Pork belly, charred endive, fermented red pepper
31 May 2017
Everything about this dish is awesome. Fatty salty pork belly is a guaranteed hit, and it's complemented here by a sauce flavored with red bell pepper and gochujang, and a bitter seared endive for balance.
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Prepare the fermented red pepper sauce:
This sauce is one of my favorite components from the entire dinner. It's thick, smooth and glossy, a bit sweet and tangy, and gets a surprising amount of depth from a relatively small amount of gochujang, the ever-present fermented Korean condiment. This recipe is largely inspired by one from Corey Lee of Benu and can be prepared 1 day in advance and reserved in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
Makes about 2 cups.
1 red bell pepper
4 garlic cloves, peeled
25g shoyu (Japanese soy sauce)
20g sugar
15g gochujang
250g beef stock
150g dashi
Xanthan gum
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 425F. Wrap the bell pepper and garlic cloves in a foil packet, drizzle with a neutral oil and add a pinch of salt. Seal the foil packet and roast for 35 minutes.
- Remove the foil packet from the oven and rest in the foil for 15 more minutes.
- Peel the skin from the bell pepper, remove the bulk of the seeds, and transfer with the garlic cloves to a blender.
- Add all the other ingredients except for the xanthan gum to the blender. It will seem like there's a lot of liquid for a thick sauce, but don't worry - we'll be reducing heavily, then thickening with xanthan. Blend extremely thoroughly until smooth, then strain into a pot on the stove.
- Bring to a boil then simmer until reduced by half.
- Strain, weigh, and measure 0.5% xanthan gum. Transfer back to the blender and shear in the xanthan. Strain and reserve in the refrigerator until needed.
To assemble:
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
1lb pork belly
2 endives
Maldon or other flake salt
Fermented red pepper sauce
Equipment
Sous vide setup
Directions
- 24 hours in advance, prepare the pork belly: season the pork with salt and vacuum pack. Cook at 154F for 24 hours.
- To serve: warm the sauce in a pot on the stove. Prepare the endives: cut the endives in half and season the cut side with salt. Heat a bit of oil and butter in a pan on medium-high heat until very hot. Sear the endive, cut side down, until thoroughly browned.
- Flip the endives, add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, and cover. Cook until endives have softened, about 8-10m.
- While the endives are cooking, finish the pork: remove the pork from the bag onto a paper towel, discarding any juices. Cut the pork into serving portions, then sear on one side until brown and crispy (you can accelerate this with a blowtorch).
- Spoon a circle of sauce onto a plate. Top with a piece of the seared pork belly and place an endive half next to the pork, cut side up. Top the pork with a pinch of Maldon and serve.
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