红烧肉 – Chinese Braised Pork – Recipe

This dish is called red-cooked pork, or 红烧肉 (hóng shǎo ròu) in Mandarin. It’s delicious served on steamed buns or over rice. Caramelized sugar, star anise, and sherry give the braising liquid a complex flavor, and a combination of soy sauce and molasses gives the finished sauce its rich, mahogany color.

Hungry now? Let’s learn how to cook this delices dish.

Ingredients:

3 pounds skinless pork belly

1 tablespoon canola oil

⅓ cup white sugar

2 tablespoons white sugar

4 cups water, or more if needed

5 large green onions, diagonally cut into 2-inch pieces

8 cloves garlic, smashed

½ cup fino dry sherry

½ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons dark molasses

8 whole star anise

1 cucumber, thinly sliced

1 green onion, thinly sliced

 

Directions

Step 1:

Cut pork into eight 2×3-inch pieces.

Step 2:

Heat oil in a 6-quart Dutch oven over high heat. In 2 batches, sear pork, fat sides first, until light golden, 30 to 60 seconds per side. Transfer to a plate. Pour out all but 1 to 2 tablespoons of the drippings.

Step 3:

Add 1/3 cup sugar to pot; melt, stirring if needed, over medium-high heat. Cook until a light caramel color, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium, then return pork to pot, turning pieces to coat. When sugar darkens to an orange color, after about 1 minute, add water; stir to loosen any sugar stuck to the bottom.

Step 4:

Add green onions, garlic, sherry, soy sauce, molasses, star anise, and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. If needed, add up to 1/2 cup additional water to nearly cover pork. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, turning occasionally, until a knife inserted 1/4 inch into the fat layer meets little resistance, about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Step 5:

Transfer pork to a plate with a slotted spoon; loosely cover. Skim fat and drain solids from cooking liquid. Return 4 cups liquid to pot and bring to a boil; simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to about 1 cup, about 30 minutes. Sauce will thicken more as it cools.

Step 6:

Slice pork into twenty-four 1/2-inch-thick pieces. Working in batches, warm pork with half the sauce in a large nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Turn pork frequently to coat and, if desired, let sear slightly. Garnish with cucumber slices and sliced green onion.

Enjoy!


Post time: Mar-30-2020