Hong Shao Rou (Red-Braised Pork Belly)

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork belly, in one piece, skin on
• For the braise
• 30 ml light soy sauce
• 30 ml dark soy sauce
• 60 ml Shaoxing wine
• 60 g rock sugar, broken into small pieces
• 2 star anise
• 1 cassia stick
• 1 dried tangerine peel
• For the Hunan addition (optional)
• 3–4 dried red chillies, whole
• 15 g fermented black beans (douchi)
• 1 tsp neutral oil, for skin frying

Method

1. 1
   Place the pork belly in one piece in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Remove the belly, discard the water, and rinse the meat thoroughly under cold running water. The water should run clear and the surface of the meat should be clean of grey impurities.
2. 2
   Dry the blanched belly thoroughly. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan over high heat and place the belly skin-side down. Fry until the skin is lightly coloured with initial Maillard development — a pale golden-brown that will deepen substantially during the braise.
3. 3
   Cut the belly into 4–5 cm squares, each piece retaining its skin. Arrange the pieces in a single braising vessel, skin-side down.
4. 4
   Add the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, rock sugar, star anise, cassia stick, and dried tangerine peel. For the Hunan version, add the dried chillies and fermented black beans at this stage. Pour in enough water to nearly submerge the pieces. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and braise over low heat for 1 hour 30 minutes. This is where the dish lives or dies: at 1 hour the skin will still resist a chopstick pressed perpendicular to its surface; at 1 hour 30 minutes the tip should sink through with almost no resistance and the skin should spring back slowly — the collagen-to-gelatin conversion is complete. If the skin resists noticeably at 1 hour 30 minutes, cover and continue braising, testing at 15-minute intervals.
5. 5
   Remove the lid and increase the heat to medium. Reduce the braising liquid, turning the pieces occasionally, for 20–30 minutes. The dish is ready when the skin surface carries a thin, clinging lacquer of deep reddish-brown that reflects light with a glossy sheen, and the fat layer beneath the skin is visibly trembling — too soft to hold its shape under its own weight.
6. 6
   Taste the sauce. The rock sugar's caramel sweetness should be present but not dominant; the savouriness of the soy and Shaoxing wine should provide structure. Adjust only if the balance is plainly wrong. Serve the pieces skin-side up with their sauce spooned over.