Betty Liu’s Mom’s Shanghai Red-Braised Pork Belly
When we first got our hands on Betty Liu’s 2020 book, My Shanghai: Recipes and Stories from a City on the Water, it fell open to her recipe for her mother’s Shanghai red-braised pork belly. “If there is one dish that represents Shanghai cuisine, this is the one,” began the headnote. “Perhaps my favorite recipe in this entire book, this recipe holds a dear place in my heart.” Sold! It’s the first recipe we made, and it’s a great one.
Liu points out that a mix of light and dark soy sauce is necessary to achieve the right flavor, adding that if it’s too salty or sweet, you can add more sugar or soy sauce to compensate. It needs to cook for at least 3 hours. Liu’s directions suggested either leaving it in the wok for the long braise, or transferring it to a Dutch oven or clay pot. We used a clay pot with excellent results. Serve it with white rice.
Makes 4 servings.
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds (680 g) boneless pork belly
2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil, such as canola or grapeseed oil
4 tablespoons (60g) rock sugar — 2 tablespoons finely crushed with a mortar and pestle, 2 tablespoons left whole
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 cup (240 ml) chicken broth
1/4 cup (60 ml) light soy sauce
1/4 cup (60 ml) Shaoxing wine
3 whole star anise
2 thin slices peeled fresh ginger
4 scallions — 3 cut into 2-inch (5-cm) segments, and 1 chopped
Cooked white rice for serving
Instructions
1. Fill a large pot with a few inches of water (enough to cover the pork belly once you add it) and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the pork belly and boil it for 3 minutes in order to remove impurities from the meat. Drain and set aside to cool. When it’s cool enough to handle, cut the meat into 1 1/2-inch (4 cm) cubes.
2. Place a well-seasoned wok over low heat, add the oil and heat until wisps of smoke appear. Add the crushed rock sugar and stir until the sugar melts completely.
3. Next brown the pork belly, working in two batches if necessary and being careful not to stand too close in case water on the pork pops in the oil. Turn up the heat to medium, gently add the pork belly cubes, and brown, stirring only occasionally, so it has a chance to get nice and brown on each side. Add the dark soy sauce and fry for one more minute.
4. Transfer the saucy pork to a Dutch oven or clay pot, and add the chicken broth, light soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, remaining rock sugar, star anise, ginger slices and scallion segment. The mixture should come three-quarters of the way up the side of the mound of pork; if it doesn’t, add more chicken broth or water as necessary. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat as low as possible, cover it partially and simmer for at least 3 hours, stirring it now and then so it doesn’t stick, until it’s very tender. Add water or chicken broth as necessary; there should always be some liquid in the pot. You’ll know it’s ready when you can easily insert a chopstick in a pork cube.
5. When you’re almost ready to serve it, remove the lid, turn the heat to high and boil until the braising liquid is reduced to a thick, dark, glistening sauce coating the pork belly. Garnish with the chopped scallions and serve with white rice.