PORK FRIED RICE - Roy Choi

 When I think about pork fried rice, I think about time in slow-mo. But to most people, everything about pork fried rice is quick and fast. A hundred-meter dash in nine seconds fast. But before that starter gun can fire its blank, you have to prep for the race. For pork fried rice, you need day-old rice; leftovers from last night’s meal; and cured, smoked, glazed char siu pork cooked for hours in a hot box. The flaming wok is that nine-second dash. The char siu pork belly here is done with a Korean kid’s twist to fit your home oven.

At the casinos, this was my go-to dish, served on medium-size oval plates, their edges decorated with Chinese pagodas, a mound of steaming, pale white rice studded with bits of pork, slippery egg, minced vegetables, and soy sauce in the center.

Eat this with a big, frosty glass of Coke, some chili garlic sauce, chopsticks, and a cheap-ass wide-mouth stainless-steel spoon. If you have any leftover pork belly, mix it into a salad—it’ll be delicious.

SERVES 4 TO 6

2 pounds pork belly, skin off

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

MARINADE

1 cup kochujang

¼ cup fresh orange juice

5 garlic cloves, peeled

1 jalapeño pepper, chopped

¼ onion, chopped

¼ cup chopped scallions

FOR THE WOK OR FRY PAN

¼ cup canola oil

2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced scallions

¼ cup chopped leftover cooked vegetables—anything you got, man

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 cups day-old cooked rice

3 eggs, whisked

2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil

¼ cup soy sauce

GARNISH

½ teaspoon minced scallion greens

Season the pork belly on both sides with salt and pepper. Place on a rack set on a sheet pan and put it next to the fan in your refrigerator or somewhere cool and let it rest for 3 hours.

Meanwhile, make the marinade. Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 200°F. Take out the pork belly and slather with the marinade, barbershop style.

Place the pan in the oven and cook for 3 hours, then turn the temperature up to 450°F and roast for another 30 minutes.

Pull out the pork and let it cool for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, do all your knife work for the vegetables that will go into the wok. Pay attention and take some time to make it right—it ain’t that much knife work, and don’t act like it’s this major fucking deal to mince some veggies.

Chop up the cooled pork into bite-size pieces.

Now organize yourself.

Then heat up a big pan or a wok until smoking over high heat. Add the canola oil and start with the GGS—ginger garlic scallion—and fry them all at once until they’re aromatic, about a minute. Immediately add the rest of the vegetables and season with a touch, just a touch, of salt and pepper.

Work this muthafucka in and out for 30 seconds, being sure to constantly keep the vegetables moving.

Add the pork, toss toss toss; then add the rice. Pound down the rice with a wooden spoon, stir it up, and make this come together.

Fold in the eggs, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Turn off the heat and mix well

NINE SCONDS,

GOLD MEDAL IN

THE 100-METER DASH.

ENJOY IN FRONT

OF THE TV WITH

A BIG, FROSTY SODA.