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Red Braised Pork Belly
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Perfect Red Braised Pork Belly

Everyone loves Red Braised Pork Belly; it really is irresistible. The ingredients are simple, just pork, sugar and soy sauce, but making it is not as easy as it sounds.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 2 hours
Servings 2

Ingredients

  • 500 g pork belly
  • 20 ml dark soy sauce
  • 20 ml cooking wine
  • 1 dried chilli pepper
  • 1 cm piece cinnamon stick Do not use cinnamon powder as it will blacken the mixture and give a different taste to the final product.
  • 1 x 2-3 cm square ginger sliced
  • 25 g green onion cut into 5-6 cm long sections
  • 30 g sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt about 3-4 g
  • 4-5 star anise
  • 10 ml peanut oil

Instructions

  • Firstly, gather all the ingredients and have them at the ready so you are not interrupted during the cooking phase. Pausing in the middle of the cooking will affect the flavor.
  • Secondly, the pork must be pretreated. Traditionally at least three kinds of treatment are applied: deep frying, boiling in water and stir-frying. You could also try the Western method of shallow frying by preheating the pan for 90 seconds and cooking in a small amount of oil in a frying pan.
  • In a non-stick pan, fry the four sides of the pork pieces only, (not the top fatty side or the lean bottom side, otherwise the meat may lose its shape), until they are golden brown. Frying this way removes some of the fat, and the caramelization of the pork will add flavor to the stock.
  • Gently turn the meat using silicone tongs to help protect the shape of the pieces. Remove the pork from the pan and place onto a plate. Cover with foil to keep warm.
  • The third step is to ‘candy’ the pork. The ‘red’ color is produced from the color of the caramelized sugar. Sugar caramelizes at 170 degrees Celsius.
  • First pour 10 g of peanut oil inside the saucepan and then pour 30 g of sugar over it. The role of the peanut oil acts as a thermal conductor and accelerates the melting process of the sugar.
  • Heat on high until the sugar gradually melts and turns a golden yellow.
  • At this point you need to turn the stove down to a minimum.
  • Caramel discoloration happens very quickly, in a matter of seconds, so you need to keep a constant eye on it.
  • Wait until the sugar turns reddish brown, and then remove the pot from the stove.
  • Using tongs, carefully add the prepared pork pieces, turning gently to coat in the caramel. Do this in batches: if you put all the meat in at once the meat juices mixed with hot sugar will spatter. Two things are important here: keep the shape of the pork, and avoid hot juices spattering.
  • The fourth step is to stew the pork. Place the chopped onion, ginger, star anise, cinnamon and 20 ml of soy sauce to the saucepan and toss to combine evenly.
  • Then add 20 ml of cooking wine and a dried chilli pepper. Stir fry evenly.
  • Finally pour in the boiling water, making sure to pour it on the sides of the pot not directly on the meat, or the candy will be washed off the pork pieces.
  • Fill to about 3/4 of the height of the meat and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt (3-4 g). For the pork, as Su Dongpo said, there should be less water than pork. If the pot lid fits tightly, no more water is needed as all moisture will be retained. A poorly fitting lid will cause the pork to dry out.
  • After it has come to the boil, immediately transfer the pot to the smallest hotplate on the lowest setting. Simmer for about 90 minutes.
  • The fifth step is to reduce the pan juices. Strain the juices into a heatproof jug to remove the spices.
  • There will be a layer of oil on the surface of the pan juices, which is neither healthy nor delicious, so we need to skim it off.
  • Pour the remaining liquid into a pan and heat.
  • The liquid contains a lot of pork skin precipitation and needs to be reduced. Gently simmer until it reduces to the point that when you run a spatula through it, it will separate long enough to see the bottom of the pan.
  • Once the liquid has reached this syrupy state, turn off the stove, and transfer the pork from the saucepan to this pan. Gently toss to coat.