Hung Shao (红烧) — Red Braising: The Architecture of the Master Braise

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Hong shao (红烧, literally red braising) is the foundational braising technique of Chinese cooking — protein slow-cooked in a combination of soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, rock sugar, and aromatics until the meat is tender, the collagen has dissolved into gelatin, and the sauce has reduced to a glossy, lacquer-like coating. The 'red' refers to the deep mahogany-red colour of the dark soy-caramelised sauce, not to chilli or tomato. Hong shao appears in every regional Chinese cuisine (the Jiangnan version with more rock sugar; the Hunan version with dried chilli; the Sichuan version with doubanjiang) but its principles are constant.

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