The quintessential supplemental recipe for Chashu Ramen, this recipe gets its own separate post because the pork, while iconic for ramen, can be used as a topper or additive for many dishes.
If you’re looking for that iconic slice of pork that is shaped in a swirl, then you’ll want to use pork belly for this recipe. Serious Eats has a great recipe you can reference for how to roll up and truss a slab of pork belly. They also use a pressure cooker in their version if you’d like to follow their method all the way (just use gluten free tamari soy sauce in place of soy sauce in their recipe).
Personally, I find pork belly too fatty, especially if eating it in any form of a large chunk. Don’t get me wrong it’s delicious, but there is ample amounts of guilt feeling when you realize you’ve eaten basically the equivalent of half a pack of bacon.
For my version I use pork shoulder. I’m not looking for that perfect pinwheel in my recipe, just that nice layering of fat and meat for flavorful and tender bites.
Same as the pork belly method, it’s important to truss the meat into a cylindrical shape to make cutting neat slices later on easier.
Enjoy!
Pressure Cooker Chashu Pork (+tare and eggs)
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker I use Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 lb whole pork shoulder trussed into a cylindrical shape
- 1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup sake
- 4 cups dashi stock (or as needed) see notes
- 6 green onions roughly chopped
- 6 whole garlic cloves
- 2 tsp minced ginger or 3-4 slices of ginger
For the marinated eggs (optional)
- 4-8 eggs
Instructions
- If your pork shoulder isn't trussed already, use cooking twine to tie the pork shoulder into a cylindrical shape. Pork shoulder by default should already mostly be in this shape. The trussing is just to perfect it and make it easier to get even slices later on.2 lb whole pork shoulder
- Add pork shoulder to the Instant Pot, then add everything else. Pour the dashi stock in last so that the liquids just cover the pork shoulder1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin, 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 cup sake, 4 cups dashi stock (or as needed), 6 green onions, 6 whole garlic cloves, 2 tsp minced ginger
- Close the pressure cooker and set it to cook on "meat" (or high pressure) for 90 minutes.
- Once done, allow it to release naturally for at least 10 minutes before manually releasing pressure (alternatively you can just let it come to pressure naturally if you have the time for it). Pork shoulder should be tender now.
- Carefully remove the pork shoulder from the instant pot (use tongs if you can) and place in a large container.
- Turn the Instant Pot to sauté mode on high heat and allow the liquid to reduce by about 1/2.
- Strain the cooking liquid through a sieve and pour into the same container with the pork. Allow everything to cool to room temp then store in the fridge and allow to chill for at least 6 hours. This will allow the marinade to further flavor the pork for a really delicious meat additive.
For the marinated soft boil eggs (optional)
- Boil a pot of water. Once boiling, add the eggs gently (using a slotted spoon) and allow to boil for 7 minutes.4-8 eggs
- After 7 minutes, remove the eggs and place in a ice bath to stop the cooking process. Allow to cool and then peel the hard shell.
- Take the peeled eggs and place them in the same container with the pork shoulder and make sure they are fully submerged in the marinade (be gentle! since they are soft boiled the center of the eggs will still be soft).
- Continue to chill in the fridge until ready to eat.
Notes
Don’t throw the marinade away!
Cooking the chashu pork and reducing the liquid creates a beautifully flavored tare sauce that can be used in a number of simmering dishes (see our list of nimonos (simmering-based side dishes) or as flavoring in fried rice or broths.
This tare liquid is also the basis of our chashu ramen.