Sous-Vide Miso Pork Belly Bao

Tender, juicy miso pork belly, paired with a crispy skin chip, and pickled shallots for balance.

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Remove skin from pork belly and reserve.

Step 2

Mix red miso and mirin until smooth and combined. In a sous-vide safe bag, marinate pork belly with the miso-mirin mixture for at least 8 hours, preferably 2 days.

Step 3

Cook pork belly sous vide at 72 C (162 F) for 16 hours.

Step 4

Remove pork belly from from bag and pat dry. Pour the cooking liquid into a small pot and combine with sugar. Reduce to a syrupy consistency, season to taste.

Step 5

Sear pork belly in a hot pan until charred and slice into 1 cm thick pieces.

Step 6

Assemble with baos, crispy skin chip, pickled shallots, and cilantro leaves to garnish. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!!!

Step 7

In a pot of boiling water, cook pork skin at a simmer for 30 min to render out any fat. Remove from the water, let cool and use a knife to scrape any excess fat.

Step 8

Dry in a dehydrator or low oven at 60 C (140 F) for 18 hours.

Step 9

Heat a pot of oil to 165 C (330 F) and fry the dehydrated skin until it puffs up (10 - 20 sec) and season with salt.

Step 10

Cut shallots crosswise into rings.

Step 11

Bring water, mirin, rice vinegar, and salt to a boil and pour over shallots.

Step 12

Cool to room temp and leave for at least 2 hours before using.

Step 13

Mix the yeast, sugar and lukewarm milk (~35 C) and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.

Step 14

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the yeast mixture and knead until a rough dough forms. (~4 minutes). Cover and rest the dough for 1 hour or until the dough doubles in size.

Step 15

Punch the air out of the dough and divide the dough into 70 g portions. Form each piece into balls. Roll out each ball and brush one side with oil and fold over.

Step 16

Place each bao onto a parchment square and proof it for 15 minutes. Transfer the baos into a steaming basket and steam for 10 minutes.