Chashu (Japanese braised pork belly)

After posting recipes for the Soft Boiled Eggs and Tonkotsu Ramen Broth, I must post this recipe since Chashu pork is by far the most popular ramen topping.  These Chashu slices are braised pork belly, they are so tender and flavorful and they just melt in your mouth. Cooking time could be long, but the whole process is very easy.

There were two main reasons I wanted to make this myself: (i) at most of the ramen restaurants, each bowl only comes with 2 slices of meat.  If you are a meat eater like me, you will need to order extra meat for an additional cost; (ii) I had two fatty slices one time (90% of fat and 10% of lean meat) and was very disappointed.  Although I was able to exchange for two leaner pieces, I felt embarrassed and was not sure if the restaurant would do something to my meat (you know what I mean!).  Anyways, when making the Chashu myself, I can pick a nice piece that has less fat and I can serve my ramen with 4-5 slices of meat.

Ingredients:

3 pieces	Pork belly (about 2 pounds each)
1 cup	Light soy sauce
1.5 cup	Mirin
1.5 cup	Water
1 cup	Cooking wine
2 tsp	Lemon juice
6 Tbsp	Brown sugar
2 two-inch knob	Ginger
2	Whole shallot (cut in half)
2	Whole garlic heads (about 12 cloves)
6 stalks	Green onions

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 250 F.
2. Lay the pork belly on a chopping board, roll it into a cylindrical tube with skin facing out, and then use butchers’ string to tie the joint tightly. (pictures 1 and 2)
3. In a large pot, place the pork belly and add water to cover the pork.  Once boiled, drain and remove the scum by rinsing the pork under cold running water.  (picture 3)
4. Prepare all ingredients, cut shallots, ginger, green onions and peel garlic.  (picture 4)
5. In a large pot, heat all ingredients over high heat until boiling, then add pork belly (it won’t be submerged). (pictures 5 and 6)
6. Once boiled, transfer the pot to the oven and cook for 5 hours. Turn pork occasionally.
7. Let it cool. Once completely cook, chill the pork in the refrigerator. This makes it easier to slice.
8. When ready to serve, reheat pork belly slices (chashu) in hot ramen soup.
9. Keep the chashu sauce, you can use the sauce to marinate the soft boiled eggs.

Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream Macaron filling

This recipe is adapted from Natasha’s Kitchen and I added Swiss meringue to make the filling slightly thicker.  The macaron itself is sweet, so I heavily reduced the sugar amount in the basic Swiss meringue.  So far this is my favorite filling that has a very refreshing taste.  For the macaron recipe, please visit my page “French Macarons“.

Ingredients:

Reduced sugar Basic Swiss Meringue:

1	Egg white
2 Tbsp	Granulated sugar

Raspberry Buttercream:

1 cup	Fresh raspberries
2 Tbsp	Granulated sugar
1 Tbsp	Fresh lemon juice
1 Stick	Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1/4 tsp*	Salt

* If you use salted butter, then omit salt in your recipe.

Directions:

1. Place egg white and sugar in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pan of simmering water. (picture 1)
2. Whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer. You will see the meringue becomes more white and thicker.  Remove from heat and let cool.  (picture 2)
3. In a small sauce pan, combine raspberries and granulated sugar and cook over medium heat. (picture 3)
4. Add 1 tbsp of lemon juice.  (picture 4)
5. Cook until bubbling.  Remove from fire.  (picture 5)
6. Press the raspberries with a spoon through a fine sieve and discard seeds.  Put the raspberries juice aside and let cool to room temperature.   (picture 6)
7. In a mixing bowl, beat butter until whipped and white.  Add in Swiss meringue and beat until well blended.  (picture 7)
8. Add in raspberry juice and beat until whipped and fluffy.  (picture 8)
9. Add salt and mix until well blended.  Spoon the mixture into the piping bag and pipe the filling onto the macaron half.  Top with another half and press gently so that it looks like a mini hamburger.  (picture 9)