Hui guo rou — "returned to the wok meat" — requires pork belly to be cooked twice: first simmered whole until just cooked through, then sliced thin and stir-fried in the wok with the characteristically Sichuan combination of doubanjiang, sweet bean paste, and leek. The first cook produces a tender, evenly-cooked pork; the second cook produces the rendered, slightly crispy, intensely flavoured result impossible to achieve if the pork were raw-fried.
- **The first cook:** Whole piece of pork belly (skin-on) simmered in water with ginger and Shaoxing wine until just cooked through — a skewer inserted at the thickest point should meet no resistance. Removed and allowed to cool completely. - **The slice:** Cold (refrigerated pork slices cleanest) — approximately 3–4mm thick, cut to expose a cross-section of skin, fat, and lean. - **The second cook — wok technique:** 1. No oil initially — the pork slices laid in a cold wok and heat raised. The fat renders out of the pork as the wok heats. 2. When the pork begins to curl and the fat layer becomes slightly translucent: the doubanjiang is added — it fries in the pork's rendered fat. 3. Sweet bean paste (tian mian jiang) added. 4. Shaoxing wine added at the wok edge. 5. Sliced leek or garlic shoots — added and tossed at high heat for 30 seconds. - **The leek/garlic shoots:** Not onion, not spring onion — the specific flat garlic shoot (suan miao) is traditional. Its combination of garlic flavour and leek texture is the correct counterpoint to the richly flavoured pork. Decisive moment: The pork curl during the second cook. As the fat renders from the pork slices, each slice curls slightly at the edges — this visual cue indicates the fat has rendered sufficiently and the doubanjiang should be added immediately.
Dunlop