Braised Pork Belly

Chinese braised pork belly is bad news for the waist line, but what do I care. I've lost all my holiday weight, have my two pack+ back on track (that would be a two pack sheathed in a respectable layer of body fat), and run over two miles at a time now. So ha, pork belly, prepare to be eaten.

If you can boil water and set a timer, you can make this dish taste delicious. Remember, fatty foods are harder to screw up than lean food.

• 1/2 slab pork belly (99 Ranch always sells these in 2-3 lb. slabs, which is way too big for two people)
• soy sauce
• water
• 2 star anise
• 2 Tbs. brown sugar (or whatever sugar you have on hand)
• 10 peppercorns
• 1 dried chili (optional)
• 4 thick slices ginger
• 1-6 bunches green onion, with just the roots chopped off. This is totally up to you. Add one bunch for flavor, or up to six if you like to eat long strands of braised green onions like I do. I almost like it more than I like the pork.
• 1/3 cup rice wine

Sear the pork belly on all sides, and place in a pot just big enough to hold it. Cover halfway with water, then add enough soy sauce to come up to the sides of but not completely cover the pork. You can get away with covering the pork just halfway if you remember to flip it over halfway through cooking. I like to not waste a lot of soy sauce doing this; there's no reason to drown the pork. You should have no more than 1/2 as much soy sauce as water, or the whole thing will be too salty. Throw in all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.

Set a timer for 2 hours, checking periodically to make sure the liquid is simmering and not boiling rapidly. Flip the pork halfway through if you want to make sure the skin side is evenly darkened by the soy sauce.

The pork is ready when you can break it easily with a fork. If you've ever had or made pulled pork, that's a good reference. Remove the whole thing from the braising liquid, cool until you can slice it, and then serve on a plate with the green onions piled on and a little of the braising liquid poured over it. If you reduce the liquid you can get a thicker sauce, but I find that unnecessary and sometimes too salty.