This dish is inspired by the Berkshire Pork Cooked Overnight, Shiitake and Fermented Cabbage recipe in the book 'Brae - Recipes and Stores from the Restaurant' book. Combining pork and eel is not something I would have ever thought about myself, but it was heavenly and a perfect marriage. It made me wonder why pork and eel is not more of a thing already, and it certainly will be in my kitchen from now on.
Difficulty: High
Time: 1 hour*
Serves: 2
* Excludes 10 hrs sous vide time.
Ingredients
Pork Belly
- 500g pork belly cut to size
- salt
Pork and Smoked Eel Glaze
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 shallot finely diced
- 3 slices of ginger
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp honey
- 1/4 tsp Sichuan pepper
- 1/4 tsp Mountain pepper
- 4 tbsp sake
- 100g cooked Japanese eel with sauce (Unagi)*
- 1 1/2 cup pork jus
- juice from the sous vide pork
- salt
- pepper
Eggplant Marinade
- 1/2 garlic clove
- 60g good quality white miso paste
- 30ml light soy sauce
- 15ml lemon juice
- 5ml Japanese white sesame oil
Eggplant Puree
- 1 medium Lebanese eggplant cut into smaller pieces
- 400ml water
- 15ml light soy sauce
- 5g caster sugar
- 4g salt
Shiitake Mushrooms
- 100g Shittake mushrooms sliced into round discs
- 1 1/2 cup chicken stock
Pickled Black Radish
- 1 black radish finely sliced with Mandoline
- 1/2 cup verjus
* It's sold in most Asian and Japanese groceries in the freezer section already prepared and ready to be thawed and used.
Method
Two Days Prior
1. Place the pork belly into a ziplock bag, cook in a sous vide bath at 64 degrees over 24 hours.
One Day Prior
1. Take the pork belly out of the ziplock bag, dry thoroughly with kitchen paper towels. Season the skin with salt. Place it on a baking rack and let it dry in the fridge overnight.
2. Reserve the pork juice from inside the sous vide bag and keep it inside the fridge.
On the day
1. Set up the Hibachi so it's ready for cooking the pork later.
2. Place the shiitake mushrooms and chicken stock in a pot, bring to boil and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Set aside and keep warm.
3. Make the eggplant marinade by adding all the ingredients together and mix it well into a paste.
4. Add the eggplant with the water, soy, sugar and salt and simmer for 8-10 minutes until softened. Remove the eggplant combine with the paste at 4:1 ratio (4 portion eggplant to 1 portion of paste in weight), and just enough of the cooking liquid in a spice blender o blend it into a smooth puree. Adjust the flavours if required. Keep warm and set aside.
5. Add the sliced black radish and verjus into a small bowl, mix it well and let it sit.
6. Make the pork and smoked eel glaze by warming some vegetable oil and pork fat in a thick saucepan. Sweat the shallot and and ginger in the oil without colouring. Add the Szechuan and Mountain peppers, then the brown sugar and honey and let it lightly caramelise. Deglaze the mixture with sake, add the sliced eel with its sauce, pork jus, and juice from sous vide pork and bring it to a gentle simmer. Skim off any impurities off the surface and cook it over low heat till it's reduced to about 1/4 of a cup. Pass it through a fine sieve and season with salt and pepper.
7. Take the pork belly out of the fridge, glaze it with the pork and smoked eel glaze and cook it over the Hibachi. Brush it repeated with the glaze during the barbecuing until it's well caramelised and coated.
8. Assemble by placing a spoonful of the eggplant puree on one side of the plate, place shiitake slices on top of the puree, before placing the pork belly on top. Arrange the pickled black radish on the side of the plate. Enjoy!