Shanghai Style Pork Chops Recipes

SHANGHAI-STYLE BRAISED PORK

Steps:

• Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the pork. Return to the boil, skim, reduce the heat and simmer gently, partially covered, for 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly.
• Using a potato peeler, remove 8 strips of zest from the orange. Put the star anise, cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds, dried chillies and orange zest in a piece of muslin and tie together tightly.
• Make the braising liquid by combining all the ingredients in a very large pot and bringing the liquid to a simmer. Add the bag of spices and the blanched pork, and bring back to a simmer, partially covered, skimming all the while.
• Cover the pot tightly and continue to simmer gently for 3 hours, until the pork fat and rind are very soft and tender. You can do this up to a day ahead, let the pork cool in the liquid, chill overnight, then reheat gently in the liquid before serving.
• Cut the bok choi in halves or quarters depending on their size, or the Chinese leaves into 5cm/2in pieces. When the pork is done, remove it from the liquid. Remove the skin and cut the meat into small pieces. Add the bok choi to the pot and cook over high heat until it is very tender about 3 minutes. Remove the bok choi from the cooking liquid and place on a warm dish. Arrange the pork on top.
• Skim off all the fat from the braising liquid and boil it to reduce it by about half. Pour some over the meat to moisten it and serve the rest separately. (You will probably have a lot leftover.) Serve with rice.

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.

SHANGHAI STYLE PORK CHOPS

Steps:

• Mix the water, egg, flour and salt into a batter.
• Dip chops into batter and coat completely. Remove from batter and set aside.
• Mix all sauce ingredients.
• Pour oil into skillet. (I used about 4 T; the original recipe says "enough to cover chops" - I just didn't want to use that much).
• Put chops in hot oil, reduce flame and brown about 4 minutes, then turn over and brown on other side. Take chops out and drain.
• Over low flame, heat sauce in a large skillet, stirring about 2 minutes till thickened.
• Add chops and simmer about 5 minutes (till chops are cooked through.
• Good served with rice or noodles.

WALTER KEI'S SHANGHAI-STYLE PORK AND BEAN SPROUTS

Steps:

• Slice the pork into 1/4-inch-thick slices, then stack the slices and cut into 2-inch-long matchsticks. Put the matchsticks in a shallow bowl and add the garlic, 2 teaspoons of the rice wine, the cornstarch, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Stir to combine.
• Heat 14-inch flat-bottomed wok over high heat until a bead of water vaporizes within 1 to 2 seconds of contact. Swirl in the olive oil and add the pork, spread it around it in the wok. Cook undisturbed 20 seconds, letting the pork begin to brown. Then, using a metal spatula, stir-fry the pork until it is no longer pink, about 1 minute. Add the bean sprouts, then remaining 2 teaspoons rice wine, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes or until the pork and bean sprouts are just cooked through.

PORK CHOPS, CHINESE STYLE

Steps:

• Pound pork chops to thin them a bit; combine next five ingredients and marinate the chops in the mixture for 30 minutes, then drain.
• Dredge pork chops with cornstarch.
• Heat oil in a wok or skillet; fry chops until golden brown; cook about 5 minutes each side.
• Drain on paper towel.
• Place on a platter and garnish with cilantro.

SLOW-COOKER PORK CHOPS

Steps:

• In a shallow bowl, combine 1/4 cup flour, mustard, garlic pepper and seasoned salt. Add pork chops, one at a time, and dredge to coat. In a large skillet, brown chops in oil on both sides. , Transfer to a 5-qt. slow cooker. Pour broth over chops. Cook, covered, on low for 2-3 hours or until meat is tender. , Remove pork to a serving plate and keep warm. Whisk remaining flour into cooking juices until smooth; cook, covered, on high until gravy is thickened.