This is the most time consuming element for ramen, but it's absolutely worth the effort. The meat is so soft and tender it melts on the tongue, and it tastes like nothing else. Because of the preparation time we recommend to start making it in the late afternoon the day before it's needed for ramen. What you need is::
1 large piece of pork belly - we use a 2 kg piece here
1500 ml of water
750 ml of soy sauce
1 large piece of organic ginger
3 large cloves of garlic
75 ml of mirin
300 ml of white wine
165 gr of sugar
1-2 leek tops depending on size
Cooking string
Start by rolling the pork belly tightly and tie it up with a piece of string:
Wash the ginger thoroughly and slice it. Peel the garlic cloves and crush them with the side of the knife:
Place both ingredients in a large or oval port (make sure it's long enough for the meat) and add water, soy sauce, white wine, sugar, and mirin. Place the meat in the pot. Wash the leep tops thoroughly and place them on top:
Turn on the heat and slowly bring it to a boil at medium heat. When it's boiling, turn the heat down to medium/low heat, so it's still simmering, but not fully boiling. Cut a piece of oven paper to size, cut a few small holes in it, and place it over the dish:
Let it simmer for appr. 4 hours. Turn the meat a few times during cooking, at least once per hour. When the time is up, turn off the heat. The meat has shrunk a bit and some of the liquid has vapourized:
Put a lid on the pot and leave it on the stove overnight, or at least for 3-4 hours:
Take the meat out of the pot in the morning or after 3-4 hours and place it on a piece of foil:
Wrap it well:
Place it in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours, until it's completely cold. Now it's ready to cut in thin slicesr:
Remove the string and cut the meat in as thin slices as possible. Now they are ready to put in the ramen bowl with all the other good stuff. Hopefully there is a lot left over, and they need to be placed on individual pieces of food paper, so they don't stick to each other, if they need to be frozen:
Put a suitable about of slices in a zipper bag so they're ready to freeze:
Next time you serve ramen you just need to take the necessary amount from the bag and thaw the slices in the refrigerator or heat them a little in the microwave oven. It's super easy and delicious.
