Recipe: Braised Pork Belly

Braised-Pork-Belly
 

Braised Pork Belly is a dish that every family makes in Shanghai. Growing up in CT, I never appreciated things like fatty pork so it’s not a dish my dad made. I learned to appreciate different cuisines after moving to NY and finally asked my dad to make braised pork belly. It’s a difficult dish so it took a while to convince him to make it… and even longer to convince him to give me a recipe.

Disclaimer: These measurements are approximations.

The recipe is from my dad and Asian parents never measure any ingredients! I would say to take the recipe as more of a suggestion and focus on the techniques! More explanations below the recipe. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

Blanching:

  • 2.5 lbs pork belly with skin (五花肉)

  • 2 oz. ginger, smashed

  • 3 whole scallions, tied into a knot

  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

Searing:

  • 1/2 tbsp oil

  • 2 oz ginger, smashed

  • 3 whole scallions, tied into a knot

Sauce:

  • 3 tbsp regular soy sauce

  • 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine

  • 1 piece Chinese cinnamon bark

  • 4 pieces star anise

  • 1 medium sized cube of Chinese rock sugar (approx. 2oz)

  • 1/2 tsp white pepper

  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

  • 1/4 tsp sesame oil

Method:

Blanching:

1. Place pork, ginger, and scallion in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Scrape bottom of the pot occasionally to prevent pork skin from sticking

2. Add the Shaoxing wine and reduce heat. Simmer for 1 hr

3. Remove pork, ginger and scallions from the blanching liquid and set aside the blanching liquid

4. Rinse pork in cold water to preserve shape. Toss out the blanched ginger and scallions

Searing:

5. Cut the pork into pieces that are about 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick (see picture above for reference)

6. Bring a nonstick pan to medium high heat and lightly oil

7. Add pork, ginger, and scallion.

8. Sear the pork on the two largest sides

Adding sauce:

9. Add soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, cinnamon, and star anise

10. Add enough blanching liquid to cover the pork

11. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low. Cover and simmer until you can poke a chopstick through the pork (approx. 1 hr)

12. Add rock sugar, white pepper, and dark soy sauce. Cover and simmer until sugar is dissolved (approx. 10 min.)

13. Uncover the pan and increase heat to medium high. Reduce until the sauce thickens and barely coats the pork, stirring occasionally to prevent burning

14. Remove aromatics (ginger, scallions, cinnamon, star anise)

15. Add sesame oil

16. Add salt or soy sauce to taste.

17. Remove from heat. Garnish with fresh green scallions

Recipe Notes:

  • You don’t initially cut the pork so that your pork pieces have a nice shape after cooking. If you cut the pieces before blanching, the top layer of fat will be wider than the bottom layer of meat, giving a trapezoid shape instead of rectangle.

  • Scallions and ginger are very important for cooking fatty meats! They freshen up the flavor of all the fat.

  • You rinse the pork after blanching to keep the shape. After the pork is rinsed, it’s much easier to cut the meat straight and smoothly.

  • When you sear the meat, you are rendering the fat. This is an important step to making the fat melt in your mouth.

 
Recipes, Cooking/BakingPeggy Chen