Super Delicious Braised Pork Belly (Dong Po Rou 東坡肉)

Dong Po Rou is a well known dish from the Jiangsu & Zhejiang provinces. It’s made with pork belly. Half fat, and half lean meat. When you eat it, it’s instantly melt in your mouth, and with a taste of shaoxing wine. According to the legend, this dish is created by Su Dong Po, a Song Dynasty well known writer.

2 pounds of pork belly
1 bunch of scallions
1 thumb of sliced ginger
1/4 of a cup of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
1/2 of a cup of shaoxing wine
3 cups of water
1/2 of a cup of brown sugar

First, scape the surface of the skin with a knife to remove anything that might be on it.

Then in a pan, turn up the heat, and dry fry the skin to clean its surface and to burn its hair. Do this until it turns brown. (When I first tested this recipe, I didn’t know how to clean out its hair. I tried to use a razor and it still didn’t work very well. So of course, I went to my shifu. And he taught me this eyes popping technique that I can’t find anywhere else.)

Take out the pork belly and scape the skin again to remove anything that might still be on it.

In the same pan, put the pork belly and cold water in it. Turn up the heat and boil it for 10 minutes. (Tip: we put the pork belly in cold water and boil it because by doing so, it will fully release the gamey taste inside out. If we use hot water to boil the pork belly, then the surface of the pork belly will cook immediate, so it won’t release its grainy taste.)

While the pork belly is boiling the pan, in a clay pot, add 1 bamboo plate on the bottom to prevent the pork belly from sticking to the pot while cooking. Also add 1 bunch of scallions and 1 thumb of sliced ginger. (When I first tried this recipe, I burned the skin, so of course, my shifu showed me that I can use bamboo plate on the bottom to prevent burning.)

After 10 minutes, take the pork belly out and raise it with cold water. Cut it into 4 to 6 cubes. And tight it up with a cooking string. (Tip: by doing so, the pork belly will stay in one piece while cooking later.) Then place the pork belly in the clay pot with the skin facing up. Add 1/4 of a cup of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce, 1/2 of a cup of shaoxing wine, 3 cups of water.

In a small pot, add 6 tablespoons of water and 1/2 of a cup of brown sugar. Cook until they become syrup. This is where the red roast color coming from. Then pour in the clay pot.

Put the clay pot on a stove and turn to high heat until boiled. Turn to low heat and cook for 1 hour. After 1 hour, turn the port belly upside down. And cook for another 30 minutes.

Put the clay pot in a steamer, turn the pork belly skin face up again, and steam for 1 and 30 minutes in high heat.

Put the clay pot back on the stove and use high heat to thickening the sauce for about 20 minutes.