January 10, 2010

Buta no Kakuni (Braised Pork Belly)/豚の角煮

Yesterday, I bought some pork belly, and I made buta no kakuni this morning to have it for supper.
昨日は豚バラを買いました。そして今朝、夕飯に食べるため、豚の角煮を作りました。

My recipe is adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, Wariai de Oboeru Wa no Kihon (Basics of Japanese Cuisine You Can Learn with Ratios), written by Yoshihiro Murata.
His original recipe does not call for sake, ginger, negi (Japanese leek), or other ingredients that are usually considered necessary, and I expected that it would let the flavor of my pork belly shine through.
このレシピーは、私の好きな料理の本、村田吉弘著作の「割合で覚える和の基本」を少し変えたものです。
そのレシピーには日本酒、ショウガ、ネギなど通常必要とされる具材が書かれていないので、私は豚バラの風味が際立つのではないかと思いました。


My original recipe for buta no kakuni (braised pork belly), adapted from the cookbook above.

Ingredients:
600 g pork belly
4 boiled eggs
(I actually used eight because I really like boiled eggs seasoned in the broth.)
500 ml water
62.5 ml soy sauce
62.5 ml mirin
(Water, soy sauce, and mirin ratio = 8:1:1)
豚の角煮のレシピ(上述の料理の本のレシピーを少し変えた私のオリジナルレシピー)

材料:
豚バラ600 g
茹で卵4つ
(私は実際8つ使いました。味付け玉子が大好きなので。)
水500 ml
醤油62.5 ml
味醂62.5 ml
(水、醤油、味醂の割合=8:1:1)

Directions:
1. Cut pork belly in 8 equal parts.
2. Put them in a pan, skin side down. No oil is necessary. Cook all sides.
3. Transfer to a pot, add water, soy sauce, and mirin. Simmer for 50 min.
I added 8 boiled eggs later in the simmering process, and covered the ingredients with sheets of paper towel.
作り方:
1. 豚バラ肉を8つに等分します。
2. 皮を下にしてフライパンに入れます。油は必要ありません。すべての面を焼きます。
3. 鍋に移し、水、醤油、味醂を入れます。50分煮込みます。
煮込み中、後で茹で卵を8個入れ、キッチンペーパーで覆いました。





Serve with karashi (Japanese mustard).
カラシと一緒に出します。


The resultant buta no kakuni was good enough for me, but you may find it lightly seasoned, depending on your preferences. Quite frankly, I'm not a big fan of buta no kakuni, and I was more attracted to boiled eggs seasoned in the broth.
出来た豚の角煮は私は美味しいと思いましたが、好みによっては味付けが薄いと思うかもしれません。率直に言うと、味付け玉子のほうが私には魅力的です。

2 comments:

  1. Hi Hiroyuki-san,

    Why do you cover the ingredients with sheets of paper?

    Jan

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jan: The sheets of paper were a substitute for a drop lid (otoshi buta). A drop lid is not usually required to make buta no kakuni, and the total amount of liquid (water, soy sauce, etc.) that the recipe calls for is usually enough to cover the ingredients, but as I mentioned in the post, I added eight boiled eggs instead of four, and the liquid became not enough to cover the ingredients. I first thought I would add additional water, soy sauce, and mirin, but I changed my mind and covered the ingredients with sheets of paper. Sheets of paper have an additional benefit of soaking up fat.

    ReplyDelete