Red-Cooked Pork

Red-cooked pork (hong shao rou) is the canonical Jiangnan home dish, claimed by both Shanghai and Hangzhou as the original, and sufficiently central to Chinese comfort cooking that Mao Zedong's Hunanese variant became a political statement. The name comes from the deep reddish-brown colour that dark soy sauce and caramelised rock sugar produce after extended braising.

The preparation: pork belly (skin on, bone removed) is cut into roughly 4 cm cubes, briefly blanched to remove impurities, then browned in a dry wok with rock sugar until the sugar caramelises. Dark soy, light soy, Shaoxing rice wine, ginger slices and one or two star anise are added with water to cover, and the whole thing braised on very low heat for two to three hours until the collagen in the pork skin has completely dissolved, the fat is meltingly soft, and the sauce has reduced to a glossy, coating glaze.

The result is a dish of considerable richness — the fat is essential, not incidental. The Shanghai version tends toward sweetness, with more rock sugar and less spice than the Hunanese variant. The Hangzhou version often includes a piece of dried orange peel and less soy. All versions reward very slow cooking.

Served with plain steamed white rice, which absorbs the sauce. Occasionally presented with a piece of preserved mustard greens (mei cai) underneath, which balances the fat with acid.