Chinese Red Cooked Pork Recipes

CHAIRMAN MAO'S RED BRAISED PORK BELLY

Steps:

• The first step is to blanch the pork belly, which removes any blood or impurities from the meat. To do this, add the pork belly and 3 slices of ginger to a pot with enough cold water to submerge the pork belly. With the lid on, bring it to a boil. Once the pot boils, turn down the heat and simmer for one more minute. Drain, rinse the pork belly clean, and set aside.
• With the wok set over low heat, add the oil and rock sugar (or 3 tablespoons regular sugar). Slowly melt the sugar, taking care to not let it burn. Then add in the pork belly, 3 slices ginger, and the white parts of the scallions. Turn up the heat to medium. Stir and coat the pork belly with the melted sugar.
• Now, add the Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cinnamon, star anise, bay leaves, dried chili peppers, and water. Stir and make sure everything is submerged. There will be some caramelized sugar on your spatula, dissolve it in the water before covering the wok. Bring the mixture up to a simmer over medium low heat for 1 hour. Check the pork periodically to make sure the sauce doesn't dry up.
• Once the pork is to your liking in terms of tenderness, turn up the heat to cook off any excess sauce, stirring constantly. The sauce will reduce to a glistening coating on the pork belly. Last, add in the remaining ½ teaspoon sugar and the green parts of the scallions. Stir quickly and serve!

SHANGHAI-STYLE BRAISED PORK BELLY (HONG SHAO ROU)

Steps:

• Start by cutting your pork belly into 3/4-inch thick pieces.
• Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the pork belly pieces for a couple minutes. This gets rid of impurities and starts the cooking process. Take the pork out of the pot, rinse, and set aside.
• Over low heat, add the oil and sugar to your wok. Melt the sugar slightly and add the pork. Raise the heat to medium and cook until the pork is lightly browned.
• Turn the heat back down to low and add shaoxing cooking wine, regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and water.
• NOTE: It's very important to the color and flavor of this dish that you have both kinds of soy sauce! Just head to your local Asian market, buy a bottle of each, and it will last you a year!
• Cover and simmer over medium heat for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until pork is fork tender. Every 5-10 minutes, stir to prevent burning and add more water if it gets too dry.
• Once the pork is fork tender, if there is still a lot of visible liquid, uncover the wok, turn up the heat, and stir continuously until the sauce has reduced to a glistening coating.

CHINESE RED COOKED PORK

Steps:

• (Note: If you are using a 'boneless' pork roast, you can skip this step but you will still need to preheat the oven). Preheat oven to 350°F Using a sharp knife, score 3" slits all over pork skin (do not cut into flesh). Place pork in large Dutch oven. Add enough cold water to cover pork. Bring to boil over high heat; cook 10 minutes. Drain by rinsing under cold water. Return pork to dry pot.
• Mix 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup soy sauce, and 1/4 cup Mirin. Drizzle over pork. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Mix remaining ingredients and set aside.
• Turn pork over and baste with pan juices. Cook 30 minutes longer.
• Turn pork over and drizzle the soy sauce mixture (that you had set aside) over roast. Cover and bake 1 hour or until pork is tender, turning and basting after 30 minutes.
• Increase oven temperature to 375°F Turn pork skin side up and bake this time uncovered for 30 minutes, or until pork is glazed and skin is slightly crisp.
• SERVE: Transfer pork to a cutting board with juice-catching channel; cool 5 minutes then remove and discard the fat and skin from pork, if desired. Cut pork crosswise into 1/2" thick slices.

CHINESE RED-COOKED PORK BELLY, BRAISED

Steps:

• Heat oil in a wok or dutch oven until shimmering.
• Add sugar to oil. Mix constantly until it melts (~370F).
• Add pork belly and sear until golden brown. Stir constantly and scrape bits of sugar that have stuck to the pot. The sugar will burn quickly so pay attention.
• Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine, and water. Add ginger and star anise. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer.
• After an 45 minutes to an hour, remove meat to serving bowl. Boil sauce until desired consistency and skim off scum and fat. Pour over meat.
• Garnish with chopped green onions and sesame seeds. Serve.

RED-COOKED PORK SHOULDER

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large, heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
• Add scallions, garlic, and ginger and toss in the oil until heated through, about 1 minute.
• Add water (or stock and water mix), soy sauce, rice wine (or scotch or sherry), brown sugar, anise, and cinnamon stick.
• Bring to boil, then add pork picnic shoulder.
• Turn the meat to cover it with liquid and color it.
• Reduce the heat and cover the pan.
• Simmer, turning the meat every hour and basting it, until it's fork tender, 3 to 4 hours.
• Remove the meat from the pan and spoon off the fat from the pan juices.
• Slice the meat.
• Serve with the pan juices.