Eggs Benedict with Pork Belly & Kimchi

Eggs Benedicts are my favorite go-to for breakfast! I can eat them anytime in any way (e.g. with seafood, meat, veggies... you name it)! I am a firm believer that you can eat them with just about anything because eggs essentially go with everything.

I had a Costco size container of kimchi in my fridge and decided to EGGsperiment. Could I make an Asian fusion Eggs Benedict by repurposing my leftover kimchi and pork belly? Indeed I did, and it actually wasn't bad! It was like eating pork belly kimchi fried rice with a fried egg, but with bread instead of rice. While I still prefer traditional Eggs Benedicts, I still quite enjoyed this unique version below...

Eggs Benedict with Pork Belly & Kimchi

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

• 8 thin pork belly slices or 4 thick pork belly slices

• 1/4 cup Mirin (Japanese wine)

• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

• 1 tsp sugar

• 4 tbsp kimchi (chopped)

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 small baguette (cut into 4 slices)

Poached Eggs Ingredients:

• 1/4 tsp white vinegar

• 4 large eggs

Hollandaise Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 egg yolk

• 3 tbsp unsalted butter

• ~1/8 tsp fresh lemon juice

• Salt (to taste)

***

Directions:

Bread + Pork Belly + Kimchi:

• In a medium to large bowl, marinate pork belly in Mirin, soy sauce, and sugar. Make sure pork belly is fully covered in mixture. Add more to mixture, while keeping same ratio, if needed. Let sit for about 15 minutes.

• In the meantime, start toasting bread and chop your kimchi.

• Heat up olive oil on a medium to large pan over medium high heat. Once warm, add pork belly and cook until all sides are eventually browned.

• Simultaneously, start on initial steps for your poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.

• Once pork belly is cooked, place over bread and kimchi.

Poached Eggs:

• Boil shallow pot of water and add white vinegar. Lower heat to medium low. Once water is no longer boiling, crack in egg. Using a fork, swirl around the egg to keep whites with yolk together (or feel free to use other preferred method of poaching eggs).

• Note: You can start on hollandaise sauce steps while you wait for eggs to poach.

• Once white layer around egg yolk is cooked (approximately 2 min for runny yolk), carefully remove from water with a large flat spoon or spatula. Transfer over the pork belly.

Hollandaise Sauce:

• Cook in double boiler -or- use ceramic bowl placed within shallow pan of boiling water. Mix in egg yolks, butter, fresh lemon juice, and salt. Use whisk to keep sauce moving (otherwise it'll turn into scrambled eggs!). Add more butter or lemon juice based on your preference for level of tartness.

• Once sauce has thickened, take about 1-2 spoonfuls and pour over poached eggs.

• Note: Add hot water (from poached eggs pot) if sauce loses consistency and becomes too thick.