Sous Vide Pork Belly, Tri-color Quinoa with Tomatoes, and Boiled Okra

It's been some time since I've used and written about my Joule.  I'd been wanting to try their recipe for pork belly but every time I'd get one I'd cure the whole thing for bacon.  Last week I had stopped at the Commissary to get some cokes (generic Southern word for carbonated beverages) and saw they had a nice 3lb piece of pork belly in the meat case.  I decided that would be a half for sous vide and the other half for smoking.

Some weeks ago, ChefSteps came out with a combination offer of the big mouth clamp for Joule, a silicon pot cover, and a silicon mat to protect your counter from the heat.  This put those to the test and they did what they were supposed to do.  For long cooks I like to use a small cooler to help retain heat and that is exactly why the big mouth clamp was developed.  It worked like a charm with enough room left to have fit an even thicker cooler.  The silicon pot cover kept the water from evaporating and kept the heat in very well.  I'm quite pleased with them both.  I didn't bother with the mat since I was using the cooler.

Fresh from under the broiler

One thing I will change the next time I make this is the amount of the "cure" I will use.  In the ingredient list they say 5 heaping spoonfuls of salt and 2 heaping spoonfuls of sugar.  When they get into the process, they say 5 parts salt and 2 parts sugar.  I went with what was in the ingredient list and used it all for my 1.5lb piece of pork belly.  There was lots of extra "cure" that fell off and gathered in the corners of the vacuum bag.  While the belly had good flavor it was a bit saltier than I thought proper.

Succulent pork belly slices

I did do one variation to their instructions.  I ground 2 tablespoons of Szechuan peppercorns and added them to the "cure" mix before applying it to the belly.  Another thing I did, though not really a variation since they didn't address it was to put some roasted sesame oil in the bottom of my cast iron skillet.  The cast iron skillet is used to put the sous vide pork belly under the broiler to crisp the skin before serving.

A tasty supper

The tri-color quinoa with tomatoes was done in the pressure cooker.  I used chicken broth instead of water then stirred in some diced tomatoes along with some salt and pepper when it was done.  Adding some fresh sage, oregano, and thyme along with the tomato would be good as well.

Preparing the boiled okra can be found in this post.

We really like pork belly and this method of preparation will definitely find its way into the rotation.  If you have a Joule, give this pork belly recipe a go.  Pair it with the quinoa and okra and I think you'll be pleased with the results.

Let me know what you think.

Uncle T

Pork Belly Soup

Is there anything so glorious as the pig?  OK, maybe not so glorious while they are running around as a pig can be quite contrary.  However, once they are converted into pork, they are indeed glorious.  The old saying that the only thing you can't use on a pig is the oink is very true.


Most people now days are only familiar with pork chops, ham, bacon, and maybe pork shoulder for pulled pork.  While fresh pork belly is gaining popularity with chefs most people are still not using it.  There is always a fair bit left after I square up the belly to cure for bacon.  That trim gets used to make some very flavorful meals. 


Yesterday was a dreary drookit day and the good wife was in a mood for soup to drive out the chill.  She'd had the fire going most of the day and even I was wishing I'd brought a heavier jacket when I left work.  Of course, good soup takes time and we had errands to run before it could be started but the pressure cooker made up for the late start.


I used pork broth from the freezer for this soup but I've never seen pork broth available commercially.  I think beef or chicken broth would work just fine with beef being slightly more preferred.  My broths are cooked down to be fairly strong so as to save freezer space since you can always add water.  I used about 3 cups worth of frozen pork broth and added 4 cups of water and still had a rich flavorful broth as the soup base.


One other item you won't have on hand is Uncle T's Pork and Poultry Seasoning.  A good substitute would be to make up some quatre épices to season the pork belly.

A good bowl of Pork Belly Soup

Pork Belly Soup


1 lb pork belly
6 - 8 cups broth
3 medium potatoes, 1/2 inch dice
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped 1/2 inch
1 cup barley
1 - 2 Tbs salt
2 tsp pepper
1.5 tsp roasted ground cumin
1.5 Tbs Uncle T's Pork and Poultry Seasoning
3 bay leaves


Cut the pork belly into small bite size pieces and season with Uncle T's Pork and Poultry Seasoning, or with salt and quatre épices.  Brown the pork belly either in the pressure cooker or a skillet.  Put the broth, potatoes, and carrots in the pressure cooker.  Taste the broth and season to taste with salt, pepper, and roasted cumin.  Remember the potatoes will need a bit of seasoning.  Add the barley and browned pork belly to the pressure cooker and stir to thoroughly mix.  Drop in the bay leaves.  Put the lid on the pressure cooker and set the pressure cook timer for 15 minutes.  After the timer goes off, let it sit for 10 minutes before venting the pressure according to your cookers instructions.  It won't hurt to let the pressure to go down naturally.  Serve and enjoy.


I think this would have been even better with some fresh crusty bread but I didn't have time since we had those errands to run.  As it was, it was rich warm and definitely drove the chill away.


Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Gochujang Pork Belly

How many of you eat pork belly on a regular basis?  I'm not talking about bacon but fresh pork belly.  To my mind it is one of the best things around and can be used in many ways.

Gochujang rubbed pork belly ready for smoke

As you may have noticed, I like Korean food and Korean flavors.  This pork belly is skin on and was given a thick coating of Gochujang, fermented pepper paste.  I don't think the Gochujang penetrates like a marinade but it makes me feel good to see it on the counter.

Ready to come off the smoke

Pork belly comes eight with the skin on or skin off.  Personally, I like getting skin on.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  In applications like this, you get small bits of cooked skin to give a crispy chewy bit of texture to the pork belly slices.  The other reason is pork rinds.  When I make bacon I skin the belly.  The skin then gets converted to pork rinds.  Homemade pork rinds means you can season however you wish and they are so much better.

Beautiful sliced pork belly

I took this pork belly to an internal temp of about 165F since I wanted nice slices.  If I'd wanted it more fall/pull apart I'd let it go to around 205F.  It is still plenty tender at 165F and slices without tearing.

Gochujang Pork Belly

1 2-3 lb pork belly

Gochujang

If pork belly has the skin on, score skin and fat in diamond pattern.  Rub Gochujang heavily over the entire surface of the pork belly.  Get smoker going, or set up grill for indirect heat.  When temp is up to 225-250 put the pork belly on, skin side up, and insert temperature probe if you have one.  Close lid and relax until the internal temperature hits 150F.  If the skin side is not crispy then move the pork belly closer to the heat to finish the skin side.  Once the skin is dark and crispy remove the pork belly from the heat.  Let rest 10 - 20 minutes then slice in 1/4 inch slices.  Enjoy

A filling flavorful meat featuring pork belly

Since I was wanting the flavor of Korea we had rice and kimchi with the pork belly.  I think it would pair well with most anything.

Get some Gochujang for your pantry and see how it can boost the flavor of pork, seafood, and soups.  Let me know what you think.

Uncle T

Review of Joule: Sous Vide by ChefSteps

This is the promised review of the Joule:  Sous Vide by ChefSteps.  I pre-ordered it from ChefSteps early last year and it was due in June/July time frame.  Due to some issues, mostly outside the control of ChefSteps, delivery got pushed back to September.  To their credit, ChefSteps kept those of us who had pre-ordered informed of delays and new delivery dates.  Since delays are common to new products I wasn't concerned since they did keep the flow of information going.  Once the government-caused issues were solved, an email came saying deliveries would go out in the order that people had purchased their Joule.  I got a final email telling me it was coming and I had it in just a couple of days.  If you want to get into sous vide cooking, you can click here to order your Joule.

Poaching eggs in the shell.  Joule is in an 8 quart stock pot.

One of the things that had kept me from trying sous vide was the size of the sous vide units.  Even a small one required a substantial amount of counter space.  Frankly, not many average folks have that much counter space to give up.  Even if you wanted to store it between uses, it would take lots of space.  Over the past few years, heating and circulating units have come into the sous vide world and the price has come down.  Joule is smaller than any others I've looked at.  It is smaller than my immersion blender.  Joule's small size makes it easy to store in a kitchen drawer.

KitchenAid immersion blender and Joule

Another advantage of the Joule is the fact that it is operated via your smart phone.  It is compatible with both Android phones and iPhones.  Using smart phones to operate means that ChefSteps can push software improvements and new recipe guides out as needed.  There has already been a couple of recipe guide updates and I'm sure more will follow.  The Joule app has visual doneness pictures for every type of meat you want to cook.  All you have to do is select the degree of doneness you want and it gives you the time to cook.  Some, like steaks, ask the thickness of what you are cooking and that affects the cook time.  If you want to cook something by a sous vide recipe you found online or you want to experiment you can set the time and temperature manually.  Some people complain that there is no display on the Joule but even I have a smart phone these days.  I don't see the lack of a display as a problem.

Joule app opening on my phone and Joule guides showing on the tablet

The Joule is quiet.  It is so quiet that if the water level is over the discharge hole I can't hear it if anything else is going and barely a hum if all else is turned off.  You can't beat a quiet appliance.

Since the Joule is a heater and circulator you need something to hold the water.  I primarily use one of my stock pots.  When I did a 24 hour cook for confit turkey legs I used a small cooler to help hold its heat.  For a long cook you probably should cover the container to help retain heat and stop evaporation.

The first thing I cooked with the Joule was a pair of strip steaks.  I think I went with medium-rare.  It was good but to suit us I should have gone with rare.  Since the time is also determined by steak thickness I would round down.  I wet age the strip loins prior to cutting into steaks and packaging so they are already tender and tasty.  Done with Joule they were even better.

Strip Steak, sous vide then seared

The good wife likes poached eggs almost to the exclusion of any other cooking method.  Joule has a poach in the shell program for eggs.  I do six every Saturday after breakfast so she'll have a poached egg available each morning for breakfast.  Just gently tap around the middle of the egg with a knife and slide the egg out of the shell.  The good wife will let the egg sit on the counter warming up while the coffee perks.  She'll then crack it into a small bowl and put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds.  I've also poached eggs to top Udon noodle dishes.  This is so much easier and neater than cracking the egg into a pot of simmering water.

Poached egg after the break out

The absolute best thing I've cooked with the Joule was turkey legs.  Under their poultry guide is a recipe for sous vide confit turkey legs.  I followed their instructions fairly close only changing the herbs that were added.  It was a 24 hour cook so I used a small cooler for the insulation to help retain heat and covered the top with plastic wrap and then draped a towel over it to reduce evaporation.  The cook I chose yielded turkey that was so tender I could have made pulled turkey and the flavor was great.  The good wife said to definitely do this again.

Fresh from the bag, ready to sear

Crispy skin after 5 minutes under the broiler

The latest cook was a nice thick sirloin steak.  I followed the guide for ultimate steak which involved a quick sear before bagging and adding some crushed garlic, fresh herbs, and olive oil.  The sous vide time for the doneness I chose and the thickness of the steak was an hour.  This ended up being an extremely tender flavorful sirloin steak.  This is the one I talked about in the previous post.

Starting the sear with herbs and garlic from the bag

Tender, tasty, and perfectly cooked

I've also done pork belly, hamburgers, salmon, and squirrel using the Joule and the results have been very good.  I still need to tweak the time and temperature for the squirrel or any other small game but I was pleased with my inaugural small game cook.

Sous vide pork belly with Udon noodles topped with a Joule poached egg

Hamburger sous vide and seared.  Pink, juicy, and flavorful.

There are still some recipes in the Joule guides that I am looking forward to trying.  The top two are Heavenly Honey-glazed Ham made with a pork butt and the collection of custards.  Ok, I guess that should be top four since there are three sous vide custard recipes to include a creme brulee.  I'm also interested to see what recipes they add to the guides next. 

All in all, I would highly recommend the Joule as your entry into sous vide cooking.  The small size and ease of operation are strong points in its favor.  Part of the ease of use is due to the cooking guides with visual doneness pictures contained in the app.  The only negatives I can think of are not negatives to me but may be to others.  First is the lack of a display panel to check your settings.  I've seen this complaint online but it makes no sense to me.  Using your phone, you don't have to walk to the kitchen to check the display.  It sounds like someone looking for something to complain about to me.  The other potential negative is the fact that it is only available in the US and is only designed to work with US electricity.  So, someone from overseas or a military person stationed overseas would have to find a different sous vide unit.  Lastly, sous vide is slow so it takes planning to use properly.  Like I said, I don't see this as a negative because the results are worth the time.


There you have it, a long drawn out review of the Joule.  If you want to up your kitchen game then get a Joule and get into the world of sous vide cookery.  If I didn't answer a question let me know.

Uncle T