Dinner · 120 min · japanese

Buta no Kakuni

Pork belly does the heavy lifting here, with dashi rounding it out. A Japanese dinner that takes 120 minutes, start to finish. Each serving lands at 640 calories with 32g of protein, so it eats like a much heavier meal. Leftovers keep well, so it doubles as next-day lunch without any extra work.

Ingredients

• 2 lb Pork belly
• 4 cups Dashi
• 0.5 cup Soy sauce
• 0.5 cup Mirin
• 0.5 cup Sake
• 0.25 cup Sugar
• 4 slices Fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp Mustard

Steps

1. Cut the pork belly into 2-inch cubes and blanch 5 minutes; rinse. This first wash keeps the braising liquid clean.
2. Sear the cubes on all sides in a dry pot until golden — the rendered fat is the cooking medium.
3. Add the dashi, soy, mirin, sake, sugar, and ginger. Lay a drop-lid or parchment directly on the surface and simmer gently 90 minutes.
4. The kakuni is done when a chopstick slides through with no resistance and the liquid has reduced to a glaze.
5. Serve with the glossy sauce spooned over and a dab of sharp mustard on the side. Rich, sweet-salty, and completely worth the wait.

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