Momofuku Pork Belly

This pork belly may be one of the easiest recipes I've encountered, but its flavor and versatility is abound. It's Momofuku's Pork Belly recipe from David Chang's book, Momofuku. For those of you who are not familiar, the chain of Momofuku restaurants (I recently visited the noodle bar in New York)was started by a Korean American chef called David Chang. I'd say one of the most famous things known to the restaurants is their ramen. There's been countless articles and recipes published talking about Momofuku's broth and how ridiculously delicious it is - (pain to make though)and of course, their pork belly which can be paired with ramen or baos. If you're like me, I put it on anything - rice, sandwiches, porridge - you name it.

I figure the broth was a bit too cumbersome to make, but I wanted to show you a recipe for 2 that I made - reducing the recipe in half. Honestly it's so easy, but what I ended up doing was making sure to use boiling water for part of the brine so that the salt and sugar would be dissolved, therefore really being able to flavor the pork. I also cut off the pork belly skin, because having made it before, the skin can end up really burned and hard, so I just cut it off and either deep fry it for pork rinds, or just cook it off with the pork, but on the side.

I also did one more thing to make this recipe extra delicious - I made my own chicken stock...well sort of. A lot of you might not know to do this, but any time I get a rotisserie chicken from the super market for dinner, I use the flavorful bones left from it to make stock. I'll add some carrots and onions to the bottom, but if you don't want that, just simmer the chicken - bones with probably some meat and skin left on for extra flavor. Then cover it with enough water and simmer for about 2-3 hours. You end up getting this genuinely flavored stock that's not too overpowering, with just the right emphasis on the chicken-ness. An added plus is you can control the sodium that goes into the broth, and you definitely want to opt for the lower sodium kind as the pork has already been brined with a salt/sugar solution. (P.S. The pork does have a tendency to be quite salty - in a delicious way of course, but adjustments can be made to the brine in the future should you find this the case.) Anyways, here we go with the pork...

1 lb. Pork Belly with Skin Sliced Off

Use 2 Cups Boiling Water to Sugar and Salt

Homemade Chicken Stock

Roast on low heat 300 degrees, then 450 degrees at end

Ingredients - 1/2 cup sugar - 1/2 cup salt - 4 1/2 cups water (4 cups for brine, 1/2 cup for cooking) - 1 lb skinless boneless pork belly, cut in half - 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

Directions To brine pork: 1. Dissolve sugar and salt in 2 cups of boiling water. Then add 2 cups water to cool down brine.
2. Put pork belly in a container or plastic bag where it can be completely submerged by the brine. Pour in brine and let sit for at least 12 hours.

To roast pork: 1. Preheat oven to 300°F. 2. Discard the brining liquid and put pork belly - fat side up - in an 8 inch square baking pan. 3. Pour chicken broth and remaining half cup of water into pan. Cover with foil and roast for for 2.5 hours. 4. Remove foil and increase oven temperature to 450°F. Roast the pork for an additional 20-30 minutes. 5. Let cool and serve with your favorite dishes.