Buta no Kakuni

Dinner was a late night affair tonight, because I made buta no kakuni. Buta no kakuni is pork belly steamed and braised/boiled in a sweet soy sauce. And it takes four hours to make, and I only got home from the market at 6pm!

Pork belly is a relatively inexpensive cut of pork that is delicious to eat depending on how it is cooked. It has an extra thick layer of skin and fat that when cooked long enough, turns to gelatin.

For kakuni, you have to parboil for three minutes, steam for 2½ hours, and boil it for an hour. But if you follow all of the steps closely, you end up with a piece of pork that is ultra tender and ultra tasty.

Here's a picture of a piece that had a nipple on it. It was delicious.