Red Cooked Pork

Red- cooked dishes - meat or poultry, braised in rich, dark, aromatic mixtures of soy, wine and spices is famous in the Shanghai region of China. It differs from the Hokkien Tau Yue Bak, which uses a lot of garlic. When the meat is cooking, the aroma will fill the house and you can't wait for it to be ready. As in any kind of braised, it's better to made a day or two ahead.

Five pounds of meat might sounds a lot, but it shrinks at least by half. If there happens to be any pork belly left over, it's wonderful when diced or sliced and tossed in a stir-fry with green beans or fried rice.


Ingredients:

5 lbs skin-on pork belly, as lean as possible
1 whole bottle (24 1/2 oz) Shaoxing Wine
2 inch piece unpeeled fresh ginger, cut into 6 slices
1 cup regular soy sauce
2 chuck rock sugar or 3 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp dark soy sauce

Method:

Cut the pork into 1 1/2 inch cubes.

Put them in a large saucepan or enameled cast-iron casserole, and add water to cover the meat by 1 inch. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, decrease the heat to medium-heat to maintain a lively simmer, and cook until the foaming diminishes. Transfer the pork to a sieve or colander and rinse well with cold water. Discard the cooking liquid.

Rinse out the saucepan and add the pork, wine, ginger, and enough cold water to cover the meat by 2 inches. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, decrease the heat to maintain a low simmer, and cook until the pork seems slightly tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes.

Add 1 cup of the regular soy sauce, to cover the meat. Continue to cook until the meat is completely fork-tender, about 30 minutes longer.

Gently stir in the rock sugar and dark soy sauce until the sugar dissolves. Simmer more, or until the sauce is slightly thickened and shiny.

Serve hot with rice.

Serves