Adventures in pork belly

One of my best known party tricks is Momofuku's pork belly buns. The meat and the buns take a good effort to make, but once they are done, the buns are quick and easy to pull together. There were a handful of buns left over from the first batch I had in the freezer, and we were trying to eat through as much of the freezer as possible before we moved. So I took one weekend day to take a pork belly I had that was the perfect size, marinated it up, and roasted it in the oven.

It came out beautiful and glistening and smelling deliciously of porky goodness.

I let it rest on the cutting board until cool, which also means for several hours until I felt like getting up again.

From there, I sliced up enough for us for dinner and then wrapped the rest and put it into the fridge. Or the freezer. Honestly, I don't know where it is right now, but I know I wanted to see how it would freeze.

This is pork lusciousness. I actually ignore the timing in the recipe and just cook it until it's "pillowy soft" as Chang says.

Then you steam the buns, heat the pork belly slices with a quick sear in a cast iron pan, add hoisin, quick pickled cucumbers, and scallions. Add a dot or two of srirachi. And nom!