Hong Shao Rou (红烧肉)
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Intro
There are many variations of this dish, and they basically range along this spectrum:
Sweet, glazed, “dry” (i.e. less noticeable sauce) ← → Salty (more soy sauce flavor), truly braised, saucy
This recipe is more on the glazed and dry end of the spectrum and is, at least to me, what a true Hong Shao Rou is. The salty and saucy end of the spectrum is kind of a newer variation that’s developed because it’s so much easier. “Hong shao” (紅燒) is when you caramelize the sugar and soy sauce and that yields the beautiful dark red/amber color and glaze; this result is also the hardest part to achieve and if done correctly, it’s actually kind of crazy how simple this dish is in terms of number of ingredients because the flavor is rich, complex, and simply incredible.
This is the perfect example of a technique-focused dish. A lot of the recipes I’ve seen for this dish online will say to just dump a lot of soy sauce and herbs/spices into a pot and braise to death — this is incorrect and is actually closer to like Taiwanese Lu Rou Fan (滷肉飯). It’s just confusing because “滷” and “紅燒” have been both translated as “braised” in English but they’re actually completely different cooking styles. If you understand Chinese at all you’ll notice that “滷” has a “water” indicator” and “燒” has a “fire” indicator, which should have been the biggest red flag already. Anyways, a lot of restaurants also cheat with this dish and make the sweet sauce separately and add red food coloring and lots of cornstarch to quickly make this dish and this is blasphemy to me. Both online recipes and restaurants also try to make the pork as soft as possible whereas in the real dish the pork belly is supposed to maintain a good bite/mouthfeel.
The true and authentic way to make this dish is to repeatedly cook the ingredients into the pork itself and then let it absorb a couple times, each time with the goal of cooking “until fragrant.” “Until fragrant” is the best English translation but in Chinese this is a concept called “烤香” (kǎo xiāng), which directly translates to “roast fragrant” but Chinese is a crazy language; this result is also something of a slowly dying art since Chinese restaurants (at least in the US) can cheat and most people can’t tell the difference (#sad).
This is a recipe my mom has cooked for us since we were children and I’ve never understood why when we order this dish it’s always so disappointing. Over the past few months, I’ve cooked this over and over again to try to nail the technique and best understand what is going on and this is my first attempt at sharing this so I hope this recipe at least begins to communicate that!
Of note:
I’d highly recommend splurging at your local small-farm, sustainable butcher and getting the best quality pork; there are so few ingredients here that really make the pork belly shine as the star if using good quality meat
I try my best to describe what should be happening in each step (especially since the difference between a beautifully glazed and fragrant pork belly dish and just straight up burnt sugar can be a matter of seconds), but I also try to include what it should look like, too
The result should:
Not have too much watery sauce; there will be a good amount of rendered pork fat oil but it should be glazey and sticky
The best way to make this is with Chinese rock sugar, which is less sweet than standard white sugar and really helps build that beautiful glaze, but my mom and I have had good success with coarse grain demerara sugar
I’d use a Dutch oven so heat levels stay consistent since you’re trying to achieve a heat-based effect with the hong shao/紅燒
If you’re using standard quality pork belly, I’d blanch it for about 15 minutes for every 3 lbs before cutting it up into chunks
If you don’t have dark soy sauce, just substitute regular soy sauce 1:1; it’s not the biggest of deals
What You'll Need
Enough for ~4 people:
3 - 3½ lbs skin-on pork belly, cut into 1-1½” chunks
3 star anise
¼ cup rock sugar
2 TBSP regular soy sauce + more if needed later
1 TBSP dark soy sauce
¼ cup Shaoxing wine
¾ cup warm-to-hot water (doesn’t have to be boiling, just make sure it’s not cold)
Instructions
Pork belly in the Dutch oven; you can see here how light of a coating of dark soy sauce there should be in the Step 2
What the pork belly should look like at the end of Steps 5 & 6
What the pork belly should look like after resting the minimum of 1½ hrs at the end of Step 8
[If you’re using standard quality pork, boil/blanch the pork belly, whole, for ~ 10 minutes for every 3 lbs]
Put the cut-up pork belly into a large mixing bowl and pour the 1 TBSP of dark soy sauce (or just regular soy sauce) and use your hands to lightly and evenly coat the pork
Turn heat to Medium-High and let it heat up a large Dutch oven, add the pork; after 2 min, turn heat down to Medium-Low and continue to slowly render the fat (you’re NOT trying to achieve a sear); I let this render for about 12 minutes total
Put the pork back into the mixing bowl, taking care to leave the rendered fat in the Dutch oven, turn heat back to Medium and slowly add the rock sugar; stir frequently and quickly so it doesn’t burn but starts to smell fragrant for ~ 5 min (you might have to turn the heat down if it’s about to burn); for reference, at the 2 min mark the rock sugar started to become gummy and at the 3 min mark it melted into what looks like a brown molasses
Once the sugar is fragrant, turn the heat back to Medium and add the pork back; stir well and quickly to coat the pork with the rendered fat and sugar and drizzle the 1st TBSP of (regular) soy sauce over the pork and stir until fragrant again (~ 5 min minimum)
Once fragrant again, add the last TBSP of soy sauce and stir until fragrant again (another 3-4 min)
Once fragrant again, add the Shaoxing wine, hot water, and star anise and bring to a boil; once boiling, adjust temperature to achieve a medium boil (vs. a simmer or a vigorous rolling boil) and let cook, covered, for 10 minutes
Once the 10 min are up, taste for saltiness and adjust (using soy sauce not salt), cover again and turn off the heat; let sit, covered, for at least 1 ½ hours
About 1 hour before eating, bring this pot back to a light simmer (I used Medium-Low heat), and let simmer for 30 minutes, covered
Once that 30 min is up, remove the cover, give it a good mix, turn the heat up to Medium-High and let the sauces reduce for about 15-20 min, uncovered
How to Enjoy!
Enjoy with some rice and maybe some steamed or lightly sautéed leafy greens (e.g. bok choy)! This would pair really well with some good lager, a hazy IPA, or even some bubbly (extra brut, brut, or Lambruscos).
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