Chinese Braised Pork Belly

This dish is called red-cooked pork, or hong shao rou 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. Serve on steamed buns (such as Andrea’s Steamed Buns on this site).

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.

Nutrition Facts

279	Calories
17g	Fat
16g	Carbs
15g	Protein