Very special pork belly

Posted on Apr 24, 2009 in Hiroko's Blog

Jeremiah is an accomplished, charming chef, now working as a sous chef at International Culinary Center (ICC).  The other day when I was prepping at the kitchen of ICC for my class, Jeremiah kindly fed me with his delicious pork belly.  It had completely different texture and flavor profile from my version.  The exciting flavor came from the marinade – five-spice, cumin, coriander, mustard seed, rum, raisings.  The silky, tender texture of both fatty part and lean meat was a product of 24 hours of Sous-vide cooking.  Before serving Jeremiah crisped out the skin side of the pork belly, sliced it into bite sized pieces and served it with a “mool-kimchi” fluid gel.  The kimchi was made with apples, ramps and carrots.