Chinese - Shanghai "Tung Po" Pork Belly

[mpchen]

Hi there:

I am desparately seeking a recipe for the famous Shanghai "Tung Po " Pork Belly. It is a variation of the Shanghai Red-roasted Pork Belly dish but better. I read an article in the New York Times in which the dish was mentioned by Ed Schoenfeld but I have no luck searching for the recipe on the net. Anyone out there can give me some pointers/advice? Thanks in advance!

Best, Happy Halloween!

Michael

[jackal10]

Disclaimer: This is not my native cuisine.

My version, originally cooked and inspired by a recipe in from "Chinese Gastronomy" by Hsiang Ju Lin and Tsuifeng Lin, ISBN 090690878. An excellent book

The essence is the butter like sweet melting pork fat. If you shortcut and omit the salting, the blanching and the long slow steaming you will get lumpy hard fat.

1lb belly pork in one piece, trimmed into a precise square (about 6 inches square)

Works with pork hocks as well.

2 Tbs salt

Rub with salt and let stand for two hours. Discard the liquid. Wash the meat free of surface salt

Bring 5 pints of water to the boil and blanch the meat.

Discard the water and repaeat the blanching with a fresh 5 pints of boiling water.

2 Tbs light soy

1 Tbs Mirin or sweet sherry

2 spring onions (scallions)

2 slices ginger

2 Tbs water

Put the above in pot with a close fitting lid. Put in the pork, skin side up. Bring to the boil and cook on a very low heat (or even better in a very low oven) for 2 hours. Tradition adds a small piece of straw floor mat (after the legend of the actions of an Immortal in disguise in Soochow), but this is not needed. Don't peek, let it stew in its juices.

Discard the ginger and the spring onions.

Put the pork skin side down , with the juices, on a soup plate or similar size shallow dish. Steam for 4 hours, until the fat can be cut with a spoon.

Invert onto a serving dish (skin side up), and pour the juices around.

One of the pinnacles of Chinese gastronomy, and the pure essence of pork. It demonstrates the appreciation of fat in Chinese cuisine. Traditionally served at the end of a meal.

"People sigh, shout and groan with happiness when they see this dish"

Ken Lo gives a version where he crisps the skin, first frying in oil.

There are western restaurant "Tung po" dishes stir fried with peanuts, but they are different.

Edited October 31, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[mpchen]

Thanks for the recipe I'll let you know how I make out with it

[mpchen]

I have tried out the Tung Po Pork Belly recipe you suggested and the result was OK. However I found the pork meat after 4 + hour of steaming to be rather tough. COuld this be due to overblanching or improper blanching on my part? I blanched them for about 1 minute twice in boiling water as suggested by the recipe...... What has been your experience with the recipe? Any insight to share? Thanks again for your help!

[jackal10]

Did you braise it for 2 hours first, as in the recipe?

When I cook it, it falls apart with a spoon. 6 hours cooking should dissolve the collagen into gelatine, making the meat wonderfully soft.

Maybe it needed to cook longer, or for some reason your steaming was not reaching the pork. I can't see how blanching would affect the toughness - its not as though you are trying to keep the pork tender by undercooking it.

Sorry it was not more successful

[mpchen]

HI:

I first salted it for 2 hours, drain the liquid, then Blanched the Pork Belly in boiling water TWICE ( one minute each Blanching ). Then the Pork Belly was cooked in a 225 F low-temp oven with the marinade for 2 hours, followed by 4 hours of steaming....The result wasn't bad...just not as spectacular as I had DREAMED! What do you think?

[jackal10]

That's exactly what I do.

The only thing I can think is that for some reason the pork did not cook in the steaming step. I put it in on a plate in a bamboo steamer over a wok full of boiling water, topped up from the kettle from time to time. The steamer has a lid, but the port is not covered. Quite a bit of juice collects around it.