Winning Recipe from the First Edition of “Virtual Cooking with Ibérico”
The judging panel included chef Luis Fernández from the Al Punto culinary space.
The first prize went to the Slow-Cooked Ibérico Pork Belly Bao. The recipe was created by Manuel Heras, winner of the competition and creator of the Instagram account @food_ofthe_gods, where he shares his most creative dishes, combining cuisines and flavours from around the world—just like in this recipe.
Manuel’s creation is something you can recreate at home. You’ll just need to stock up on a few Asian ingredients, such as Sriracha and sake.
We’ll also show you how Manuel presents and plates the dish, along with the passion and skill he brings to the kitchen.
Ingredients :
- Iberian bacon (500 gr.)
- Gua bao type bread (6-12 units)
- Purple onion (2 units)
- Cucumber (1 large/2 small)
- Mayonnaise
- sriracha
- Sake
- mirin
- Soy
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Sugar
- Apple
Steps:
1. Yakiniku Sauce
Combine 3 tablespoons each of soy sauce, mirin and sake in a saucepan. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar, a small piece of peeled ginger and 1 peeled garlic clove, then bring to the boil.
Immediately reduce the heat, strain the sauce through a fine sieve and grate ¼ of an apple into the mixture. Toast 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds and add them to the sauce. Prepare on the same day and set aside.
2. Pickles
Finely julienne the onion and thinly slice the cucumber.
For the pickled onion, place 150 ml of apple cider or wine vinegar and 100 ml of orange and lime juice in a 500 ml glass jar. Top up with water, then add 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir until dissolved and add the onion.
For the pickled cucumber, combine 250 ml of white wine vinegar with 250 ml of water, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Prepare the pickles 24–48 hours in advance.
3. 24-Hour Sous-Vide Ibérico Pork Belly
Using a sous-vide circulator, cook the Ibérico pork belly at 64°C for 24 hours.
Combine 3 tablespoons each of soy sauce, mirin and sake with a small piece of ginger, 1 garlic clove and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and strain.
Place the Ibérico pork belly and the prepared liquid in a vacuum bag and vacuum-seal it. Cook sous-vide at 64°C for 24 hours. Once cooked, set aside until ready to use
Mounting:
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Reduce the bacon juices sauce together with the yakiniku sauce in a skillet over medium-high heat until reduced by half.
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Prick the entire surface of the bacon skin with an awl or the tip of a knife, place it in a frying pan over medium high heat so that the skin is crispy, for about 7-10 minutes or even more. Cut the bacon into slices about 5 mm thick and add them to the sauce until it reduces and caramelizes to glaze the bacon and that it is well covered.
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Steam the baos with a steamer for 4-5 min if they are frozen.
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We assemble the bao as follows: sriracha mayonnaise, lettuce or green sprouts, bacon with its sauce, the two pickles to taste and more sriracha mayonnaise to close the bao.