Red-braised Pork - Hóng Shāo Ròu

by Adam
  • Yield:8 servings
  • Time:
    3 hrs, 42 mins show details

This is a Chinese classic that every region and household does a little differently. My version takes inspiration from Vietnamese pho by charring the aromatics for deep, blackened flavor. My other signature is an orange. I have no idea why I started doing this. It's just really good.

I love to make this in huge batches and eat it over the week. When the food is gone, I boil noodles in the soup. It's great.

Tags: Chinese, salty, umami, braised, hearty

Ingredients

  • pork shoulder, or other meat (pork belly is probably most traditional - braising meats shine here)
  • Extra goodies
  • tofu, firm tofu, tofu puffs, or tofu skins optional
  • potatoes optional
  • For the sauce
  • 1
    onion
  • 6
    garlic cloves
  • 3 inches
    ginger
  • 6
    scallions, or use the tops of leeks
  • 1
    orange
  • 8
    star anise
  • 1
    cinnamon stick
  • 6
    dried chili peppers, I honestly don't know which kind I use, so use what you have
  • ⅔ cup
    white sugar, rock sugar if you have it, but let's be real, who has rock sugar?
  • 1½ cups
    soy sauce
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Preparation

  1. 5 mins

    Cut the pork (or your meat of choice) into cubes, as big or small as you want. If you're using any other goodies, cut them up too into your preferred size.

  2. 1 min

    Cut the onion in halves, leaving the root end intact so the pieces stay together.

  3. 5 mins

    Peel the garlic cloves and slice the ginger (no need to peel it). Slice the orange, peel and all.

  4. 15 mins

    In the largest pot you've got, brown the meat over medium high heat in batches and set aside. I like to start by picking the fattiest pieces and putting them fat side down to render them. Once a little fat renders, you can brown everything else without any additional oil.

  5. 15 mins

    Keeping the fat in the pot, char the onion, garlic, ginger, orange, and spices. Going one at a time helps ensure nothing burns. The onion, ginger, and orange can go super dark. The garlic cloves should go until lightly toasted. The spices take 10 seconds tops once they hit the hot oil. As each ingredient finishes, set them aside with the pork.

  6. 1 min

    Lower the heat. In the remaining fat, add the sugar. Let it melt and deeply caramelize. Keep a close eye on it so it doesn't burn.

  7. When the sugar is caramelized to your liking, quickly pour some water in the pot to stop it from cooking further. It will immediately crystallize into a hard rocky substance. Don't worry, it'll dissolve.

  8. 3 hrs

    Add all the ingredients to the pot. Cover with just barely enough water. Scrape the bottom of the pot to release any browned bits on the bottom. Let simmer over very low heat for a couple hours.

  9. Serve with lots of white rice and a simple vegetable side like sauteed cabbage. Ladle the soup over the rice.

Notes

This is my hot take. The most traditional technique has you blanch the meat first to get rid of the schmaltz. It takes forever and the result is literally the same. Don't bother with the blanching. There. I said it.

Chinese cooking is also generally not super into browning meats. A lot of recipes call for adding the (presumably blanched) meat right in there with the sugar and stirring it around to coat each piece in sugar, almost like you're candying it. Which is like, why? The sugar just dissolves anyway. I much prefer the extra flavor you develop by deeply browning the meat, which I guess is more of a European technique. Sorry, China.

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