Comments on: Red Cooked Pork Redux

By: Red Cooked Pork for Lunch Anyone? | Red Cook

Red Cooked Pork for Lunch Anyone? | Red Cook — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:04:07 +0000

[...] Red Cooked Pork Redux [...]

By: tricia

tricia — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:28:30 +0000

I was looking for this recipe and finally settled on my own version. I cut the slab of pork belly in 1/4’s. I par-boiled it. Heated oil, stir-fried shallots, garlic, cinnamon sticks, star anise, spring onions and ginger.

Added pork, stir fried a couple of mins added thick soy, light soy, mirin, dried chilli, sake and water to cover. Simmer for 1hr.

It all came together wonderfully and delicious!

And yes, I kept it in the fridge overnight and it was definately better the following night!

By: Sebastien

Sebastien — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:49:03 +0000

As a Hong Shao Rou fan I’ve developed my own alternative to this recipe..I’m french and always love cooking with red wine so that I replaced the Shaoxing Wine to a nice Bordeaux. And also reduced the par-boiling step to about 4-5 min with the already diced belly pork in a large boiling pot. I also added 2 thin slices of ginger and half bird eye chilli to the garlic, star anise and spring onions mix.

By: Kian

Kian — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:00:37 +0000

bfish, I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipe. Yes, I “love” fatty meat as well. They are tender and flavorful. A tip on keeping the fat down… cook the dish a day ahead and keep it in the refrigerator overnight. The fat will coagulate and you can easily remove before reheating to serve. In fact this dish taste even better when kept overnight just like other stews or braised meats.

By: bfish

bfish — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 02:31:55 +0000

Appreciate your posting and discussing the modified recipe; I’m glad I revisited your site to find this update as that (red cooked pork) is why I came here in the first place. I’ve made the red cooked pork twice — first time with “country style” boneless ribs (which I think is actually butt) and more recently with pork belly, both from your original recipe. Now that you’ve added the parboiling step, I’ll definitely do that next time. Before reading this post I was considering briefly microwaving the pork belly for a short time to seal it/exude a bit of fat — didn’t think of parboiling but that makes sense. I love pork fat, and this dish, but can only take in small quantities. Probably, that’s because when I made it with pork belly I pigged out on it the first night (couldn’t stop eating it) and felt a little queasy the next day.

Thanks for your recipes and mouth-watering pictures.

By: Food Couch

Food Couch — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:08:19 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing this! I have been compiling Chinese recipes for my husband and hopefully, future children. I am a Filipino who married into a Chinese family and I want my husband to remain connected to his roots through my cooking. I want him to always feel like he never left home to marry a non-Chinese. And of course, I also want to preserve this beautiful culture and heritage for our future children to inherit.

I’m putting you on my blogroll. Thanks.

By: Kian

Kian — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:17:21 +0000

Diana, Your parents are right about par-boiling. This step is almost always required for making Chinese soup and braising in my research. I was being very lazy and still can’t get away from my Western cooking background I guess. I thought caramelizing was sufficient to seal the meat.

By: Diana

Diana — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:01:12 +0000

My parents, both ex-chefs, have started reading my blog and critiquing me whenever I visit them. They insist I should always par-boil meats, when I’m making soups, braising, or even stir-frying, to get rid of the excess oil/blood/dirt. (Though for some reason char siu for roasting is exempt.) Of course, I seldom remember.

By: Kian

Kian — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:49:31 +0000

Jacqueline,

I’d love to share a meal with you again. Yes, April is definitely a possibility. As for the red dates, you can use them in soup or just soak them in water for about two hours, then boil them in simple sugar syrup for about 20 minutes. Serve at room temperature as accompaniment to warm Chinese rice wine or with a regular meal.

–Kian

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:55:05 +0000

KianLam -
This is gorgeous. The red color comes from the caramelized sugar and star anise? Do you have a recommended use for red dates? I got some from the in-laws for New Years but have no idea what to do with them. We’re not big jook fans, I know that’s a common use.

There’s a great dumpling place here that has a red pork dish like this (I think) – we saw it on someone else’s table and ordered it my favorite – “I’ll have what she’s having” way…!

Can’t wait to share a meal with you again, my friend! Sorry I had no time on last trip. Maybe come for our heritage pig event in April? Cochon555?

Cheers,
Jacqueline