Chashu
Updated March 4, 2024
- Total Time
- About 11 hours
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 2 hours 40 minutes, plus at least 8 hours’ refrigeration
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
- 1(3-pound) boneless pork belly, skin removed
- 1tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1cup sake
- 1cup soy sauce
- ½cup granulated sugar
- 1negi (Japanese long onion) or 3 scallions, cut into 3-inch pieces
- 1(3-inch) piece ginger, scrubbed or peeled and thinly sliced
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
485 calories; 19 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 14 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 17 grams sugars; 44 grams protein; 2425 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Place the pork belly on a clean cutting board and arrange it so the short side is facing you. Tightly roll the belly away from you into a log. Using kitchen string, tightly tie the log at 1-inch intervals, making sure knots are secure so the pork belly doesn’t unroll. Cut any excess string.
- Step 2
Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or (5½-quart) Dutch oven over medium-high. Add the pork belly and cook, rotating as needed, until golden all over, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove to the cutting board, then discard the oil and wipe up any large bits from the saucepan.
- Step 3
Add the sake, soy sauce, sugar and 3 cups water to the pot and bring to a boil over high. Return the pork belly to the pot. Add the negi and ginger, and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cover with an otoshi buta, drop lid or cartouche (see Tip) and cook, turning the belly once halfway through cooking, until slightly tender, about 2 hours. Remove from the heat and allow the pork to cool in the cooking liquid before covering and refrigerating overnight or for at least 8 hours.
- Step 4
The next day, transfer the pork to a cutting board and remove and discard the string, then thinly slice into ¼-inch rounds. Remove and discard the fat solids from the cooking liquid, then strain through a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl, discarding any additional solids. Save the leftover cooking liquid for another use. Store chashu in an airtight container, refrigerated, for up to 5 days.
- Step 5
When ready to eat the chashu, heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high and cook the rounds in batches, flipping once, until golden on both sides, about 4 minutes. (Alternatively, heat 1½ cups of the strained stock in a large skillet over medium. Add the slices and cook until heated through, about 3 minutes.)
- A drop lid helps to prevent the liquid from evaporating and the pork from falling apart. If you don’t have an otoshi buta or drop lid, make a cartouche by folding a 12-inch square of parchment paper in half into a triangle. Fold the paper in half again to make a smaller triangle; repeat two more times. (You should have a long triangle.) Position the pointed end of the paper in the middle of the pot, and tilt it so that the wide end touches the pot’s edge; trim the wider side so it fits inside the pot. (Once it’s unfolded, it should be a circle.)
Private Notes
Comments
No description of an otoshui but drop lid. the instructions on making the cartouche are useless without a diagram. It's clear that this recipe has not been user tested.
It needs to sit on the surface of the food. I learned the parchment method in a Thomas Keller book. Snip the middle of the triangle to let steam out. Adjustable stainless otoshi buta have holes in them. Wooden ones absorb moisture.
A lot of work. For simple cut of meat. Try sous vide / immersion circulator for a far easier approach.
I bought an otoshi buta years ago, and use it a lot when I blanch cauliflower, broccoli, and other veggies, and of course when I make Japanese food. Any time you need to keep what you are cooking from floating up to the surface of a pot, this lid is what you need. It was inexpensive then, and you can get a good metal one for about $15 on Amazon. Just search for "otobushi lid". I prefer the metal to the wooden kind, as I put mine in the dishwasher.
A circular parchment cover is trivial to make, takes less than 30s, and is simple to re-do if the initial attempt isn’t sufficient. It’s the same method used for making a parchment liner for a circular cake tin. When you were a child this long triangle was the first step in making a cut-paper snowflake.
This instructions do not prepare you at all. Improvised starting step 1. You should be more specific.