Sichuan Twice-Cooked Pork (Hui Guo Rou)

Sichuan Province — one of the three most iconic Sichuan dishes alongside mapo tofu and kung pao chicken

Hui guo rou: pork belly boiled until just cooked, sliced, then stir-fried in a wok with doubanjiang, douchi (black bean), leeks, and fermented sweet wheat paste. The name means 'returned-to-the-pot meat' — the pork is cooked twice: once by boiling, once by wok-frying. The second cooking caramelises the pork's fat and creates blistered, curl-shaped slices.

• Korean bossam (boiled then grilled pork belly)
• Japanese kakuni (braised then glazed pork)
• Italian porchetta (twice-transformed pork)

Rich, spicy, savoury, with caramelised pork fat, fermented depth, and aromatic leek sweetness