Pork belly in Richmond Hill 肉夾包

We're on a roll here!  After Akujiki took us from 18th century Yangzhou, China via his Le Creuset pork belly in California to noodle shop in a Shanghai alley, I got into a frenzy over the mere talk of pork belly.  We had lunch at Delicious 好清香, a Fukien style restaurant in Richmond Hill, just north of Toronto.  It is usually my destination for Hainan chicken.  But as we were finishing, I noticed the table beside us packing up one of the signature dishes of chef Patrick Chuang - braised pork trotters 红烧元蹄.   It was too late to order one to take home for dinner - Patrick said it would take an hour to make another one but he offered me his own  肉夾包 (Pork belly bun) which would only take a few minutes.   What a treat it was!

The melt in your mouth pork belly was topped with orange day lily and cilantro in between a mildly sweet bun.  What a wonderful contrast in textures and taste!  It's authentic Fukienese flavour - and you don't have to go all the way to downtown Toronto to Momofuku (or pay the much steeper price) to taste the now trendy pork belly bun.

After lunch, I found an unbelievably lean piece of pork belly at the butcher's.  Guess what's for dinner tonight!  I plan to try Akijiki's Le Creuset pork belly without the Le Creuset pot.  Sacrilegious, I know, but worth a try...

Addendum

Pork belly made with Circulon pot - not having tasted the one made in the Le Creuset, can't really compare.  But I think next time, I'll make this with the fermented red bean paste my mom used to braise pork with.  She would brown the pork (trotter or belly) with chopped onion, add the red fermented bean paste with sugar, then braise it on the stove on low heat.  This would result in a naturally reduced sauce at the end of the 2 hour cooking.  In the dutch oven, there is very little liquid reduction.  So what do you do with the sauce?!  I'm sure Akijiki would have a creative response.