The Buta Kakuni Experiment

*** I've had a few emails and several comments below asking about the origins of Buta Kakuni...best that I can tell is that Buta Kakuni is based on a Chinese Dish that the Japanese call Tonporo. Which to me means it's probably Dong Po Rou(Dong Po Pork), if you follow the link, you'll see that it looks very similar. Dong Po Rou is named after the poet Su Dong Po, you can see a translation of one of His poems here.

The other day, I was paging through a cookbook I had lying around titled The Japanese Kitchen, authored by Hiroko Shimbo. The recipe I just happened upon (lucky me!!!) was for Buta Kakuni, the Braised Pork dish that originated in Nagasaki Prefecture. Apparently, Buta Kakuni is based on a Chinese Pork dish, and Nagasaki was a busy port city where ships from all over the world docked. So somewhere between the sixteenth and eighteenth century Buta Kakuni arrived(lucky us!!!)........

There are two Buta Kakuni recipes that I have used in the past. In the first recipe, the pork belly is first fried, than simmered for several hours. In the second recipe, the pork belly is first boiled in Okara(tofu lees) for several hours before a short braise in a sake-soy sauce-mirin-sugar liquid. What caught my attention was that Hiroko Shimbo's recipe first steamed the pork belly, before cooking in the flavoring liquid. And what was even more interesting was that the pork belly was first covered with grated daikon! According to the book, Daikon contains two digestive enzymes, protease and diastase which help to remove excess fat and tenderize the pork belly.

What you see above is the result. I used the steaming technique in the book, but the flavoring is the one I've used before from other recipes. I've had some recipes from Hiroko Shimbo's book not turn out really well. Since this was an experiment, I only used a 12oz portion of pork belly, which waaay more than enough for us! Buta Kakuni is pretty rich anyway, and I can only eat maybe 3 pieces....before the extreme remorse starts.

The Buta Kakuni Experiment

2 1/2- 3 Cups Grated Daikon(liquid and all)
1 - 1 1/2 Lb Slab of Pork Belly
1/2 Tb (or more) Grated Ginger
1 1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Sake
1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
1/3 Cup Sugar
4 Tb Mirin

1 - Set steamer over a pot of rapidly boiling water
2 - In a heatproof dish(make sure that it will fit the steamer) place 1/3 of the grated daikon and liquid over the bottom of the dish. Place the pork belly on top of grated daikon. Cover the pork with the remainder of grated daikon.
3 - Transfer dish to steamer and steam for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I use a bamboo skewer after about 90 minutes to see how tender the pork belly is. Remember to keep replenishing the steaming liquid as necessary.

4 - Once the pork can be easily pierced with a bamboo skewer, remove the dish (carefully) from the steamer. Place the pork belly in a bowl of lukewarm water and gently rinse the pork.

5 - Dry the pork with paper towels, and cut it into 2 inch cubes.
6 - In a pot large enough to hold the pork in a single payer mix together the rest of the ingredients. Place pork in pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer.
7 - Simmer for 30 minutes, and check flavoring and texture. Make adjustments and simmer for at least 30 more minutes.
* On this day I added slices of daikon and boiled eggs before the last 30 minutes of simmering. Oh, and don't forget the Hot Mustard!

The Pork Belly was very tender, and the remaining fat was smooth and velvety. The Missus thought it a bit too sweet, but I could have done with something cooked a bit longer, but I think the pork would have started falling apart. Of course, I've heard of places simmering their Buta Kakuni for 12 hours or more, but I don't think I'll be doing that in the near future.

Lest you think I was living on pork belly alone.....

I made the Missus some Karei Karaage:

And some Chicken Karaage:

And to cut the fatty flavors, some Pickled Onions with Ogo:

And followed it all with a double shot of Lipitor(I'm kidding, of course)! I did have a bit  of one of my new favorite sakes, Yaegaki "Mu"...why they would name a sake "emptyness" is beyond me. This sake has a bit of a sweeter profile(not as sweet as Kurosawa), though I think it goes really well with food.

I did wish I still had another bottle of this on hand though!

Comments

[Jeffrey C]

Kirk, love the new people helping you bear the burden of making this blog so excellent. Just saw your cooking skills and wanted to ask if you ever had a hot pot party. We just did one recently and it was great. Got beer, a nice German pilsner and a great cold sake unfiltered which was a little sweet. It fit the flavor profile that our guests liked. Couldn't find the one you recommended so I'll keep a look out. You should maybe do a little blurb on pairing wines or alcohol beverages on different meals. Also we got invited to a friend's house for dinner of the rice paper rolls. Grill what you want and wrap it up with nice lettuce and coriander and rice noodles and dip in rich peanut hoisin sauce. Yumm yumm.
Anyways, keep up the great work Kirk and colleagues.

[Cathy]

Thanks, Jeffrey! Sounds like a fun get together.

[Kristy]

WOW!!! This looks absolutely delicious! Great job!!! Now if only I can get MS to make me some of this... LOL!

By the way, I like to stock up on Kurosawa when they go on sale at the local Mitsuwa. ;)

[The Guilty Carnivore]

Absolutely fabulous. There's just something about simmering an egg in pork juices and fat, eh?

[Kirk]

Hi Reid - Luckily, I made a rather small amount so I'd have 2 pieces for lunch over a few days. The Missus loved all those eggs and daikon.

Hi Jeffrey - We have purchased the hot pot "base" from Ba Ren, and purchased sliced lamb and beef from Zion market, along with various veggies and ingredients and had our own Hot Pot, sure is great during those cooler evenings. Yes, Cathy and Vicky, do such a great job, and O'm so grateful to have them helping me out!

Hi Kristy - Ah yes, Kurosawa, good stuff. You may want ot try the Yaegaki, it's not quite as sweet, but has a bit of fruitiness to it..

Hi GC - You are so right! That daikon is really great. As for the egg, the Missus loves it so much...that I don't really have shot at 'em.

[habereno]

This looks EXACTLY like a Vietnamese dish my mom makes, though I've never seen the tenderizing with daikon step. Instead, she just coats the meat with carmelized sugar and then braises the pork belly in a mixture of coconut juice and fish sauce. After adding the eggs and simmering, she serves it with rice and daikon/carrot pickles. One of my favorite comfort food dishes.

[Beach]

Kirk,
Why wish to have a bottle of Kubota at home? Come to my house and we will drink one each.

[Kirk]

Hi Habereno - Sounds delici-yoso!!! So much pork belly...so little time!

Hi Beach - You'll need to find me a place to nap afterwards....LOL!

[Da Cook]

Hello Kirk
I found your blog on my quest to make perfect Buta No Kakuni at home. I was trying to recreate a dish I had In Vancouver, BC and by doing so my mind was blown away by the complexity of the subject.
Kare Raisu's contribution to that fabulous ChowHound Post really got me going.
I started my own chronicling of my adventure making the dish. I'm on day 2 right now.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/385607
It's a work in progress and the best part will be seeing the difference between my intended recipe and the finished version due to more thought, info and opinions offered along the way.
Thanks for the insight.
Da Cook

[Kirk]

Hi Da Cook - Wow, I'll say you're one obsessed cook! I'l be following along......

[santos.]

hi kirk! i'm in the middle of making morimoto's version of buta no kakuni--8 hours of simmering! eight hours of refrigeration then a second simmer with the flavours. argggh. just thought i would look around to see if it's "normal" but i guess it's not uncommon. at least it's not 12 hours!

[Kirk]

Hi Santos - Not uncommon at all....I've done a 12 hour simmering........sheesh. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

[[eatingclub] vancouver]

Delicious. I can imagine this as pork transcended.

In our household, we sometimes call it an "adobo." My mother makes a Chinese version of it, which is closer to what you have, and we kids make a Filipino version, with different seasoning. (We have the Filipino pork belly up on our blog, and we also did a Southeast-Asian-y version in that post, "Pork Belly, Two Ways.")

Thanks for sharing this. We'll have to try this version when we get pork belly.

[Kirk]

Hi ECV - Whether you call it Dong Po Rou or Buta Kakuni or Humba or Paksiw....it's just plain good! Hard to go wrong with braised pork belly......