Lopez-Alt admits that last week’s recipe was mild, noting that the Stir-Fried Kimchi Pork is on “the opposite end of the subtlety spectrum.” Instead of pork tenderloin, this recipe uses pork belly, with gochujang in the marinade and kimchi and onions in the stir-fry.

The recipe advises that the pork belly should be sliced thinly as “pork belly is too tough to eat when sliced thick.” To try and slice it as thinly as possible, I put it in the freezer for a while. That mostly worked: I was able to shave slices off the end, but the thickness were all over the place.

Fortunately the pork belly thickness wasn't a problem, as none of it was too chewy. The flavors were good: good heat from the gochujang and kimchi (and its juices), some sweetness from the pork marinade, and a bit of sour from the kimchi. The texture all seemed homogenous, with the tender pork pieces and onions and kimchi all having a similar tenderness.

As has been my strategy, I fried eggs for the kids since they won’t eat spicy foods. My son tried a taste of the meat but declared it too spicy. My wife and I both went back for seconds.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.