红烧肉
A classic Chinese dish that never goes out of style; nearly every part of China makes this dish with their own twists and variations. Tender, succulent, and incredibly juicy. Mine is more typical of northern China, with a bit less sugar and more soy sauce. I would definitely recommend trying it out at some point!
Active Time: 30 min
Total Time: 2 hr 30 min
Ingredients
> Pork belly
> Ginger, garlic, green onion, orange zest
> Star anise, Sichuan peppercorn, dried chili peppers, cinnamon stick
> Soy sauce, cooking wine, water
> Sugar
Instructions
1. Prep: Chop the pork belly into relatively large cubes (they will shrink as they cook). Peel a few cloves of garlic, slice a little bit of ginger, and chop green onion into around 4cm pieces.
2. Caramelize the sugar: pour sugar into the cooking pot over medium-high heat. Once the sugar begins to melt, occasionally swirl the pot to ensure that the sugar melts evenly. Continue to heat until the sugar develops a deep dark red/brown color and begins to bubble.
3. Carefully add the pork belly, and stir to coat with sugar for a few minutes.
4. Add the soy sauce and cooking wine. Then add water until the water level is just about level with the pork belly. Add in the aromatics and spices.
5. Bring up to a boil over high heat and cook for around 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook for around 2 hours. When the braising process is almost complete, add some more cooking wine if necessary.
6. The end result should be fork tender and juicy, with relatively little braising liquid. Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips:
> When looking for pork belly, the key is to achieve a good and consistent ratio of fat to meat; I think around 50:50 fat and skin to meat is good. Also, the skin is actually a very important aspect of this dish, so under no circumstances should you trim that off.
> Caramelizing the sugar can be a bit tricky. My number one tip is to never under any circumstances put any utensil into the sugar - it will instantly harden and make it extremely difficult to wash later. To ensure even heating, only swirl the pan. You will encounter a bit of smoke in the later stages as the sugar continues to caramelize; this is normal and necessary to achieve the characteristic red color of this meat.
> When stir-frying the pork belly in the sugar, be extremely careful as sugar may bubble up and splash. The sugar will be extremely hot and even small amounts can cause severe burns.
> Try to avoid adding more water than you need. Unlike with cooking beef or lamb, your goal is not to make a large amount of leftover braising liquid. You want a slightly thick, sticky coating on the pork.