Chashu Recipe
It's umami, it's tender, it's charred and smoky. It's the ramen topping that's got it all!
I often got feedback at our pop-ups on how good our chashu was and customers were often surprised at how simplistic the recipe is. Honestly it just shows how far pork belly goes when seasoned and cooked well.
I’ve experimented with searing the pork belly (before and after braising) to add more maillard flavour but found the blowtorching before serving overshadows this, nothing wrong with doing it if you feel inclined but I found it didn’t do much.
Don’t forget to keep the braising liquid from this when you make it! You can use it again when making chashu in the future.
Prelude notes
To roll or not to roll
I prefer to roll my chashu for ramen purposes, I find it eats better as you get a nice ratio of meat and fat in each bite, there’s also an added benefit that it looks more aesthetic on the ramen.
That being said, feel free to opt out of this step though if it sounds like too much of hassle, pork belly is delicious both ways!
Leftovers
You’ll probably have some chashu and braising liquid leftover, these are great in a variety of dishes and freeze extremely well.
Some ideas to use up leftover chashu:
Diced into small pieces and added to fried rice.
On plain rice, served with the braising liquid and pickled mustard greens.
Added to a toastie with fried spring onions.
Equipment
Stockpot with lid
Pastry brush
Blowtorch
Butchers twine (optional)
Ingredient list
2kg Pork Belly, boneless
500g Soy sauce
250g Mirin
125g Sake
100g Brown Sugar
1ltr Water
Instructions
1 - Prepare braising liquid
In the stockpot, combine water, soy sauce, mirin, sake & brown sugar.
Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally so the brown sugar doesn’t burn at the bottom.
2 - Prepare pork belly
(Skip this step if you’ve opted out of tying up your pork belly).
If you’ve bought a whole pork belly then cut it up into pieces around 15cm in length.
It’s a bit hard to explain how to tie the pork belly in a text format, a video demonstrates this much better so I’d recommend watching this video by Adam Liaw (from 3:25):
RAMEN SCHOOL #2 | Three Styles of Chashu for Ramen | ラーメン用チャーシュー3種類の作り方
3 - Braise pork belly
Once the braising liquid is simmering, gently place the pork belly in. Ensure that the pork belly is submerged in the braising liquid, (you may need to make more braising liquid).
Bring back to a simmer, place a lid on and cook until tender (around 2.5 hours to 3 hours).
You can test tenderness by inserting something long & pointy like a cake tester or thermometer, if it inserts easily without too much resistance you’re good to go (usually this equates to 90 degrees internal temperature).
4 - Chill
Once cooked, carefully remove the pork belly from the braising liquid and place on a tray to cool.
After the pork belly has cooled to room temp place covered in the fridge.
5 - Reduce braising liquid
Strain the braising liquid into another pot and heat over medium high heat until simmering.
Reduce to half, the liquid should have a glaze-like consistency and coat the back of a spoon.
Set aside once reduced.
6 - Portion
Trim the ends of the pork belly and cut into 2cm slices.
7 - Serve
To serve, brush the reduced braising liquid over the chashu slices and sear with a blowtorch
