The Art of Perfect Braised Pork

China’s most cooked “it”, it definitely has the right to be on the table, it will be on the table when the kids come home from vacation, it’s – “Braised Pork”.

Why don’t you order braised pork in a restaurant?

I have been a chef in Zhejiang for 10 years. It is strange that almost no one orders braised pork alone. They prefer to cook it at home rather than order it in a restaurant.
I think the most important reason is that each family has different requirements for it. Even if we divide it into different regions, there are different methods, such as controlling the fat, sugar and ginger, and it is impossible to judge whether the provided ingredients are fresh.

Where did braised pork come from?

The history of braised pork can be traced back to the 5th century AD. Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty recorded the specific method of braised pork in “Qimin Yaoshu”.
Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty wrote a poem, “Pork Ode,” when he was demoted to Huangzhou. It not only recorded the method of braised pork in detail, but also brought braised pork to the table of literati and poets, making “Dongpo Pork” famous all over the country.

Moderate consumption of braised pork belly

Braised pork belly is a high-fat, high-calorie food, and excessive consumption may lead to symptoms of “internal heat” . Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) holds that rich, greasy, and heavy foods tend to generate damp-heat in the body, and long-term intake may trigger symptoms of “deficiency fire”or “excess fire”, such as dry mouth, sore throat, and swollen gums. From a modern medical perspective, a high-fat diet can burden the digestive system and potentially induce inflammatory responses.

The main ingredient of braised pork belly, pork, is rich in saturated fatty acids, while the sugar and soy sauce added during cooking further increase the dish’s caloric content. In TCM theory, such ingredients are considered warm in nature, and when combined with spicy seasonings, they can more easily aggravate internal heat. For individuals with a heat-prone or yin-deficient constitution , frequent consumption may disrupt the body’s yin-yang balance, leading to heat-related symptoms such as constipation or acne. However, moderate consumption paired with heat-clearing ingredients like radish or lotus root can help neutralize its warming properties.

Characteristics of the dish

Braised pork has a bright red color, soft and glutinous taste, fat but not greasy, sweet and soft, rich in nutrition, and melts in the mouth.
The main ingredient is pork belly, which can also be replaced by pork hind legs. It is best to use three-layer meat with fat and lean meat.
The main cooking pot is a casserole, so the meat cooked in this way is fat and lean, fat but not greasy, sweet and soft, and melts in the mouth.

Which part of the pig should be selected for braised pork?

It can become the “popular king” on the table. It has very high requirements for the selection of meat. Too lean meat is not suitable for braised pork, and too fat meat is too greasy to eat.

Proper fat-lean ratio

The most classic part of braised pork is pork belly. Good pork belly must be “three or four layers of fat and lean meat”, as clear as a thousand-layer cake. The fat part can soak the lean meat after melting when heated, making the taste more oily; the lean meat provides a solid meaty aroma. If you buy “fat and lean meat”, it is likely to be greasy and dry when stewed. There is a simple selection method: press the skin with your fingers, and it will rebound quickly, indicating that the meat is fresh; if the skin is dry and hard, it may be “zombie meat” that has been frozen for too long.

Pork has distinct layers

Look carefully at the cross-section of the pork belly, and you should be able to clearly see a layer of lean meat and a layer of fat alternately arranged, with distinct and even layers. The thickness of each layer of meat is moderate, about 1 to 2 cm, so that various seasonings can better penetrate into each layer of meat during cooking, making the taste more intense.

Bright color of pork

Fresh pork belly is ruddy and shiny. The surface of the meat is smooth, without spots or damage. If the color of the pork belly is too dark or yellow, it may mean that it is not fresh enough, which will affect the taste and quality of the braised pork.

Keeping the skin is the key!

The pig skin will release collagen after stewing, making the meat more tender and the soup thicker. Don’t follow those “skinless braised pork tutorials” on the Internet. Without the pig skin, it’s like eating instant noodles without the seasoning packet – the soul is gone.

How to remove odor from meat?

Soaking in water to remove odor (more time-consuming) Home version recommended

Soak the whole piece of meat in clean water for 50 minutes. The blood will slowly seep out. Change the water twice in the middle (once every 15 minutes). When the color of the meat changes from dark red to pink, it means it is clean.This method can not only remove the fishy smell, but also retain the freshness of the meat itself.

Slow-cooking method to remove the fishy smell (save more time) Chef version recommended

Cut the whole piece of meat into small pieces, boil the water over high heat, add the meat pieces, add cooking wine and ginger to remove the fishy smell, and lock in the meat’s fragrance. Remove the foam..
This is what I often use because I need to work and don’t have much time to soak and wait for it.

Add it to pork to make it taste better(Ingredients)

Quail eggs: Boiled and peeled quail eggs are deep-fried until wrinkled, and stewed with meat. After absorbing the soup, they are more popular than meat.

Potatoes: The secret weapon of Zhejiang cuisine! Spread on rice and it will turn into “soul-stirring bibimbap”.

White radish: The radish cubes stewed until transparent are sweet and refreshing, especially suitable for children who dare not eat fatty meat.

Braised Pork Ingredients Preparation：

After the deodorization step is completed, remove it and put it in a bowl for later use.

Add a little cooking oil (key: less) and directly put the meat in. Fry it on low heat until all sides are golden. The fat in the fat will be forced out, which can not only reduce the greasy feeling, but also make the meat shape, and put it back in the bowl for later use.

Add appropriate amount of rock sugar to hot oil, and fry the rock sugar on low heat until it turns red. This is the key step to color the meat. Add the fried pork belly and stir-fry on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add scallions, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, dried chili peppers, and sauté until fragrant. Then deglaze with cooking wine (for removing gaminess), followed by light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and oyster sauce for seasoning and color. Finally, pour in warm water to fully submerge the pork belly.

Add salt, chicken essence, thirteen spices, and seasoning. Boil water and simmer for an hour on low heat (remember to check every 30 minutes to see if the water is dry to prevent sticking to the pot, and add your desired garnishes).

Finally, turn to high heat to reduce the sauce and serve.

Braised Pork Recipe