红烧肉: Shanghai-Style Braised Pork Belly Recipe

 

I started blogging a little over 10 years ago while studying abroad. I was cooking for myself, and writing about recipes that I had enjoyed, though those labour-intensive dishes that I was writing about were not my daily fare. My usual dinners are often simple affairs: often oven-baked meats marinated with Lee Kum Kee sauces or with dry rubs for a quick meal that can be put together within half an hour. And my packed lunches for school were even more fuss-free. One of my schoolmates, after she got to know me better and herself an avid baker, one day exclaimed in astonishment that all I seem to be having for lunch every day was a tuna sandwich. Quick oven roasted meats and sandwiches are not glamourous or particularly exciting, but when there are exams to study for,  work to complete, a house to clean and laundry to be done, it was simply what most of us students did back then. 

This wasn’t to say that we ate poorly, or that we didn’t know our way around a kitchen. To the contrary, I had gotten quite comfortable cooking for myself and for other people. And when there are pretty girls to impress, I did quite well. (That’s  a story for another time, but I’ll say that as general dating advice, spending a lot of time to make one complicated dish is far less impressive than being able to whip up an impromptu meal, complete with sides, using ingredients at home and without having to search for help online.) 

Of course, I love to try out new recipes, and there’s no better time than to do it with friends. Once a week, we would gather to cook together, which was an event to eat communally and share what we had made (so we can bask in the glory of a delicious dish, or lessen the blow of any unsuccessful attempts). 

At that point in time, it’s hard to find a good Chinese recipe on the English-speaking part of the internet. Nowadays at least, I’m so grateful to see blogs like The Woks of Life, publishing well made recipes for everybody to learn from and to do. Is this a simple, easy to cook recipe?  Looking through the lens of my old college self, it’s a magnitude of effort higher than what I would do as daily cooking for one. (Or even for a date night, because the hour that you had spent over the stove would be better spent focusing on your date...) This recipe falls around the threshold for a weekly potluck, for occasions when there are people around to share this fantastic dish.

Shanghai-Style Braised Pork Belly (红烧肉)

For 5-6 pax
Adapted from The Woks of Life

INGREDIENTS
800g lean, skin-on pork belly, cut into 3/4-inch 
4 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons rock sugar (alternatively, 30g granulated sugar)
6 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
4 cups water, plus more for blanching the pork

STEPS
1. In a large wok filled with boiling water and set over medium heat, add the pork belly slices. Simmer the pork for a couple minutes and allow the scum to form. Remove the pork from the wok and pour away the water and any accumulated scum.

2. Return the wok to the stove set on low heat. Add oil and sugar to your wok, until the sugar melts. Add the pork slices back in, and increase the heat to medium. Cook until the pork is lightly browned on all sides.

3. Reduce the heat back to low. Add regular soy sauce to the side of the wok, allowing it to boil off slightly before incorporating it with the meat. Then add dark soy sauce, and then the shaoxing cooking wine, before deglazing with wok with water. 

4. Cover the wok with a lid and simmer over low-medium heat for about an hour, until a fork pierces the meat with little resistance. Stir occasionally every 10 minutes or so to prevent burning, and a little more frequent towards the end of the cooking. 

5. To make the glaze: Uncover the wok, increase the heat to medium-high and stir continuously until the braising liquid has reduced to a glaze that coats the pork. Remove from heat and serve immediately.