Red-cooked pork gave me Snape's hair

[dolorous_ett]

I've got Snape's hair!

Which is not to say that the poor man is wandering about bald, or that my normally light brown hair has suddenly gone black, or indefinably sinister and intriguing. But I have the same hair problem today, for the same reason. Sticky, and while not really dirty, it feels unpleasant.

Today I fulfill a long-standing promise to cook a friend a really nice Chinese meal in exchange for a huge favour she did me a good while ago. I decided to do my best dish, which is hong shao rou - red-cooked belly pork (I tried to put in swanky Chinese characters but my computer was having none of it. Imagine your favourite tacky Fengshui candle instead), which simmers subtly for hours and hours. The first hour it looks and smells like a rather horrid watery stew, but if you leave it long enough the meat softens and the sauce goes delightfully gooey. The process takes forever, though, and I'm always worried it won't thicken. Hence the incessant stirring and peering, and hence the Snape hair.

And I can't have a shower and wash it all away till late this afternoon, I've had the plumber in and I'm waiting for sealant to harden. I am starting to have another insight into why the man is so crabby all the time.

To fill in the time until I can wash that sauce right out of my hair, here's the recipe for red-cooked pork. If you're not paranoid and don't keep leaning over it, it won't even give you greasy hair.

You will need
500g belly pork, with the skin attached but the bones removed
500ml of meat stock (boiling water will do if you haven't got any real stock)
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of Shaoxing rice wine (cooking sherry will do)
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
0.5-1 star anise (you can get this from Chinese supermarkets. For the best stuff you only need half a star anise, but if they don't seem super fresh, you'll need a whole one.)
30-40g root ginger, whole but squashed with the flat of your cleaver
3 spring onions, cut in 1-2cm pieces
3/4 teaspoon salt
oil for frying

1. Cut pork into 1-cm chunks, in such a way that there's a good distribution of fat, rind and lean in each chunk.
2. Heat the oil, and fry the chunks of pork for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to the boil, leave half-covered or uncovered and set to simmer over a low flame for about 2 hours, until the remaining liquid starts to become sticky. It may take a bit longer than 2 hours if you've been over-generous with the liquid.

Serve with rice, and vegetables of choice. It melts in the mouth, but it's very rich, oily and sweet, so you'll definitely need the rice.

Comments

[bufo-viridis.livejournal.com]

A version with spareribs:
The ingredients stay mostly the same, only you need a thin strip of spareribs, lean. The bones shouldn't be longer than 2 in.

1. Cut the ribs into separate pieces 1 rib=1piece
2. Bring the oil to boil. Add sugar, let it melt and partially carmelize.
3. Drop the ribs, and stir-fry them, so each one is coated with sugar AND fried brown.
4. Pour the rest of ingredients. Simmer as above.

Yummy!

Notes: thanks to frying and simmering, the ribs are de-fattened (the gravy is a-fattened, but you may not eat it... if you're moron, that is. Sorry, Pavonis, that's to Too-Picky-Audience, not you!
The meat will peel from the rib easily, so it can be eaten with chopsticks. The host doesn't need to provide a dish for bones, if he doesn't have a carpet.
One may add some Sichuan pepper (huajiao or Zanthoxylum bungeanum; I hope the link will work) or red pepper for hotter version. And not forget MSG (YES!).

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Yummy indeed! I always wondered how the ribs ended up both crispy and brown.

There's another version of this dish that involves beef instead of pork, plus turnips (or potatoes) - and that's made with a chilli bean sauce and is spicy - but I've not tried that yet.

the gravy is a-fattened, but you may not eat it... if you're moron, that is

As to the pork fat thing, I completely agree with you - it's the pork fat that gives things that extra-tasty goodness. Where I lived in China, pork was used as a seasoning as much as for protein.

And yay for MSG! I like to irritate foodies by pointing out that if you want to make authentic, home-style food just like the real Chinese make it, then MSG is a must-have. Never fails to cause offense!

[bufo-viridis.livejournal.com]

There's another version of this dish that involves beef instead of pork, plus turnips (or potatoes) - and that's made with a chilli bean sauce and is spicy - but I've not tried that yet.

Hong shao niurou, yum...When I had it first time, it was in Sichuan. It was a restaurant fare, so the sauce was a bit watery, reddish brown from chili. The bowl with veggies and meat was full of this hot sauce and the surface of the liquid and anything which was above of the surface was covered 3-4 mm thick layer of chili powder.

Must say it rates high on the list of the spicest dishes I've ever tried. We shared it with a friend - the third one in company chickened out!

The joys of weijin (MSG)... I don't use it in home-cooking, since I usually use broth made of cube and quite a lot of soy-sauce, which both contain a fair dose of MSG. But they like it, that's true. Although I was always curious how does the ingredient, supposed to heighten the tastes work, if you use so much of it that your tongue is tickling and half-numb?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Yummy! *slaver* *drool*

Though when in Sichuan I always go for shui zhu rou - I just love the way it's one of the hottest dinners on the menu in Sichuan but the Chinese means "meat in boiled water".

I see you've friended me, by the way. I'm going over now to friend you back - just in case you ever get the urge to actually write something in your journal...

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

... which you just have. *headdesk*