Pork Belly: The Braised and Pressed Method

Chang's pork belly — braised in a soy-ginger-sugar liquid, pressed overnight under weight in the refrigerator, then sliced and crisped to order — became one of the most imitated techniques in contemporary restaurant cooking. The pressing step was the innovation: compressing the cold-braised belly produces a uniform density and a flat surface that crisps evenly when seared, achieving the textural contrast of crackling and yielding fat in a single piece.

Pork belly braised in a seasoned liquid until just tender (not falling apart), pressed under heavy weight in the refrigerator overnight to compact and firm the texture, then portioned and seared at high heat to order — producing a slice with a crispy exterior and yielding, deeply flavoured interior.

The Momofuku pork belly works because of the textural spectrum in a single bite: the crispy, rendered fat exterior against the soft, gelatinous, deeply seasoned interior against the yielding braised meat. Each layer is distinct. The pressing is what makes this possible — it compacts the layers into a unified piece that can be cooked to produce multiple textures simultaneously.