Chinese Red braised pork belly is considered the “big dish” for family tables and parties. This dish is also named Hong Shao Rou (红烧肉) in Chinese. “Hong” indicates the lovely red color; “Shao” refers to the braising method. This post will introduce the basic steps of making it perfectly at home.
About the “red braising” cooking method
Red braised cooking, also known as hong shao, is a popular Chinese cooking method in which food either protein or vegetables is braised in a mixture of aromatics, soy sauce, sugar, and sometimes spices. Hong Shao dishes are usually savory and sweet in flavor. Among all of the long list of red braised dishes, red braised pork belly is the most famous one.
This cooking method usually involves a long time simmering over a slow fire so the seasonings have time to penetrate the ingredients. Following are some of the other red braised dishes.
💭About the versions
There are several different versions of red braised pork belly
- Chairman Mao’s red braised pork belly, which is popular in the center part of China use spice, commonly star anise and dried chili peppers to enhance the flavor and remove the odd taste from pork. So this version has a very light hint of hot.
- Shanghai-style red braised pork belly – this version uses a very large amount of soy sauce and sugar. No spices are used, only aromatics.
- Homemade shortcut version – through everything together and let the sauce combine itself in the cooking process.
We love pork belly in Chinese cooking
If you are returning visitor to this blog, you may find that we have lots of lovely pork belly recipes here. Pork belly is one of the most popular cuts in Chinese cuisine. It is named “wuhua” or “three lines” in different areas. Following are some of the popular Chinese pork belly recipes.
- Crispy Pork Belly Recipe (Siu Yuk) is a Cantonese roasted pork belly recipe with a crispy shell.
- Twice cooked pork belly (回锅肉) is a popular Sichuan dish. It gets its name from the two-step cooking process: first deep-frying, then simmering in a sauce.
- Pork belly can also be braised until super soft and then match with bread or mo, like Roujiamo.
- Chinese salted pork belly is a type of Chinese cured meat. It is made from pork belly that has been salted and then sun dried.
- Pork belly can be cut into smaller pieces before braising to make Lu Rou Fan, which is a Taiwanese style of braised pork bellies over steamed rice.
- Pan-fried pork belly is a super easier way of getting the crispy shell by pan-frying the pork belly after simmering.
I hope all of the ideas give you some inspiration about how to cook pork belly.
🐖 Ingredients
- Pork belly – Choose the well-marbled pork belly
- Cooking wine – also known as Shaoxing wine, to help remove the raw taste from pig
- Sichuan peppercorn – highly recommend this ingredient in the blanching process. No numbing feeling is created, works a similar role to cooking wine. But completely optional.
- Rock sugar – recommend using yellow rock sugar since it creates a thick sauce texture and avoids overwhelming sweet flavor.
- aromatics (ginger, scallion, and green onion) – can rich the flavor.
- black vinegar – adding a very small amount of black vinegar can help the flavors combines better without applying only a sour taste to the pork cubes.
- light soy sauce – adding the umami flavor to this dish.
Since we cook the sugar at the beginning to get the amber color, no dark soy sauce is used here. Dark soy sauce is used primarily for adding color to the dish, but in most cases, it is dark red color.
Cook’s Note
- The original lovely amber color of this recipe is coming from caramelized sugar other than dark soy sauce. We call this type of coloring sugar coloring (糖色). Sugar color can be made with either water or oil. Caramelized sugar not only brings color but also great unique flavors. Some of the easy home versions may suggest skipping making caramelized sugar because once burnt, it may bring a bitter flavor. I prefer the caramelized version. Caramelized sugar generates hundreds of new and different compounds, with richer flavors and dark colors. However, be careful with the process and turn off or leave the heat once the sugar turns amber.
- Searing the skins at the very beginning can help to remove odd taste or any hair if removed from the skins and endow a better texture after cooked. But be careful and don’t get yourself burnt.
- If possible, get some yellow rock sugar instead of regular white sugar or white rock sugar because it contains more flavors and at the same time has a more acceptable sweetness.
Instructions
Prepare the pork belly
1. Heat wok or pan until hot, then place the pork belly in, skin downside. Use hand to move the skin on the surface of the wok until the skin is almost seared. Wash carefully to clean the seared part completely. Then cut the pork belly into 2 cm cubes.
2.In a large pot with enough water, place the pork belly cubes in. Add scallion, smashed ginger, cooking wine and Sichuan peppercorn. I highly recommend you trying to use Sichuan peppercorn in the process of blanching meat, it is such an odd taste killer. Bring to a boiling and then continue cook for 5 minutes. Transfer the pork belly out and wash if necessary. I wash it in the boiling water in the video. Set aside and drain.
Fry the pork belly
In a wok, sear the pork belly cubes for 4-5 minutes. Where will be a layer of oil at the bottom. Transfer the pork belly cubes out. And leave only 1 tablespoon of oil in wok, save the extra oil for other vegetable stir fry.
Slow down the fire, add the smashed yellow rock sugar in. Continue fry with very slow fire. The sugar firstly melts, then it turns into yellow and finally amber.
Slowly cook to get flavors
Once it bubbles, add the pork belly cubes in. Quickly mix. Pour in hot water to cover the pork belly, add light soy sauce, scallion and smashed ginger.
Cover and simmer for 1 hour using middle fire. Check the softness at the stage. Then turn up the fire, remove the lid and thicken the sauce. Pick up and discard scallion and ginger. They have finished their tasks. Optionally but highly recommend adding around 1/2 tablespoon of black vinegar or lemon juice in. This add extra aroma. No sour taste at the final dish.
It is ok that the pork belly seems to be quite plain now. Continue heating and the sugar will turn the pork cubes into something very good looking. Continue pushing and moving the pork cubes to avoid over-heating partially in the last minutes. It is done when pork belly is well colored and the oil at the bottom begins to turn transparent. Serve hot!
How to reheat HongShaoRou
Regular re-heating is not a good choice. I recommend steaming with a cover. This can keep the flavors and texture as much as possible.
Hong Shao Rou—(Red Braised Pork Belly)
Ingredients
- 500 g pork belly , cut into cubes around 2 inches
Blanching the pork belly
- 1 tbsp. cooking wine
- 1 piece ginger , smashed
- 4 scallion sections
- 10 Sichuan peppercorns , optional
Frying and Simmering
- 1/4 cup yellow rock sugar , broken if you have large pieces
- 3 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 2 scallions , cut into sections
- 4 green onions , 1 finely chopped for garnish and the left into long sections
- hot water to cover the pork cubes , as needed
- 1/4 tbsp. black vinegar or apple vinegar , optional
Instructions
Treat the skin
- Heat wok or pan until hot, then place the pork belly in, skin downside. Use hand to move the skin on the surface of the wok until the skin is almost seared.
- Wash carefully to clean the seared part completely. Then cut the pork belly into 2 cm cubes.
Blanch the pork
- In a large pot with enough water, place the pork belly cubes in. Add scallion, smashed ginger, cooking wine and Sichuan peppercorn. I highly recommend you trying to use Sichuan peppercorn in the process of blanching meat, it is such an odd taste killer. Bring to a boiling and then continue cook for 5 minutes. Transfer the pork belly out and wash if necessary. I wash it in the boiling water in the video. Set aside and drain.
Sear the cubes
- In a wok, sear the pork belly cubes for 4-5 minutes. Where will be a layer of oil at the bottom. Transfer the pork belly cubes out. And leave only 1 tablespoon of oil in wok, save the extra oil for other vegetable stir fry. Slow down the fire, add the smashed yellow rock sugar in. Continue fry with very slow fire. The sugar firstly melts, then it turns into yellow and finally amber. Once it bubbles, add the pork belly cubes in. Quickly mix.
Simmering
- Pour in hot water to cover the pork belly, add light soy sauce, scallion and smashed ginger. Cover and simmer for 1 hour using middle fire. Check the softness at the stage.
Thick the sauce and get the color
- Then turn up the fire, remove the lid and thicken the sauce. Pick up and discard scallion and ginger. They have finished their tasks. Optionally but highly recommend adding around 1/2 tablespoon of black vinegar or lemon juice in. This add extra aroma. No sour taste at the final dish.
- Once most of the liquid is gone, slow down the fire. Continue pushing and moving the pork cubes to avoid over-heating partially in the last minutes. It is done when pork belly is well colored and the oil at the bottom begins to turn transparent. Serve hot with scallions sprinkled.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Hi,
I doubled this recipe and ended up having a brown sauce rather than red. I’m not sure where I went wrong.
I carmalized the brown sugar, added enough water that it would cover all the pork, then transferred the carmalized brown sugar “sauce” to a Dutch oven with the pork. I then simmered for 45 minutes. It stayed brown the entire time. At what point should the sauce turn red?
Taste was great though!
Jason,
You need to continue thickening the sauce with very slow fire.
Is it possible to use rock sugar instead of brown sugar?
Yes, rock sugar works fine too.
I did this recipe this evening but the sauce was either too thick or too oily… And I didn’t have the same color as you, I think it’s because I used brown sugar from cane? Also, I did use a medium red oignon since I didn’t have green ones… maybe the sauce was too thick because of that? shame!
Added an anis star + one clove too. Was super delicious anyway!
Eva,
The most possible reason is that your pork belly is slightly over-heated in the searing process. If it comes too oily, you can pour the extra oil out and continue with further steps.
The color can be influenced by the sugar and the soy sauce. If possible, tag me a photo on INS.
I had already eaten everything when I saw your picture. I think the soy sauce is too dark but I can’t buy too many products in my small flat. Could I put less soy sauce and a little bit of salt instead?
I actually forgot to sear it… But maybe I waited too long for my sauce to reduce.
I’ve just found your recipes I will try them and let you know how I get on thank you.
Thank you Robert! Happy cooking!
I added dark soy sauce and mine turned out perfect. You need the sorghum flavor from from dark soy sauce so the flavor will be correct. This is a great recipe, very delicious!
Thank you Steven!!
Thanks for this recipe. Can this be done in a Instant Pot after it is browned?
Your recipe are the best!
I lived in Taiwan for a couple of years, and this is one of the foods I miss the most! You could find braised pork belly almost everywhere. I have tried other recipes for making this pork, but I haven’t been able to find the best one yet. However, after trying this one, I have to say it’s the closest to the ones I used to eat in Taiwan. Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks Ana. This is my favorite too. Happy cooking!
I just clicked through to this recipe from another in your email newsletter and I am really impressed with your presentation…the hows and whys of using certain ingredients, methods, safety tips, etc. Looking forward to trying many of these (we are lucky enough to have 2 Chinese stores here in The Gambia, Africa) TY for all your hard work of sharing your cuisine!
Caroline, thank you so much for your lovely comment. Writing recipes can be very hard because there are so many details. And I am super happy to read this one, making all of my hard work paying off.
Hi
I am thinking of making this. What would you serve it with please?
With steamed rice. And I recommend you matching it with pickles or salad.
This looks amazing!!!! I can’t wait to try this. Just to be sure, when I buy the pork belly, it must have the skin on it, correct? If it doesn’t, then the dish won’t come out the same?
Hi,Dave
Yes, pork belly with skin is the most suitable, and the texture and taste will be very good.