Grilled Pork Belly With Soy-Mirin Glaze

- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1pound skinless pork belly
- 1cup soy sauce
- 1cup mirin
- Sea salt
- white pepper
- 1cup beef stock
- 2dried shiitake mushrooms
- ¼cup honey
- 3tablespoons Asian sesame oil
- 1tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water
- Vegetable oil for coating grill or pan
- 1small kabocha squash, seeded, in ½-inch thick slices with skin
- 2tablespoons chopped scallions
- 2tablespoons roasted, salted sesame seeds
Preparation
- Step 1
Cut pork belly into pieces about 3-inches square. Thinly slice each piece into squares no more than ¼-inch thick. (Partly freezing the pork belly will make it easier to slice.)
- Step 2
Combine soy sauce, mirin, salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Place pork in the bowl, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes but preferably overnight.
- Step 3
In a small saucepan, bring stock to a simmer. Add mushrooms, turn off heat and steep 30 minutes. Strain out mushrooms, and save for other use. Add honey and 1 tablespoon sesame oil to the stock. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes, until reduced by half. Whisk in cornstarch mixture and cook a few minutes longer, until thickened. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Step 4
Remove pork from refrigerator. Heat a grill or grill pan and brush with vegetable oil. Place pork slices on grill and cook, turning every 4 minutes or so, until well seared and caramelized at the edges, about 20 minutes’ total cooking time. Add remaining sesame oil to the marinade, add the squash, set aside 5 minutes, then place on the grill, turning, until cooked through, about 15 minutes.
- Step 5
Arrange pork and squash on a platter. Heat glaze and brush on pork and squash. Sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds and serve.
Private Notes
Comments
I am not one to change recipes but I wanted to try this and felt I needed to make a couple of changes first. First, I cut the meat into 2-3 inch pieces and scored the top. I also did not add any salt, it’s a salty enough marinade. After grilling, I sliced the meat thinner and made tacos. I made an Asian coleslaw and rice vinegar marinated onions to serve on top. I will make this again. Also, the glaze is plentiful and I will freeze and use on other meat/veggies.
1. Don’t add salt if using regular soy sauce 2. Cooked mine in a pan on the stove instead of a grill 3. Marinade is a lot so maybe half that recipe 4. Didn’t refrigerate the glaze, didn’t experience any congealing or issues with getting it on the pork belly Family liked it a lot and a it’s an easy way to use up some pork belly.
The marinated pork belly was very nice just itself - grilled/caramelized...and TBH i found the glaze unnecessary - effort vs. reward.
It was tasty overall, though too much toasted sesame oil in the glaze. Lots of glaze leftover. Served with rice with the pork belly more of a condiment for us.
If I were to make this again, I'd decrease the soy sauce by at least half. It was way too salty. We use a charcoal grill and 1 minute per side was the max. I'd try for a cooler charcoal layout. And I'd leave out the cornstarch for the glaze. I'd also leave the pork belly in long strips as it's a lot easier to manage while cooking over a grill.