After trying so many various renditions of pork belly - sous vide, fried, smoked, braised, etc - I had to get back to the island roots and make my own Okinawan style; Rafute. Another succulent morsel of the Gods. Slow cooked with a perfect balance of shoyu, sugar and awamori spiced with a hint of fresh garlic and ginger. Mind you, ANY variation of pork belly is NOT a dish you want to consume with regularity or in large quantities but whetting the appetite with a morsel here and there does satisfy the soul.
I started with a pound and a half of fresh pork belly from the local market and placed them on a quarter sheet pan under the broiler just to brown the skin.
The strips were them simmered in water for 45 to 60 minutes to liberate excess fat and start the tenderizing process.
After cooling (I actually cooled it in the pork broth overnight), I then sliced roughly 1/2 inch pieces and gently simmered them in a mixture of equal parts of shoyu, awamori, sugar and hon dashi broth with 1 smashed clove of fresh garlic and a 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced for about 2 hours. I added about a 1/2 part of mirin during the last 15 minutes.
Ready to go! I briefly debated removing the skin... it would have been a bad decision as the skin turned into an unctuous piece of gelatinous flesh. Six pieces over a bowl of steaming Koshihikari with a little of the simmering broth... perhaps I'll take an extra dose of simvastatin tonight...
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