A Better Method to Make Chashu (bonus Chuuka Soba)

I tried a different method to make chashu and I think this is going to be my go-to way from now on for a few of reasons. 1. It tastes better than the old method I used to use. 2. You can make a lot of chashu and store it for whenever you need it. 3. The tare can be saved and used whenever you want to make chashu, making subsequent chashu sessions stupid easy. The pork belly I used in the video was too small so the final product doesn't look great, but it tasted great so please don't let that stop you from trying this out. It works with any size pork belly rolled or unrolled. I also used the braising liquid and the tare to make a bowl of Chuuka Soba (old style Shoyu Ramen). It was came out pretty awesome!

Old Nikomi Chashu Method:

Original Japanese Recipe:




Ingredients:

Pork belly (as much or as little as you want)
Water
Round onion
Green onion tops (green parts)
Garlic
Ginger

Tare:
360ml Shoyu
40g Sugar
10g Salt
5-6g MSG (optional the original recipe called for 10 but I went down)
A few cloves of garlic
10ml of Sake
Green onion tops (green part)

Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients for the tare in a pot a bring to a boil.
2. When it comes to a boil. keep it there for 2 minutes then turn of the heat and let it rest at room temperature overnight.
3. The next day add the pork, green onion tops, round onion, garlic and ginger to a pot of boiling water.
4. Skim off any scum that arises when the water comes back to a boil, cover and boil for 1-2.5 hours (depending on the size of the pork belly you have).
5. Remove the Pork and Aromatics from the braising liquid and you're left with a soup that can be used to make ramen or curry.
6. Mix 1 part braising liquid to 1 part tare to create the chashu marinade.
7. Add each piece of pork belly to a ziplock bag and add just enough marinade to cover each piece. Work it into the pork then remove the air from the bag using a bowl of water.
8. cool the bags of pork down in an ice bath then store in the freezer until you're ready to use it.
8. If frozen solid when you want to use it, partially defrost in the fridge and slice thinly.

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