Braised Pork Belly (豚の角煮, Buta no Kakuni)

Pork belly frightens people because it looks like excess given a square shape. Kakuni answers by taking its time. First we boil the pork, then we season it, and that order is the whole dish.

The first simmer is not for flavor. It draws out blood, dull porkiness, and some surface fat so the finished pieces taste clean, not heavy. Only after that do we let the belly meet dashi, sake, soy sauce, sugar, and ginger. If you season too early, the soy tightens the meat before the fat has softened. A chopstick should slide through without a little argument from the pork. That is how you know.

This is nimono, a simmered dish, but a generous one: soy-dark, glossy, and quiet enough to sit beside rice without bullying the table. Make it ahead if you can. Like many simmered dishes, kakuni improves while it rests, because the seasoning settles into the meat after the flame has done its work. Honmono here is not difficult, only patient.