P
Chinese · Fujian Province
Fujian Braised Pork with Fermented Red Rice (Red Wine Pork)
A traditional Fujian preparation using hong qu (red yeast rice) — rice fermented with Monascus purpureus fungi — as both colouring agent and flavour contributor. The red-crimson pork belly braise is defined by its vivid colour and the deep, slightly funky complexity of the fermented red rice. Different from similar-looking Cantonese dishes: Fujian version uses a true red rice paste, not just colouring.
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I
The Market List
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1 kg
pork belly
skin on, cut into 4–5 cm pieces
Your own market
60 g
hong qu (red yeast rice) paste
fermented red rice paste; powder may substitute but paste preferred for intensity
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
60 ml
Shaoxing wine
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
30 ml
soy sauce
25 g
600 ml
water
or as needed to barely cover pork
Your own market
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II
The Method
1
Place the pork belly pieces in a pot of cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold running water. The surface should be visibly clean and the cut edges no longer pink.
2
Return the pot to medium-high heat with a film of oil. Add the blanched pork pieces and brown briefly on all sides until the skin begins to colour and the fat takes on a little golden tone. The fat will begin to render and hiss.
3
Add the hong qu paste, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, rock sugar, and enough water to barely cover the pork. Stir to combine, ensuring the paste dissolves into the liquid and the pork is evenly coated. The braising liquid should be a deep, opaque crimson from the outset. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies: insufficient time in the braise, or treatment of the hong qu as mere colouring rather than a fermentation product with its own flavour, will produce pork that is pallid and flat. Bring to the boil, then reduce to the lowest possible simmer, cover, and braise for a minimum of 2 hours — the pork must absorb the crimson colour and funky, fermented character throughout its interior.
4
Uncover and raise the heat to medium. Reduce the sauce for approximately 15 minutes, turning the pork occasionally. The sauce is ready when it coats the pork thickly but remains pourable — it should fall slowly from a spoon in a continuous ribbon, not set solid on the pork's surface.
5
Taste the sauce: it should carry deep fermented savour, sweetness from the rock sugar, and the wine aromatic of the Shaoxing. Adjust with a small measure of soy sauce if required. Serve immediately with steamed white rice or mantou to absorb the sauce, or refrigerate overnight and reheat — the colour and flavour deepen considerably the following day.
From the canon — Mantou (馒头) are plain, unfilled steamed buns — the staple bread of northern China where wheat is the primary grain, just as rice is the primary grain of sout… Mantou (馒头) — Plain Steamed Bun: The Northern Staple →
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Hong qu niang (red yeast rice wine) used in place of or alongside plain Shaoxing wine, adding a second fermentation layer; free-range pork belly from a heritage breed, skin supple and fat well-distributed.
02
Estate — Fresh-made or artisan hong qu paste sourced from a Fujian supplier; good-quality aged Shaoxing wine; pork belly with a clear alternation of fat and lean.
03
Market — Standard hong qu paste from a Chinese grocer; commercially bottled Shaoxing cooking wine; supermarket pork belly, skin on.
04
House — Red fermented tofu (nan ru) used as a partial substitute for hong qu paste where the paste is unavailable; hong qu powder in lieu of paste, noting the reduction in fermented intensity.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. Braising liquid is a deep, opaque crimson from the moment the hong qu dissolves; after two hours the pork flesh shows the same crimson penetrating to the centre when a piece is cut.
◇Sight. Reduced sauce coats the back of a spoon and falls in a slow, thick ribbon — neither watery nor set solid.
◇Smell. The braise releases a funky, slightly fruity fermented aroma layered over sweet-savoury pork and Shaoxing wine throughout the long simmer.
◇Touch. Pork pieces yield without resistance when pressed with chopsticks or a spoon; the skin is completely tender, not gelatinous but not chewy.
◇Where it lives or dies. The hong qu paste must be treated as a fermentation product with its own distinct flavour, not a colouring agent, and the braise must run a full two hours or more so that the crimson colour and fermented complexity penetrate the pork entirely.
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VI
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