Protein:
1 lbs pork belly
Sauce:
3 TB soy sauce
2-4 TB chili oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
.5 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
.25 teaspoon raw rice wine
1 teaspoon Korean red pepper paste
-This dish is mainly about the sauce. You can substitute a leaner meat and it will taste pretty good: I like using a roasted pork loin and calling the dish 蒜泥白人 (because of the western style meat preparation, not because it's made out of Caucasians). Using pork belly is traditional, of course, and it adds a lot of chewy fatness. The vinegar is there to help take the edge of the raw garlic and give just a bit of acid so that the fat feel from the oil and pork fat isn't so overwhelming. The rice wine is present to help make the sauce pop- I have no idea why it does that, but it just kind of works.
-Prepare the pork belly. You can brine it if you want the meat to be juicier. Cook it however you like: traditionally it's boiled until medium done (about 150 degrees final temp) which is about 30 minutes for a 1 pound belly. If it's not brined, boil it in salted water with a slice of ginger to help take off the porky smell. I've been experimenting with a combo of tea smoking and then pressure steaming the meat: I'll update as more data becomes available. Whatever cooking method you choose, make sure it's wet so that the fat and the skin become reasonably tender. When the pork is done, chill it in the fridge to make it easier to slice.
-Slice the meat THIN. If my knives are dull and I haven't had time to send them to the sharpener, I just don't make this until I do. Don't bother trying without a good knife. Practice. This is the hardest part of the dish. You can also chill the meat in the freezer for 20 minutes to make it firmer. At fancier restaurants, the meat is sliced from a semi-frozen block so thin that it naturally curves into rolls, which is awesome, but it doesn't change the flavor of the dish. I've also heard that if you have a good mandoline, you can run the meat through that, but I've never got that to work (I have a super benriner- maybe it would work if I got my blade sharpened professionally?). Arrange the slices such that you can spoon the sauce over without too much of a hassle.
-Mix the garlic with the vinegar and rice wine. Whisk in the korean pepper paste- it's main function here is as an emulsifier that blends in with the other ingredients, so if it bothers you to see it in a Sichuan dish you can take it out. Whisk in the chili oil. If you like the "browner" version, just use 2 TB of chili oil, but if you want the flaming red version that's spicier, use 4 TB. Whisk in the soy sauce last. If you brined the pork belly, you can omit the soy sauce or use less depending on how salty you want the dish. Emulsifying the sauce is MUCH easier if the chili oil is chilled because the viscosity will be much higher. Note: you probably want to serve this soon since the emulsion breaks quite readily at room temperature.
