Chashu Pork Recipe

Chashu pork square pic sliced on a white plate

Authentic and delicious chashu (Japanese braised pork belly) step-by-step instructions

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: Chashu, Chashu pork, Japanese braised pork belly

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 2 30

Total Time: 2 50

Servings: Slices

Calories: 300kcal

Equipment

Butchers twine
1 Pot
Cooking tongs
Cooking shears
1 Sharp knife

Ingredients

1 Pork belly 4 lbs.
1 Ginger root 2 inches
3 Green onions
10 cloves Garlic
1 1/2 cups Soy sauce
1 cup Mirin
1 cup Sake
1/2 cup Sugar
4-6 cups Water
2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil

Instructions

Examine your pork belly to make sure it has roughly the same thickness throughout and will roll evenly. Shave thicker parts if necessary.
Use fork to poke holes in both sides of the pork belly. This will help the liquids to better absorb into the meat.
Roll the pork belly tightly starting at the shortest side and tie with butchers twine. There are several different ways to do this but the important thing is to make sure the belly remains tightly wrapped during cooking.
To remove impurities from the meat, add wrapped pork belly to a pot filled with enough water to submerge all or most of the pork belly and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, remove pork from pot and rinse off with water.
Add sugar, soy sauce, mirin, sake and water to a pot just large enough for the pork belly to fit into but not much larger. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring as you do so to dissolve sugar.
While wet ingredients and sugar are coming to a boil, slice ginger into 1/2 inch slices leaving skin on.
Once boiling and sugar is dissolved, reduce heat to simmer and add ginger, garlic, and the pork belly. The liquid should be cover roughly 3/4 of the pork belly. If it isn't, add more water until it is.
Cover with a lid and simmer for 2 hours, flipping the pork in the pan every 30 minutes.
After two hours of simmering, remove the pork from the pot let both the pork and the cooking liquids cool for 20 minutes.
After cooking liquids are cool enough to work with, strain into a large bowl. Skim any fat that may float to the top as the cooking liquids continue to cool. Do not discard the cooking liquids as you will use later.
After the pork has cooled, heat vegetable oil on medium high heat in a cast iron skillet.
Once the pan is hot, sear all sides of the pork belly until the fat turns a light brown color.
Once seared, remove pork and place on a plate to cool.
After the pork is cooled, place in a freezer bag and add enough of the cooking liquids to submerge the pork. Squeeze all the air out of the bag, seal, and place in fridge overnight. Save the remaining cooking liquids in the fridge or freezer as you can use those in other dishes or as a sauce to reheat the chashu.
The next day, remove the twine and slice chashu pork as needed. For ramen, I like to cut into 1/4 inch thick slices. I would only cut what you need at any given time. Chashu will store in the fridge for 7 days and in the freezer for 2-3 months.
To reheat chashu, I like to heat a couple tablespoons of the cooking liquid in a cast iron skillet and add the slices of chashu. Let simmer for a minute or two flipping as needed.

Video

Nutrition