红烧肉 / Red Braised Pork Belly¶
🖼️Image¶
✒️About This Recipe¶
Red Braised Pork Belly is one of the most beloved dishes in Chinese cuisine. It highlights the classic Chinese cooking method of red braising (红烧), which imparts the dish’s signature vibrant color and rich flavor. In China, nearly every family knows how to prepare it.
Traditionally, pork belly (五花肉) is the go-to cut of meat for red braising. Though I once disliked it for its fatty layers, I came to appreciate how the silky fat and tender skin complement the lean meat—proving that “fat is flavor.”
While many versions feature only pork belly, countless regional variations incorporate additional local ingredients to create a hearty, one-pot meal. The most authentic way to savor Red Braised Pork Belly is with rice, allowing the grains to soak up the savory juices.
Achieving that signature red color hinges on caramelizing sugar. Some cooks substitute dark soy sauce (老抽) for color, but it’s essentially soy sauce with added caramel, and the result won’t look as good. Using caramel not only imparts the dish’s hue but also helps thicken and emulsify the sauce, preventing an oily or unappealing texture.
For maximum flavor, don’t skip the cooking wine. Its slight acidity counteracts the richness while allowing aromatic compounds to dissolve into water, fat, and alcohol. If pork belly is scarce at your local grocery store—common in places where it’s typically turned into bacon—you can always find fresh pork belly at Asian supermarkets.
🥦Ingredients¶
Pork belly [300 g - 500 g]
Fuzhu (optional)
Eggs (optional)
Daikon (optional)
Bamboo shoots (optional)
Cowpea (optional)
Shaoxing wine [200 ml]
Sugar [20 g]
🧂Seasoning¶
Plum sauce (optional)
Ginger [5 g]
Star anise [2]
Cinnamon [1]
Bay leaves [2]
Cloves [3]
White pepper [1 tsp]
🔢Directions¶
If using bamboo shoots, blanch and stir in a hot pan to dry
If using cowpea, dry in the oven
If using fuzhu, reconstitute and stir in a hot pan to dry
If using eggs, boil and peel
If using daikon, peel, cut, and blanch if needed
Cut pork belly into cubes
Boil a pan full of water and add pork belly to quickly cook the outside
In a pan, make caramel with sugar and a dash of cooking oil, when brown and bubbling, immediately add hot water and shaoxing wine
Bring to a boil, then to the pan, add all seasoning and let boil for a few minutes
With a pressure cooker, cook pork belly (and optionally eggs and daikon) in the sauce for 30 minutes
Separate the sauce and reduce to the right consistency (add plum sauce at the end if a sweet taste is desirable)
Mix pork belly (and other ingredients if any) and the sauce
Plate, garnish with green onions, and serve