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In China, the most loved pork dish has to be Hong Shao Rou (红烧肉), pork belly braised in a red, sweet, and savory sauce until it is gelatinous and melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Among the wide varieties of this dish from all over China, there are many different approaches to cooking it. The recipe I share is the Cantonese style. We like to season the pork with red fermented bean curd to provide a distinctive flavor. I always enjoy trying new things when I cook, so I tried adding black tea to the dish. It did a fantastic job of reducing the greasy taste of the pork belly.

Ingredients

907g / 2 pounds skin-on pork belly
75g / 6 Tbsps sugar
38g / about 2.5 inches of ginger, sliced thinly
60g / about 4 scallions, cut into 3-inch stalks
15g / about 5 cloves garlic
0.8g / about 1 star anise (Amazon Link –
2.5g / about 1 cinnamon stick (Amazon Link –
75g / ⅓ cup Chinese cooking wine (Amazon Link –
50g / 3 Tbsps soy sauce (Amazon Link –
18g / 1 Tbsp oyster sauce (Amazon Link –
20g / about 2 pieces fermented bean curd (Amazon Link –
16.5g / 1 Tbsp fermented bean curd juice
480 – 720g / 2-3 cups water
2 black tea bags or 5g loose tea

Instructions

Cut the pork belly into 1.5-inch cubes. Add the pork belly to a big stock pot and fill it with water. Then bring it to a boil over medium heat.

Use a fine sieve to remove the foamy scum floating in the water. Take the pork belly out of the water and let it drain on the side completely.

While the pork is draining, prepare the garlic cloves, ginger slices, scallion stalks, star anise, and cinnamon stick. Having these ingredients beforehand avoids rummaging around while caramelizing the sugar.

Add the pork to a wok and stir over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until 1-2 Tbsps fat has been rendered out.

Remove the pork from the wok but leave the oil behind. Please clean any residue left from rendering the pork fat; otherwise, it will burn while caramelizing the sugar and bring a bitter taste.

Add the sugar to the wok and stir over low heat for about 3-4 minutes or until it is caramelized.

Wait until the caramelized sugar starts producing foamy bubbles, and then quickly toss in the garlic cloves, ginger slices, scallions stalks, star anise, and cinnamon stick. Stir for 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Add the pork belly back into the wok. Pour the Chinese cooking wine from the side of the wok and stir to evaporate the alcohol.

Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, fermented bean curd, and the juice from the fermented bean curd jar and stir until well combined.

Transfer everything into a clay pot. If you don’t have a clay pot, use a heavy-duty stock pot or a Dutch oven.

Rinse the wok with 2-3 cups of water and pour it into the clay pot. The water amount depends on your cookware and your stove. Please make sure all ingredients are fully immersed and arrange the pork belly skin side down, which helps the skin get the desired red color.

Turn the heat to low and simmer the pork belly for 1.5 hours or until tender. Please check the liquid level occasionally. If the water is evaporating too fast, add hot water; do not add cold water.

Five minutes before the pork is done, add two tea bags and continue to simmer over low heat for 3-5 minutes. If using loose tea, please put it in a spice bag so it doesn’t distribute everywhere.

Taste the broth and remove the tea bags before the broth becomes too bitter. Discard all the aromatics and spices.

Turn the heat to high and constantly stir to reduce the broth until it becomes a thick and syrupy sauce. Be aware that collagen-rich sauce bubbles a lot while reducing, which makes it look like there’s more sauce than there is. Please don’t over-reduce the sauce; otherwise, the pork will be dry, and the flavor will be bitter.

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