Braised Pork Belly Banh Mi with Garlic Confit, Tart Green Apple and Crunchy Red Cabbage

Ingredients

• • 2 pounds pork belly, sliced thin (like thick-cut bacon) and then cut into 2” lengths
• • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• • 2 shallots, minced (yield ½ cup)
• • 3 garlic cloves, minced (yield 1 tablespoon)
• • 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
• • 4 tablespoons water
• • 6 tablespoons fish sauce
• • 3 cups water
• • 1 cup vegetable oil
• • 24 peeled garlic cloves (yield ½ cup), root ends cut off
• • 1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
• • 1 Granny Smith apple
• • ¼ head small red cabbage
• • 4 cups water
• • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• • 1 large egg, at room temperature
• • ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• • ½ lime
• • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• • 2 yard-long Vietnamese baguettes

Instructions

1. Minute 1: Start a timer. Prepare your ingredients.
2. Minute 15: Make garlic confit. In a separate saucepan, put 24 cloves of garlic in a small saucepan and add 1 cup vegetable oil; none of the garlic cloves should be poking through the oil. Simmer on low heat. The garlic should cook gently; very small bubbles will come up through the oil, but the bubbles should not break the surface. Adjust the heat as necessary. Cook the garlic for about 40 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon every 5 minutes or so, until the cloves are completely tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.
3. Minute 20: Braise pork belly. Place a 5-quart saucepan (or Dutch Oven) over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Once oil is warm, add minced shallots and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Then add minced garlic and continue to cook for 2 minutes.
4. Minute 25: Add pork belly and cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile: in a separate small saucepan, combine 6 tablespoons granulated sugar with 4 tablespoons water and cook over medium heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon until mixture is thick and caramel in color. Immediately pour caramel into saucepan with pork belly.
5. Minute 30: Add fish sauce and 3 cups of water to pork belly mixture; continue to cook pork belly over medium heat for 45 minutes.
6. Minute 55: Remove garlic and oil mixture from heat. Strain oil into glass Pyrex measuring up to separate garlic cloves from oil. Reserve both oil and garlic cloves. Let oil cool for 30 minutes.
7. Minute 60: Julienne an apple. In a bowl with 4 cups of water, add apple cider vinegar and set aside. Cut the rectangular pieces of an apple into slices that are approximately 1/8 inch thick. Try to keep the slices as even as possible, for the best appearance and for cooking each piece evenly. Turn the slices so that the widest part is flat against the cutting board. You may place another slice of apple on top of the first slice, but generally do not try to cut more than three or four pieces at a time. Cut these slices into 1/8-inch strips. Immediately place julienned apple strips into bowl of water.
8. Minute 70: Prepare cabbage. Using sharp knife, thinly slice cabbage to create thin strips. Set aside.
9. Minute 75: Using metal tongs, remove pork belly from saucepan into large bowl, add freshly ground black pepper, mix and set aside. Reserve fat and juice for other uses.
10. Minute 85: Make garlic mayonnaise. In a small glass bowl placed over a damp cloth towel, add egg yolk, Dijon mustard, juice of ½ lime, and soy sauce. (Reserve egg white for another use.) Whisk with primary (writing) hand for one minute. Then, while still whisking, with secondary (non-writing) hand, slowly pour in reserved oil from garlic confit, one drop at a time, until half of the oil has been poured. This should take a couple of minutes. Once half of the oil has been poured, the remaining half can be poured into the bowl in a thin stream while you continue to whisk. Season with fine sea salt. Set mayonnaise aside.
11. Minute 95: Drain bowl containing julienned apples and lay strips out on paper towel to dry.
12. Minute 97: Assemble sandwiches. Using serrated knife, cut baguettes lengthwise to split. Using fingers, smear the garlic confit evenly across the bottom of each baguette. Then add mayonnaise (about 3 tablespoons per baguette). Then add the pork belly, red cabbage, apples, and cilantro.
13. Minute 110: Slice each baguette into 12 pieces and serve immediately.