The pork was braised in a surprising combination of white rum, Worcestershire Sauce and black vinegar. I cooked it on Sunday, left it on the counter overnight (vinegar is a natural preservative so spoilage wasn’t an issue), continued braising it on Monday morning, then sliced and served it for lunch, drizzled with spoonfuls of the sauce in which it was braised. Served with a sweet and piquant mango salsa equals fantastic lunch! I made my very carnivorous husband happy. Oh, I ruined his diet too.
Ingredients
- a slab of pork belly, about 400 grams
1 c. of white rum
1/8 c. of Worcestershire Sauce
1/8 c. of black vinegar
light soy sauce (I used Kikkoman), to tasteFor the mango salsa:
1 very ripe mango
1 cucumber
3 plump and juice tomatoes
1 onion
2 tbsps. of rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. of patis (fish sauce)
1 tsp. of sugar
2 tbsps. of finely sliced onion leaves
2 tbsps. of sliced cilantro
Instructions
- Place the pork belly in a thick bottomed non-reactive pan. Pour in the rum. Bring to the boil and cook until the liquid is reduced by half.
Pour in the Worcestershire Sauce, about two tbsps. of soy sauce and black vinegar. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for an hour or until the pork is tender.
When the pork is almost done, make the mango salsa.
Slice the mango to remove the stone. Cut the mango meat into small squares without piercing the skin. Scoop out with a spoon directly into a bowl.
Peel the cucumber, scoop out the seeds, then cut into cubes about the same size as the mango. Do the same with the tomatoes. Why remove the seeds? To prevent the salsa from turning watery.
Peel and roughly chop the onion.
Add the cucumber, tomatoes, onion, green onion and cilantro to the mango in the bowl. Pour in the rice wine and patis. Sprinkle the sugar. Toss gently.
Cut the meat into half-inch slices, arrange on a plate and drizzle with the remaining sauce. Serve with mango salsa for the ultimate experience.
Quick Notes
If the liquid dries up before the pork is done, add water, no more than a quarter cup at a time.
Taste the sauce after 30 minutes of cooking and add more soy sauce if necessary.
Turn the pork over every fifteen minutes or so for even cooking and seasoning.
For maximum flavor, leave the pork overnight for maximum absorption of flavors (in the fridge or a cool part of the kitchen). Reheat (low, low heat) the following day. Make the mango salsa while reheating the pork.
Cooking time (duration): 1 hour and 15 minutes
Number of servings (yield): 2
I’ll make both this weekend … excited to try yet another new recipe (2 new recipes, with the mango salsa)! I really love your site! The food-finds and recipes are really helpful for foodies like me & my husband. Thank you so much!
That pork dish is really husband friendly hehehe
As soon as I saw the amount of rum called for in the recipe I knew I was going to try this. Not sure what black vinegar is but I’ll do some research and check out the local stores here in Honolulu. I enjoy reading your various blogs.
Will now return to my usual lurking.
wow, this is what i want not too much work.my husband will love this.i got me a new braiser. can i use wine instead i don’t want to open a bottle of rum.do you also have a tip for shopping (i mean good sales)next week we are going there for only a week.thanks.
hi miss connie,
can u suggest a particular brand for black vinegar?
I like putting dishes like this in the fridge so the fat hardens and I can actually remove it
I’m giving this recipe to my wife immediately. Ever since I tried a chicken dish a few weeks ago, not allowed to perform any cooking beyond the basics. Thanks for the post/recipe!
can you suggest a brand of white wine and black vinegar?
Mine don’t have English labels, only Chinese characters.
Ang sarap naman! This gives me a perfect excuse to buy black vinegar.
I happened to have black vinegar and was excited to make this dish. We had this for lunch today. I was afraid the liquids would give a strong flavor but they didn’t. It was delicious. For the salsa, I just used mango vinaigrette since I ran out of rice wine.
This dish was really simple to make. My husband and I loved it!