Cook this
The working recipe — the Market List, the Method, and where it lives or dies
I
Origin
Not yet written for this entry.
II
Description
Dongpo rou (东坡肉) is named for the Song Dynasty poet-official Su Dongpo (Su Shi), who is credited with its creation during his governorship of Hangzhou — a preparation of pork belly slow-braised for 3 hours in a tightly sealed pot with Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, rock sugar, and aromatics, until the pork is so tender that it yields at the gentlest pressure of a chopstick while retaining its shape. The skin must be silkily gelatinous, the fat must be meltingly soft and sweet, and the lean meat must remain moist and flavourful despite its long cooking. It is the defining preparation of Jiangnan red cooking.
III
The Thread
—French porc au caramel — slow-braised pork with caramel and fish sauce — is the closest parallel in its sweet, deeply savoury, gelatinous-braised result
—Italian brasato al barolo applies the same long-braise principle to beef with wine
IV
Flavour Context
Not yet written for this entry.
Pillars V — VII
The full training pages are part of membership.
Quality hierarchy, sensory tests, and where the dish lives or dies — on every entry in the Library.
Enter · from $49 a year