Pork belly is one of those unctuous culinary pleasures that you can’t resist taking another bite of, despite its richness. The magic of pork belly is in the way the fat and meat are distributed; either one on its own would be cloyingly rich or insipidly bland, but layer the fat and meat like an opera cake, you end up with a gloriously moist and tender morsel that bathes your mouth in flavor with each bite.
Buta no Kakuni (豚の角煮) which literally translates to “pork cut square and simmered” is the way that pork belly is most often prepared in Japan. Like ramen and gyoza, kakuni has its roots in Chinese cuisine, and this dish in particular started with Dongpo Pork (东坡肉)
As it worked its way from China to Okinawa to Nagasaki, the dish evolved, adapting to local ingredients and tastes. For my version, I like to use dried sardines to add some oomph to the broth while I include some ginger and garlic to smooth over any overly aggressive fish and pork notes. I've also changed my method since I first published this dish, preferring to brown the pork belly first rather than just braising it. This adds complexity to the flavor, though if you prefer a lighter dish, just give the pork a five minute boil in water before adding it to the rest of the ingredients to simmer.
Cooking over low heat for a long period of time renders out much of the fat, and the collagen breaks down into gelatin, making the entire thing dissolve in your mouth on contact. Buta no Kakuni is pretty awesome with some hot mustard and and a frosty mug of beer, or sliced up and placed on a bed of hot rice. The braising liquid can be diluted and turned into an awesome broth for for a bowl of buta udon.
One of the most important points for this dish is to chose good pork belly. Japanese often refer to pork belly as sanmainiku which literally means "three layer meat", referring to the quintessential pork belly that has three even layers of meat sandwiched between three layers of fat. This is important because uneven layers upset the balance of the meat and fat, resulting in a kakuni that's either tough and stringy or excessively greasy.
This dish inspired me to use the process for duck legs, and the resulting dish, Japanese Style Broast Duck, is definitely worth giving a try.
📖 Recipe
Units
Ingredients
Instructions
- Cut the pork into 2 ½" squares.
- Put the pork belly, fat side down, in a small heavy bottomed pot (such as a dutch oven) that's just large enough to hold the pork in a single layer. Put the pot over medium high heat and let the pork fry undisturbed until it's golden brown on the fat side.
- Flip each piece over and brown the other side, then transfer to a plate.
- Add the ginger, garlic, and niboshi and and fry until browned and fragrant.
- Add the sake and boil until you no longer smell alcohol.
- Add the water, sugar, soy sauce, salt, and return the pork to the pot. Bring to a simmer and then turn down the heat and cover with a tight fitting lid.
- Simmer until the pork belly is fall-apart-tender (about 2 hours).
- Strain the braising liquid and if you are going to serve the kakuni right away, skim off the extra fat. It's best if you let this sit in the fridge overnight though as this gives the meat a chance to absorb more flavor, and it will make removing the excess fat a lot easier.
- To serve, gently reheat the pork belly. Slice and serve with some of the braising liquid, hot mustard and steamed greens.
Nick says
For someone less keen on seafood (blasphemer, I know :P), what would be a good alternative to the sardines?
Sarah Toasty says
Wow! This is such a new and interesting take on pork belly for me, looks so incredible!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Nick, I know that the word "sardine" evokes fear amongst even the most seafood-loving folks, but I'd be willing to bet if I made this for you and didn't tell you what I'd added you'd have no idea there was any seafood component. That said, it's going to make it taste a lot flatter, but you could just leave them out.
Uchino Debbu says
Mark, I have read that it is recommended to pinch off the heads and entrails of the niboshi, which tend to lend bitterness to the dashi. Any comment on this?
Marc Matsumoto says
Proper technique would be to remove the head and stomach portion of niboshi, but if you use smaller niboshi (no longer than 1 1/2-inches), the bitterness isn't noticeable. If I were making a delicate dashi I'd probably remove the heads and stomach, but the pork, ginger and garlic are the dominant flavors here, with the niboshi added for kakushiaji (hidden flavor).
Vicki Cheung says
This looks fantastic! Do you think I could use this for pork belly buns?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Vicki, sounds like a great idea!
Kate says
I used to snack on those little dry sardines when I was a kid! This seems like a good way to get some of the flavor from a bonito dashi but with a different method (and different ingredients). I'll look forward to trying this... New York is very cold right now--perfect porkbelly weather!
Ritsuko says
I can't find niboshi right now but have niboshiko, the fish powder. Can I use that? If I can, can you please tell me how much? Arigato 🙂
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Ritsuko, it will work, but you'll end up with little silver flecks clouding the stock and all over the pork. Since it will probably have more potency when powdered you can reduce the amount to about 4 grams.
Carmen says
Hi Marc, I read in a few recipes that putting soy sauce early in the cooking stage toughens the pork belly. True?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Carmen, although I've never heard this before, I suspect it is a myth (like adding salt to beans while cooking).Pork belly ends up tender because of the large amount of fat and connective tissue that need time and heat to break down into gelatin and fat. Although high temperatures cause proteins to contract, forcing out liquid, the fat and gelatin take the place of the water forced out rendering the meat incredibly tender. I can't think of any scientific reason why the presence of soy sauce would hinder this process. I would be curious to see if those recipes you're referring to have some kind of scientific explanation as to why soy sauce would toughen the pork belly.
Carmen says
Thanks for the quick reply! It must be a culinary urban legend then. I followed your recipe to the letter - adding soya sauce early in the cooking stage - and the pork belly was fork tender 🙂 thanks!
geemcwee says
Hi Marc, loved your site for years now. How would a pressure cooker factor in here? I also bought a drop lid......needed? Keep up the great work
Marc Matsumoto says
I do this with a pressure cooker sometimes if I'm in a rush, but it does change the flavor somewhat (makes the meat taste canned). If you use a pressure cooker you can cut the time back to about 30 minutes.
geemcwee says
Will try yours to the T and get back to you. Tbh kakuni is an ambition of mine to perfect. It's in my top 10 food moments....changed my perception of Japanese cuisine, along with katsudon. Some recipes break the stages into: fry, boil then flavour? Unnecessary?
Marc Matsumoto says
There are a lot of recipes that fry first. This helps the flavor penetrate faster, but it tends to make the outside surface of the meat leathery, which is why I prefer to just sear, and simmer and let it soak in the liquid overnight if you want it super flavorful. Also, just FYI, my kakuni isn't super traditional. Usually there's a lot more soy sauce and sugar in kakuni. But every Japanese person I've ever fed this too has said they like my version better than the traditional version because it tastes more wafu (Japanese style).
geemcwee says
Thanks for the responses Marc, to be commended! I'm a fan of a little sweeter kakuni with some star anise in there too...but it's cracking the fall apart pork that for me is paramount
David Torrey Peters says
Oh man. This was so good. I used dried anchovies rather than sardines once, because that's what my local Asian store had, and I couldn't tell the difference from the time I used sardines. I have also made it with the Udon, and that was delicious too. These days, when I want a recipe, your blog is the first I go to.
Sikona says
Do you think using fish sauce would be acceptable instead of the niboshi? I can't get them easily and I already have fish sauce.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Sikona, fish sauce is going to taste quite different, but it will provide umami. If it were me, I'd probably just leave the niboshi out as you'll still get a lot of flavor from the pork.
Teng says
Great recipe, I used this as a food tech class to serve to guest and they just loved it!
Yogicfoodie says
simmering now. Smelling AWESOME~~
Graeme Hedley says
do i use cooking sake or drinking sake.
Marc Matsumoto says
If you wouldn't drink it never cook with it. Sakes and wines with "cooking" in the label always start with low quality sake/wine and then add a ton of salt and additives. The reason is to make it undrinkable so they can avoid alcohol taxes. This not only screws up the salt measurements of recipes, it will also give your food an unpleasant taste. The irony is that given the small size most "cooking" wines come in they're actually not any cheaper than the kind for drinking (which is taxed).
Josephine Dimacali says
I adapted your recipe today finishing off the cook in a pressure cooker as I was pressed for time. The niboshi added an interesting dimension to the flavour of the broth.
Eiko says
Hey there, just wanted to point out the pronounciation.
I think it should be BU-TA (“ta” as in TAps not to, TOmcat) that would be like kaBUTO the way you have it.
I’m running to make this though, thanks!!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Eiko, yikes that's embarrassing, it was a copy paste error, thank you for bringing it to my attention.
phil love says
cooking this for my Japanese girlfriend this coming weekend. doing a practise run today.
made tricky by a number of things ;
I have long covid & cant taste or smell anything
I had to substitute the niboshi for canned baby sardines in garlic oil
I had no pickled daikon to serve it with (so have had to ask her to buy some in London & bring up with her) kind of spoiling the surprise.
Plenty of chilled sake wash it down with though
not to worry I somehow nailed a 3 course meal at NY using yuzu in each course only using my imagination rather than recipes - she went nuts for it
hopefully the actual 'buta no kakuni' this weekend with all the extras will do the same
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Phil, the main purpose of the dried sardines is to add umami to the braising liquid, I'm not sure you'll be able to get the same level of umami out of canned sardines and it may make the kakuni taste fishy. Can you get ingredients for dashi (or even powdered dashi granules)? If so, this may be better alternative (just substitute the dashi for the water). Another good option would be to use chicken stock in place of the water. Good luck, I'm sure she'll love it.