The Seventh Daughter: Chicken Soup & Pork Belly

Yesterday was not such a fabulous day for many and dreary reasons, but there were a few highlights. Among them: Cecilia Chiang's minced chicken and sweet corn soup and her Sichuan twice-cooked pork belly. 

The soup was light and clean-tasting, yet completely satisfying, filled with bits of meat, corn, and fluffy egg white. I made her "special" broth using a chicken with the head on. Prefer not to dwell on that.

The pork belly was the best way I've found yet to cook that succulent part of the pig. You poach a hunk of belly, chill, then slice into strips like bacon and fry with some light seasonings (black bean sauce, garlic) and chopped leek. The only problem with this dish is that it needed more sauce, more seasonings. Otherwise: perfection.

Oh, and the third good thing that happened yesterday was seeing Iron Man. If you have a 7-year-old boy in your life -- or can borrow one to see it with you -- all the better. 

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