For the first 3 months of 2009, I lived with a good friend, Thomas, on St. Marks Place in the East Village, not too far from the Momofuku Milk Bar. Momofuku Milk Bar had only been open around 6 weeks. There were many mornings when I would wonder over for the fried poached egg and pork belly bun with a hot cup of Stumptown coffee. This was heaven, or, on few occasions, relief from the night before.
Fittingly, this will be the first foray into the Momofuku Cookbook, albeit without the slow poached egg for this post. Since this recipe, like most of the Momofuku Cookbook, requires a few recipes, I’ll break it up into a couple of posts. Not surprisingly, I made a few mistakes, learned by doing on the initial go round and tried everything twice. I did a test run of the pork belly in NYC early December but repeated it over the holidays. I waited until the holidays to put the whole thing together at my parents house so we all could enjoy in the food and new skills. Also, I don’t have a dough hook to make the steam buns!
First, start with a good pork belly. Pictures are courtesy of my sister, Beth, and her new Nikon D40 SLR she loves so much. She insisted in including the mini-York peppermint patty for scale and a good idea. Actually, she wanted anything and that was very handy and a frozen mini York peppermint patties are in the freezy 24/7. Mom’s nickname is Junkfood Joanie! But I digress…
The skin had to be removed, which was a little more time consuming than I expected, but not a big deal. Chicharrón will be coming soon once I pick up some Shichimi togarashi.
The cure was pretty straight forward and simple. In fact, it was so simple I was sure we were doing something wrong. Actually, we were and should have sprinkled the salt/sugar mixture over the pan rather than making a big mess. We hammed it up with some action shots.
This was covered and put into the fridge on Christmas night. After letting it cure for 14 hours, it was ready for the oven. This was a done as directed at 4500Fc for an hour with basting halfway and than another hour at 2500F.
The pork came out beautiful. It may have been a little crisper at the corner than I would have likes, but that was unavoidable with the sugar.
Finally, the best part, decanting the liquid gold! (That’s gold, Jerry, gold!)
Trial run Mise En Place and skinned pork belly.
Coming Soon: Steamed Buns
Please leave a comment with feedback or suggestions on how to improve the post. This blog is as much an exercise in communication as it is cooking.
Did you find that the bottom of the belly was burnt and over done? I made them on saturday and had this problem. It almost seemed like it was frying in its own fat which caused the bottom to turn black and hard. Dont get me wrong, it was fucking delicious!! However it just didnt look right.
Additionally, I live in NJ and I am surrounded by Asian Markets. I thought for sure that I would find the frozen steamed buns at one of these places!! Needless to say no luck. Any advice on where I can find them frozen?
Sean,
The steamed buns will be the next post. Honestly, they are simple to make and great to have on hand and have not had to shop for them. Where you live in NJ. Did you check out the markets in Fort Lee around Yohan Plaza or the Asian Food Center.
Thanks for being the first comment. I’m a Jersey guy myself. A little tougher these days thanks to the Jersey Shore idiots!
– Chris
I’m a NJ guy myself, it’s a challenge these days with the Jersey Shore idiots!
I live in Edgewater and went to Mitsuwa and a couple places in Palisades Park. I didnt have any luck. I could barely find a parking space at Mitsuwa, never mind steamed buns…lol
Can’t wait to see a shot of the pork belly sliced up. You are making me very hungry!
Mmmm, pork belly. Just bought a bunch at a local pork CSA – along with some jowls. This is inspiring!
Great start on this new blog! You might like my series of Momofuku posts from when the book came out. I tackled the pork belly, pork belly buns, ginger scallion noodles, fried chicken and roasted rice cakes. I’ve also done the chicharrones and made bacon agedashi tofu based on the bacon dashi recipe. I anticipate posting more from the book throughout 2010.
Did you refrigerate the pork belly before slicing it up? I always allotted time for this and it makes a huge difference in uniformity of the slices. It also forces you to fry up the belly to warm it up and the extra caramelization is nice. 🙂
FWIW, I haven’t bothered making the buns because there are some good ones available at local Asian markets near me. I get mine out of the refrigerated section and NOT the frozen food section. The refrigerated buns I get are bigger and wider than the frozen ones and are perfect for the Momofuku Pork Belly Buns. Plus, they’re sturdier and less likely to break than frozen. I hope you can find them in your area.
Good luck with the project. I vaguely heard about Momofuku (wasn’t it on a ‘No Reservations’ episode?), and definitely gonna check it out if ever in New York.
As for suggestions, I would turn off the previews. I spend a lot of time (should I mention that?) on how to turn the f*ckers off and finally found that it could be done at appearance –> extras –> mshots.
Thanks for suggestion, mshots are off.
David Chang and Momofuku have been on No Reservations a couple times. There are now 5 restaurants: noodle bar, ssäm bar, ko, milk bar, and má pêche. The cookbook covers recipe’s from the first four.
I would also check out Spotted Pig and the Breslin if you make it to NYC. April Bloomfield will no doubt be the next great NYC chef to hit it big (food geeks would argue she already has).
I’m really loving the theme/design of your website. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues? A handful of my blog visitors have complained about my blog not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Opera. Do you have any ideas to help fix this issue?
Yes! Finally someone writes about general.
Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m absolutely enjoying your blog and look
forward to new updates.
Hi! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
Anyhow, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back frequently!
You really make it seem really easy along with your presentation but
I in finding this topic to be actually something which I think I might by no means understand.
It sort of feels too complicated and very large for me. I’m having a look ahead in your next submit, I will attempt to get the dangle of it!
Very quickly this website will be famous among all blog
visitors, due to it’s good articles or reviews
Hi there friends, fastidious article and fastidious arguments commented here, I am really enjoying by these.
Hello there, I discovered your site by means of Google even as searching for a related topic,
your website came up, it seems to be good.
I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hi there, simply became alert to your weblog through Google, and found that it is really
informative. I am going to watch out for brussels. I’ll be grateful should you proceed this in future. Many folks will be benefited out of your writing. Cheers!
Because it is simpler than to run a shop in the marketplace to run a personal online shop that to some shop
which offers every thing to you beneath the sun that can be
purchased online retailers give year-long
savings. Also these online retailers like Overstock.
com give particular discount including overstock discount signal for promotional and publicity purpose.
Though a geniune Overstock discount is hard to find but when you obtain it be sure to be surprised.
Overstock Coupon is of very good use, because it has
improved the novelty of on line buying by many times among the
mind of individuals. It has also many availing things which improve its need.
Various kinds discount requirements are there Free
Ship Coupon Code, particularly Money Saver Coupon Code and many more; all are used for different reasons.
Now these rules are being sold out to complete business.
This can be also comfortable for that clients as
they are now free from the danger of advertising with a large amount of
cash. Actually some recharge sites and internet sites have started the Overstock Coupon process.
They feature systems like on a re-charge of Rs.
10 just one will get 20% concession on shopping for Rs 999 and above.
By utilizing these systems, even the small-scale websites are increasing their sales.
A margin has been fixed by many shopping sites such that shopping beyond that certain amount could endure no
shipping charge. Online coupons are now available to even reduce the transport cost.
Fine way of telling, and pleasant article to get facts concerning my presentation subject matter, which i am
going to present in academy.
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this,
like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a
little bit, but other than that, this is wonderful blog.
A great read. I will certainly be back.
Whats up are using WordPress for your site platform?
I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own.
Do you need any html coding expertise to make your own
blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
You realize as a result tremendously as regards to this matter, made my family in my view visualize this coming from a lot of varied attitudes. It’s including women and men ‘re not engaged with the exception of it’s something to do with Young lady gaga! Your very own products good. All of the time keep it upwards!
I savor, lead to I discovered exactly what I was having a look for.
You have ended my four day lengthy hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice
day. Bye
You actually make it appear so easy together with your presentation however I
in finding this topic to be actually something that I
think I’d by no means understand. It seems too complicated and extremely wide for
me. I’m taking a look forward to your next put up, I’ll try to get the
hold of it!
Have you ever thought about creating an ebook or guest authoring on other blogs?
I have a blog based upon on the same information you
discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my viewers would value your work.
If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e-mail.
In a single study involving children around six years, acyclovir, decreased the
duration of oral lesions in principal infection from 10 times
to four times, Once the infections is on or close to the mouth,
it really is called oral herpes.
I like the valuable information you supply to your articles.
I will bookmark your weblog and take a look at once more here frequently.
I’m relatively certain I will learn lots of new stuff proper right
here! Best of luck for the following!
Hi there! This is my first visit to your blog!
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche.
Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a outstanding
job!
All new concessions will have their places at San Diego’s business center by the end of April.
Additional Information: Yatoo Concept, Village d’entreprises, ZAC des grandes bruy.
It occurs fairly often when dealerships offer one of these deal in addition to other cash rebates and incentives
together.
According to LiveScience , experts at the University of California, NORTH PARK
found that the herpes virus 1 contaminated hominids before their evolutionary split
from chimps 6 million years back.” Compared, the herpes simplex 2 virus has been transferred from
chimps to individual ancestors almost 1.6 million years back.
Wertheim mentioned in his review that herpes
virus 2 was due to cross-species transmission” from contemporary chimp ancestors to human beings, while the
herpes virus 1 is really a split between your chimp and human infections.
Based on the Centers for Disease Management and Prevention ,
a lot of people infected with herpes have no idea they will have it and there’s currently no remedy for the disease.
Nice blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What web host are
you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host?
I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol
It’s remarkable for me to have a site, which is helpful designed for my know-how.
thanks admin
Good day! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d
ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe
guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My website goes over a lot of
the same subjects as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other.
If you are interested feel free to shoot me an email.
I look forward to hearing from you! Fantastic blog by
the way!
Nevertheless, 60 to 80% of HSV attacks acquired by
newborns transpire in women without outward indications of the infection or genealogy of genital HSV infections.
Two thirds of individuals with genital HSV illness display no
recurrence of signs and something third have three or even more relapses (flares) each year.
But he stated it’s very good news that drugs that function in new methods
are under advancement. HSV could be dangerous, however.
I prefer the valuable facts people deliver with your reports. I most certainly will take note of your website and check yet again the following routinely coupon codes on pinterest. Now i am slightly ‘ will likely be advised many brand-new products correct in this article! Enjoy for the following!
I think that everything said made a great deal of sense. However, think on this, suppose you were to credate a awesome title?
I am not suggesting your content isn’t solid., but suppose you added a
title to possibly grab folk’s attention? I mean Pork Belly (pg.
50) | MomofukuAtHome is kinda vanilla. Yoou could peek at Yahoo’s front page andd watch how they write article titles to grab
people to open the links. You might add a related video or a related
picture oor two to get readers interested about what you’ve written. Just my opinion, it could make your blog a litttle livelier.
It’s perfect time to make some plans for the futuyre
and it is timee to be happy. I have read this post and iff I could I wish to suggest you solme interesting things
or tips. Maybe youu could write next articles referring to this article.
I want to reaqd even more things about it!
I need to to thank you for thhis excellent read!!
I absolutely loved every little bit of it. I have gott you
saved aas a favorite to check out new stuff yyou post…
Hello everyone, it’s my fifst go to see at this website, and piece of writing is really fruhitful in support of me, keep
up posting these content.