Yakiniku pork belly soup

Sometimes I don’t know what I’m going to cook for dinner so I go shopping for inspiration .. and then if I am lucky I see produce that is just so compelling that it demands to be cooked.

Look at this Yakiniku sliced pork belly we found the other day.  All that delicious fat, just begging to be rendered leaving it’s collagen matrix like so much perfectly crispy crackling.

“Yakiniku” is japanese for grilled meat, you see this cut used all the time in Japanese or Korean BBQ meals.  But it’s really just the same cut of meat that becomes a rasher of Bacon but on an uncured pork Belly.  You can just buy an untrimmed pork belly and use a sharp knife and prepare this yourself … but since CostCo’s butcher was willing to do the work I’m happy to take advantage of that.

The real secret is always the stock and in this case it is the stock left after making Ham Hock Terrine.

This is what that stock looks like when it’s left in the fridge …

Print Recipe

Yakiniku pork belly soup

Course

Main Dish

Cuisine

Japanese

Servings

people

Ingredients

• 200 g Yakiniku Pork Belly
• 1 tsp crushed garlic (2 cloves)
• 1 tsp grated ginger root
• 1 tsp Sesame oil
• 40 g Capsicum diced (AKA Bell Peppers)
• 50 g Enoki Mushrooms
• 100 g Daikon Radish
• 3 cup Pork stock

Course Main Dish Cuisine Japanese Servings people Ingredients 200 g Yakiniku Pork Belly 1 tsp crushed garlic (2 cloves) 1 tsp grated ginger root 1 tsp Sesame oil 40 g Capsicum diced (AKA Bell Peppers) 50 g Enoki Mushrooms 100 g Daikon Radish 3 cup Pork stock

Instructions

1. Start out by slicing the tops off the Enoki mushrooms and reserving fro garnish at the end, then dice up the stalks. And using a mandoline slice the Daikon into a julienne - or you can use a knife to cut it into long "noodles".

   
2. Start the stock reducing in a pan on the back boiler. It will reduce to about half it's volume.
3. In a frying pan fry the garlic and ginger in the sesame oil, add the diced capsicum and the enoki stalks - then add contents to the reduced stock.
4. Now the pan is seasoned cook the pork belly. The fat will render out and fry the meat till it is golden and set it aside.

   
5. Now fry the daikon "Noodles" until they are golden brown.

   
6. Dish the reduced soup into a bowl and add the Daikon "noodles" in the centre.

   
7. Fry the tops of the enoki and add them to the dish as a garnish

   
8. Balance the fried pork belly "rashers" on top of the radish and serve.