Sichuan · main
Twice-Cooked Pork
回锅肉 · Huíguō Ròu
Pork belly first boiled, then sliced and stir-fried with leeks, doubanjiang and chilli oil.
Twice-cooked pork is one of the staples of Sichuan home cooking. The double cooking — boil first, then stir-fry — gives the pork a chewy-fatty texture that holds up to the intense seasoning of doubanjiang, fermented black beans, sweet bean paste and chilli oil. The leek (specifically Chinese garlic chives) finishes the dish.
Where to try
Sichuan family restaurants; rarely served as a banquet dish, more an everyday meal.
Dietary notes
Pork; contains soy and fermented bean paste.
Cities to try Twice-Cooked Pork
Other southwest dishes
- Baba Flatbread粑粑
Yunnan's daily flatbread — a thick wheat or rice-flour round cooked on a griddle and eaten plain or stuffed.
- Bang Bang Chicken棒棒鸡
Cold poached chicken shredded by hand, dressed in chilli oil, sesame paste and Sichuan peppercorn.
- Boiled Fish in Chilli Oil水煮鱼
Fish slices submerged in a deep pool of chilli oil and Sichuan peppercorns. Served bubbling.
- Chongqing Hotpot重庆火锅
The original mala hotpot — a simmering cauldron of beef tallow, Pixian doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorn for communal dipping.