Pork Cheek & Fried Pig Ear Spam Musubi

Pork Cheek & Fried Pig Ear Spam Musubi

Pork Cheek & Fried Pig Ear Spam Musubi
Ingredients
  • 1 cup cooked sushi rice, room temperature
  • 1 sheet nori, cut in half lengthwise
  • 2.4oz can Spam
  • 1 1/4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3/4 tbsp mirin
  • 3/4 tbsp sugar
  • Furikake, to taste
  • Fried Pig Ears
  • 1 pig’s ears
  • 1/2 onion, peeled and washed
  • 1 carrots, chopped coarse
  • 1 stems of celery, chopped
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine or vermouth
  • A bouquet garni (thyme, parsley, marjoram, etc)
  • Salt to taste, about 1/2 teaspoon
  • 3 Tbsp cornstarch and flour, equal parts of
  • 1/2 quart of oil, for frying
  • Braised Pork Cheeks
  • 1 pounds pork cheeks
  • 1/4 cup dark soy sauce
  • 4 Tbsp cup fish sauce
  • 2 Tbsp rice wine
  • 1/2 ounce palm sugar
  • 1/2 stick cinnamon
  • 3 bird’s eye chilies
Instructions
Braised Pork Cheeks – Directions
  1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the ears and let boil for 2 or 3 minutes to get rid of some of the impurities. Remove the ears from the pot and set aside.
  2. In a medium-size pot, arrange the ears along with the rest of the ingredients. Add enough water to cover the ears. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently, uncovered, for 2 hours. The ears should be very supple and easily pierced through with forks or chopsticks.
  3. Remove the ears from the broth and let cool. Reserve the stock for another use.
  4. When cooled, cut the ears into ¼ inch slivers. Toss with the cornstarch and flour, until the ears are lightly and uniformly covered.
  5. In the meantime, bring the oil to 350 F in a wok or frying pot.
  6. Gently slip into the hot oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, until the ears are golden brown and crispy. Very carefully stir the ears around in the pot, so that the slivers won’t stick to one another. Remove the ears from the oil with a slotted spoon, and serve immediately.
Fried Pig Ears Directions
  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 300°F. Place cheeks in pot or braising pan. The cheeks should cover the surface of the vessel. Add enough water so that cheeks are halfway submerged. Add add soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine, sugar, cinnamon, and chilis to pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid or aluminum foil. Transfer to oven and cook until very tender, about 2 hours.
  2. De-fat the mixture, either by skimming off the liquid fat or refrigerating the meat and letting the fat solidify on the top. Remove meat from liquid and gently break into bite-sized chunks (meat will be very tender). Heat sauce in a medium saucepan and cook until reduced to about 1/4 cup. Sauce should be rich and syrupy. Return meat to sauce and heat through.
Directions
  1. Cut Spam into 2 slices. Fry until slightly crispy. Remove and drain on plate lined with paper towels. In another pan, combine soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to low. Add Spam slices, coating them in the mixture. When mixture has thickened, remove Spam from pan.
  2. Lay a sheet of nori lengthwise on a clean surface. Moisten lower half of musubi maker (see Note), and place on lower third of nori. Fill musubi maker with rice and press flat until the rice is 3/4-inch high. Sprinkle rice with furikake. Top with slice of Spam. Remove musubi maker and keep in a bowl of warm water to keep it clean and moist.
  3. Starting at the end towards you, fold nori over Spam and rice stack, and keep rolling until completely wrapped in the nori. Slightly dampen the end of the nori to seal it, top with braised cheek then pig ear. Repeat with the other Spam slice, making sure to rinse off musubi maker after each use to prevent it from getting too sticky.