Momofuku's Pork Belly Buns

During the past few months, I've really been trying to expand my horizons by cooking with ingredients that are new and interesting to me.  When I saw that I could order local pork belly from my farmers' market delivery, I knew just what to make - Momofuku's Pork Belly Buns.  I had heard so much about this dish and when I went to David Chang's Momofuku Noodle Bar this past spring, it was easy to see why everyone is raving about them.  Ever since I tried them, I have always wanted to try making this delectable dish at home and with my recent local pork belly purchase, I had no excuse not to give it a try. 

With a little bit of research, Bret and I decided to found  David Chang's recipe on another great food blog, He-Eats.  To start, we had two pounds of beautiful pork belly to work with.

Bret gave it a dry rub of 1/4 cup of sugar and kosher salt and let it sit for about six hours.

After six hours were up, I pat the pork belly dry and put it in the oven for an hour at 425 degrees.  After the first half hour,  Bret basted the pork belly with all of the rendered fat and then let it cook for the remaining thirty minutes.  I then turned the over down to 215 degrees and cooked the pork belly for another hour.

While the pork belly was cooking, we also prepared a side dish of green papaya slaw (which will be blogged about in tomorrow's post), along with homemade pickles to top the pork belly buns.  I've never made pickles before and I was surprised at how easy they were to make.  I first rinsed and thinly sliced two pickling cucumbers from Keown Orchards.

When the cucumbers were sliced, I added one tablespoon of sugar, one tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of vinegar.  I gave the sliced cucumbers a tossed and put them in the fridge to let the flavors really soak in.  And just like that, our pickles were made.  Easy, right?

Bret and I decided to take a shortcut and decided to use frozen buns that we purchased at Ming's Supermarket in the South End.  Chef Matt Barros (from Myers + Chang) told us that this was an easy substitute from homemade buns and tasted just as good.  I prepared the buns by giving it a steam over medium-high heat for about fifteen minutes.

Finally the pork belly was done roasting, we were both in awe at how delicious it looked.

We sliced the pork belly and added it to the steamed buns, along with pickles and hoisin sauce.  We actually purchased scallions to also top the pork belly buns but completely forgot about it!

The steamed buns were light and fluffy but held the juicy pork belly well.  The sharp cucumbers added the right touch of acidity to break up the decadent pork belly and hoisin sauce.  The pork belly buns made great leftovers too and we re-heated the pork belly by frying up slices on the skillet.  I'd have to say that I was glad we tried to make this dish and especially proud at how closely they resembled David Chang's pork belly buns! 

What have you been most proud of creating in your kitchen recently?