Shanxi Pork with Vinegar (Cu Liu Li Ji) — Shanxi Vinegar Application

Ingredients

• For the velvet marinade
• 400 g pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• For the sauce
• 60 ml Shanxi chen cu (aged vinegar), Donghu or Hengshun imported; majority component of sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cornstarch, mixed with 2 tbsp cold water to form slurry
• 2 tbsp neutral oil, for stir-frying

Method

1. 1
   Combine the pork strips with the egg white and cornstarch. Work the mixture into the meat with the fingers until every strip is evenly coated. Rest for 15 minutes. The surface should feel tacky and slightly stiff — that resistance is the velvet coat set.
2. 2
   Whisk together the chen cu, soy sauce and sugar in a small bowl. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the same bowl. Taste the sauce raw: it should read almost aggressively vinegary at this stage. The heat, fat and pork will moderate it.
3. 3
   Heat the wok over the highest available flame until it smokes. Add the oil and swirl to coat. Lay in the pork strips in a single layer and fry without moving for 20 seconds, then toss once. Total frying time must not exceed 45 seconds. This is where the dish lives or dies: ten seconds past done and the tenderloin is dry and stringy beyond rescue. Remove the pork the moment the strips turn opaque and just white through.
4. 4
   Pour the sauce mixture into the still-hot wok. It will bubble immediately. Stir constantly for no more than 15 seconds — long heat drives off the volatile aromatics that make aged vinegar complex. The sauce is ready when it thickens just enough to coat the back of a spoon and clings without pooling.
5. 5
   Return the pork to the wok, toss once to coat every strip, and plate immediately. The finished dish should carry a bright, forward acidity with perceptible malty depth; the sauce film should be glossy and thin, not viscous.