbsp

Salt and Pepper

Method

1. Soak vegetable for 2-3 hours, then cut into 1/2" thick - see pic.

2. Clean pork belly as above and cut into 1/2" thick - see pic.

3. Heat oil in hot pan, then add minced garlic. 

4. When fragrant and slightly brown, add meat. Stir for 2 minutes.

5. Add seasoning - pinch of salt, pepper, sesame oil, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar.

6. Allow taste to infuse, then add vegetable.

7. Add more dark soya sauce so meat and vegetable are of same colour (optional).

8. Stir for about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

9. Add 2 bowls of water, bring to boil, then allow to simmer till almost dry, then add another 2 bowls of water.

10. Simmer for half an hour, partially covered, till meat is tender.

11. Serve with a bowl of steamed organic brown rice. 

Find yourself a nice wooden bench and enjoy with a pair of chopsticks. As with all Chinese moms, my mom makes enough to last a week. In all honesty, this dish tastes best after a day or two!

Click here to see the first post on Mom's 10-minute whole fish dish and the second on Chap Chye (Chinese Mixed Vegetables).

Speaking of moms, don't forget to wish yours, Happy Mother's Day today!