That’s right. Simplified. Modified. Not all of us have a tabletop grill for the traditional cooking method but we can mimic the cooking procedure without sacrificing on flavor.
How? My method is to simmer a slab of pork belly, uncut and unseasoned, in water until tender. I cut it into slices, marinate the slices in spices, soy sauce, rice wine and, for the spice factor, gochujang.
The marinated pork slices are grilled in a lightly oiled cast iron pan. Because the pork is already fully cooked, the pan-grilling is simply meant to allow the sugars in the marinade to caramelize and form a light crust.
An important tip: Cooked pork belly is easier to slice when allowed to chill in the fridge for several hours. The meat and fat firm up, and that results in neater slices.
Full recipe below
Korean-inspired pan-grilled spicy pork belly
Ingredients
- 1 500 slab of pork belly - boiled, cooled and chilled, then cut into ⅛-inch thick slices or thinner
Marinade
- 3 tablespoons gochujang - (available in Asian groceries and Asian section of better supermarkets)
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce - (I used Kikkoman)
- 2 tablespoons rice wine - (sake or mirin)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- drizzle sesame seed oil
- 1 teaspoon finely grated garlic
- 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
- 1 generous pinch freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil - divided
To serve
- rice
- sliced scallions to garnish
- toasted sesame seeds to garnish
Instructions
- Place the pork in a wide shallow bowl.
- Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade, but using only half of the cooking oil, and pour over the pork slices. Mix the marinade into the meat well.
- Cover the bowl and allow the pork belly slices to soak up the flavors for at least an hour.
- Heat a skillet (cast iron is especially good) and brush the remaining cooking oil on the cooking surface.
- Pan-grill the pork belly slices in batches over high heat, three to four minutes per side, until the marinade caramelizes and forms a light crust on the surface.
- Serve the spicy pan-grilled pork belly over rice garnished with sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds.
