Dongpo Pork 東坡肉 Recipes

DONG PO BRAISED PORK BELLY

Steps:

• Bring a pot of water to boil.
• While the water is heating up, cut the pork into 3" x 3" cubes and tie them up with cotton strings.
• Add the pork cubes to the boiling water and boil for about 1-2 minutes, until the pork isn't pink on the outside anymore.
• Drain and remove pork from heat.
• In a pot large enough to fit all the pork pieces in one single layer, heat the pot up with 1 TBsp of oil and add the pork cubes to the pot, skin side down.
• Fry the pork until the skin is golden then fry each sides of the pork for 30 seconds.
• Remove the pork pieces and excess oil, leaving about 2TBsp of lard in the pot. On medium heat, add 1/4C sugar to make caramel. No stirring necessary, the caramel should be a brown, but be careful not to burn it.
• Place the pork cubes back to the pot, skin side down, coating with caramel.
• Add 1C of ShaoXing Wine around the edge of the pot, be careful as it might splatter. Followed by 3/4C of Soy Sauce, again adding it around the edge of the pot.
• Add enough water to cover the pork cubes and bring the pot to a boil.
• Turn the heat down to low, let the pot simmer for 2 hours with the lid on. (You can also transfer the sauce and the pork to a instant pot(1h)/ rice cooker(2h) without having to watch over it)
• After 2 Hours, the pork should be super tender. Remove the lid and continue the simmer until the sauce has reduced to 1/4 of what it was(30mins -1hour), flipping the meat half way. The sauce should be fairly thick by then.
• If thicker sauce is desired, remove the pork from the pot at this point and turn the heat up high to render the sauce down to the desired consistency.