Otto’s East-Asian Pork Belly Bun

Crispy Pork Belly slices in umami seasoning meets fluffy light Chinese steamed buns and the result is an East-Asian flavour explosion with no comparison. A must-grill for all pork sous vide lovers. The whole pork belly is sous vide with a soy-ginger-garlic puree, and then seared with a crispy crust on the Otto Grill. Served with the sauce in moist steamed bao buns - it can't get more umami than that!

30 Min + 10hr Sous Vide

600°C

2 Min

30 Min + 10hr Sous Vide

600°C

2 Min

Makes 8 - 10 Buns

Ingredients

120ml Soy Sauce
120ml Mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tbsp. Fish Sauce
2 Spring Onions (coarsely chopped)
3 Garlic Cloves
1 Piece of Ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

56g pork belly in one piece
2/5 cup mayonnaise
12 fresh/frozen bao buns
1 lettuce
Pickles

Step 1

Pork Sous Vide
Warm up the soud vide water bath to 77°C. Puree all your marinade ingredients together at once in a food processor, soy sauce, mirin, sugar, fish sauce, spring onions, garlic and ginger. Place the whole pork belly with the marinade into a vacuum seal bag and seal it tightly.

Otto's tip: put the content of the vacuum bag over the edge of the counter when vacuuming, so that no liquid gets sucked up.

Put the bag in a pot of water at 77°C and leave it in for about 10 hours. After 10 hours, take the bag out of the water and quickly cool it down in a bowl of cool water. Then, dry the bag and put it in the fridge. The sous vide pork belly can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Step 2

Pork Belly Marinade

When the fat has become solid, open the vacuum bag and take out the pork belly. Remove the solid fat pieces and pour the jellied substance into a small pot. Heat it up until the jelly melts completely and then strain it for any remaining fat pieces. Pour the strained liquid back into the pot and let it simmer for 10 - 15 minutes on medium heat until it reduces to 2-3tbsp. It is important to make sure that the liquid doesn't burn.

Step 3

Unami Sauce

Take the pot with the reduced liquid off the stove and let it cool down slightly. Put the mayonnaise in a bowl and add the liquid to the mayonnaise little by little while stirring constantly.

Step 4

Crisp up the Pork Belly

Preheat the Otto Grill to 800°C for 3 minutes. Cut the sous vide pork belly into 0.5 inch thick slices, cutting with the grain, so that they are just the right size to fit on the pork belly bun. Put these on the cooled grill grate and into the Otto Grill. Set the Meat-O-Meter to stage 2 and sear the pork belly for one minute on each side using the highest flame setting to ensure crispiness.

Step 5

Pork Belly Bun

Steam the bao buns in a bamboo steamer or a pot with a steam function for 2-3 minutes. Cut the steamed bao buns into halves and spread the umami-mayonnaise sauce on both sides. Fill the steamed bao buns with lettuce, a slice of pork belly and a slice of pickle. Serve and enjoy right away. There you go: homemade pork belly bun!