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.

BRAISED PORK BELLY - DONG PO MEAT

Steps:

• Cut the pork into 4cm squares. Heat up the wok, put the pork skin side down to dry fry the skin until it becomes slightly brown. Remove.
• Place the pork in a pot of hot water and blanch for three minutes. Remove.
• Lay the spring onions in a crosshatch pattern at the bottom of a medium sized clay pot to form a thick even layer. The spring onions should cover the entire bottom of the pot. Lay the ginger slices evenly over the spring onion.
• Tie the pork pieces with a kitchen string.
• Arrange the pork pieces skin down on top of the spring onions.
• Add the remaining ingredients in B into the clay pot.
• Bring it to a boil with the lid on. When the liquid in the pot starts to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 90 minutes without stirring it.
• Turn the pork pieces skin-side up in the pot. Cover and simmer for another 90 minutes.
• Transfer the pork pieces to a plate. Remove the strings.
• Drizzle the sauce over the pork. Serve.