Sweet and Savory Braised Pork Belly with Dried Apricots and Figs
This dish was inspired by the pork belly at Kinzie Chophouse in Chicago. Their appetizer pork belly is outstanding. I tried to replicate those flavors and make it into a main course.
Ingredients for marinade - marinate pork belly strips overnight:
1 TBSP smoked salt
2 TBSP rice wine vinegar
1 TBSP chili flakes
Ingredients:
1/4 cup cooking wine (any white wine is fine)
6 TBSP brown sugar, divided
4 TBSP dark soy sauce
1/2 small onion, quartered
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 cup chicken stock, plus extra
1/4 cup light soy sauce (low sodium)
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled
3 scallions whole, plus an additional 2 scallions diced for garnish
10 dried mission figs
10 dried apricots
sprig of rosemary
a few sprigs of thyme
Tabasco - optional
Directions:
1. Cut each pork belly strip into 4 equal pieces. Boil in water for 5 minutes, drain and dry. Sprinkle with black pepper.
2. Heat a braiser pan over medium-high heat with canola oil. Sear pork on each side- about 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan.
3. Turn off the heat and deglaze with wine and scrape up brown bits. Turn the heat back on low and add 4 TBSP brown sugar and 4 TBSP dark soy sauce. Stir and bring to a simmer.
4. Add your pork belly back to the pan and toss to coat.
5. Add in all of your other braising ingredients - onion, garlic, chicken stock, light soy sauce, 2 TBSP sugar, ginger, scallions, figs, apricots, thyme and rosemary. Reduce heat to low and cover leaving the lid slightly off center. Cook for 30 minutes.
6. At 30 minutes, check. Some of your liquid probably evaporated. I added a few dashes of light soy sauce and about 1/2 cup chicken stock. Cover again and cook another 60 minutes on low.
7. After 90 minutes, your pork belly should be tender. Stick a fork in it and it should come right out, no resistance. Taste for seasoning. Here is where I added a few dashes of Tabasco to bring some heats to this sweet and savory dish. Serve over rice and your vegetable of choice.
8. Garnish with green onion and additional Tabasco, if desired.
Note: I did a quick seared bok choy on the side. Just season with a little salt, chili powder, garlic and pepper. Sear for 4-5 minutes each side. I also did a basic white rice cooked according to package directions. For a little extra texture, I took the cooled rice and placed in a single layer in a hot pan to crisp it up - about 3 minutes, flip, 3 minutes.
Wine pairing (I went big tonight):
Monte Rosso Vineyard
2019
Cabernet Sauvignon
Sonoma, CA
Check me out on Instagram or Facebook.
Comments
Post a Comment