Pictorial: Oyster w/ Roast Pork in Clay Pot

[hzrt8w]

Oyster with Roast Pork and Tofu in Clay Pot (火腩生蠔煲)

No Cantonese style restaurants can claim to be real Cantonese unless it offers clay pot entrees on the menu. Delicious ingredients, braised to perfection, served sizzling hot in a clay pot in front of you. Great when the weather turns cold. There are many different clay pot entrees available. This dish uses oyster, roast pork and tofu braised in a sauce made with chicken broth, brown bean sauce, oyster sauce and soy sauce.

Dedicated to pcbilly.

Picture of the finished dish:

Serving Suggestion: 2 to 3

Preparations:

Main ingredients: (From left, clockwise) 2 jars of fresh oyster (about 6 oysters in each), 5 to 6 stalks of green onion, a handful of cilantro, Cantonese roast pork (about 1/2 lb), ginger (about 2 inches in length), 10 cloves of garlic, 1/2 package (2 pieces) of fried tofu.

Note: If you don't have Cantonese roast pork, you may use regular pork. Cut in slices and marinate with some soy sauce, ground white pepper and ShaoHsing cooking wine first.

Cut the roast pork into smaller, bite size. Keep the fat and skin.

Cut the fried tofu into smaller pieces.

Trim off the ends of the green onions. Cut into 1 inch long pieces. Peel the ginger. Cut into thin slices. Cut the cilantro into 1 inch long pieces. Peel the garlic but leave them whole. For big size garlic, cut into halves. (Better to use smaller, whole garlic)

Pour the oyster on to a strainer. Wash off impurities. Strain off excess water. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on top (suggest: 1/2 tsp).

Cooking Instructions:

Use a wok/pan, set stove to high. Add a generous 6 tblsp of cooking oil (or frying oil). Wait for a few minutes until the oil heats up before frying.

Pour about 1/4 cup of corn starch on a flat plate. Dust each oyster with corn starch evenly on both sides.

Shallow-fry the oyster on the pan until both sides are slightly browned.

It may take 1 to 3 minutes to brown each side.

Remove the cooked oyster and set aside on a plate.

Pre-heat a clay pot over high stove setting. It takes about 5 minutes.

Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil. Add all whole garlic. Wait until all garlic cloves turn brown.

Add 1 tsp of brown bean sauce. Add a pinch of salt (suggest: 1/4 tsp). Dash in 2 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine. Immediately add ginger slices, 1/2 portion of green onions (the white portion). Stir and sautee for one minute.

Add the roast pork. Brown the pork slightly (for about 3 minutes).

Keep stirring.

Add tofu, 1/2 cup of chicken broth, 1/4 cup of water, 2 tsp of sugar, 2 tsp of oyster sauce, 1 tsp of dark soy sauce. Stir well. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce stove setting to around medium to medium-low. Continue to braise with lid on for 10 minutes.

This is how it looks after 10 minutes. Add corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce to the right consistency (suggest: 2 tsp of corn starch with 2 tsp of water, adjust).

Re-add the oyster and the rest of the green onions and cilantro. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes with lid on.

This is how it looks when ready to serve.

Finished. Serve with the ingredients sizzling hot.

Edited November 24, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[pcbilly]

hzrt8w:

Thank you for anoter great pictorial.

With all the pictures and clear explaination, I can even do this one.

Time for me to get that sand pot out.

[Dejah]

That looks great! Ah Leung.

I guess I will have to make mine in a Dutch oven. I have a sand pot only and it would not hold up to the "chow" method.

Add to Xmas list: clay pot...

[SuzySushi]

Ooooh, ooooh! Oyster hotpot is one of my husband's favorite Chinese restaurant dishes. I'll have to make this one!

[jo-mel]

Clay pot oysters? I'm dying! I have 2 turkeys in the oven and bowls and bowls of stuffing and winter vegetables waiting to be reheated --- and what do I want? ----- Those oysters!

hzrt -- One of my fav restaurtants in NYC has an oyster sandy pot that is wonderful. With pork but no tofu. Your picture and recipe just might be dinner tomorrow night ---- if I don't eat those oysters after they have been fried. Maybe I'd better double the amount so that the final dish will have enough!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating today.

Go Broncos, Go!!

[canucklehead]

hzrt - what I love about these pictorials is that they take me back to the food of my childhood. Vancouver has a number of places that are very good at hyper refined HK style of cantonese food.

What is much more rare are places that make real home style "little dishes" like these. I don't think I have ever had this dish before - but just seeing the cooking process let's me imagine the flavours very clearly.

BTW Hzrt - my mom wants her frying pan back.

Edited November 24, 2005 by canucklehead (log)

[Pan]

[...]hzrt -- One of my fav restaurtants in NYC has an oyster sandy pot that is wonderful. With pork but no tofu.[...]

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Which restaurant? Please post about it in the New York forum; we want to know about it.

[hzrt8w]

hzrt -- One of my fav restaurtants in NYC has an oyster sandy pot that is wonderful. With pork but no tofu.[...]

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Tofu is a space filler. Many restaurants use it to fill up the clay pot so they don't need to use the more expensive roast pork and even-more-expensive oyster.

I like a little bit of tofu in the pot. If you make this at home, it's all up to you.

[hzrt8w]

hzrt - what I love about these pictorials is that they take me back to the food of my childhood.  Vancouver has a number of places that are very good at hyper refined HK style of cantonese food. 

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canucklehead: Thank you for your kind words. I thought very few people care for home-made Cantonese recipes because many of them don't look like much. You haven't had this oyster/roast-pork dish before? It is my favorite (and so are many other dishes! ). The Cantonese style restaurants in Vancouver gotta offer it.

BTW Hzrt - my mom wants her frying pan back.

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Why? Did you show her these pictorials?

Edited November 24, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Spendid, once again, Ah Leung! Does much Cantonese cooking include cilantro? I was surprised to see it in this dish -- but perhaps I'm ignorant on the use of this herb.

[hzrt8w]

Spendid, once again, Ah Leung! Does much Cantonese cooking include cilantro? I was surprised to see it in this dish -- but perhaps I'm ignorant on the use of this herb.

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Oh, yes! Absolutely! We usually use it in very moderate amount though. e.g. 3 to 4 priks. And many use it as a garnish than something to add taste to the dish.

The only dish that I can think of using cilantro as a main ingredient is "cilantro and fish filet soup". One of my father's signature dishes. We also add cilantro to steamed fish.

[pcbilly]

Oyster with Roast Pork and Tofu in Clay Pot (火腩生蠔煲)

Pre-heat a clay pot over high stove setting.  It takes about 5 minutes.

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hzrt8w:

I was surprice to see that you pre-heat the clay pot at high flame for 5 minutes.

Any risk that this will crack the pot?

Can you make some comments about how one should use clay pot vs. sand pot in this type of cooking.

Thanks

[hzrt8w]

I was surprice to see that you pre-heat the clay pot at high flame for 5 minutes.

Any risk that this will crack the pot?

Can you make some comments about how one should use clay pot vs. sand pot in this type of cooking.

←

I have been doing this for a while on this particular clay pot (pre-heating on high). I did not notice anything unusual developed. I remember seeing the masters in clay-pot specialty restaurants heating their clay pots over high flames over in Hong Kong. Note: the high flame we have at home with the regular stove burners (maybe 10000 BTU/hr???) are not the same as the high of a 120000 BTU/hour, professional burner.

I don't exactly know the difference between a clay pot and a sand pot. Anybody?

Edited November 26, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[wonderbread]

Awesome - thanks for the recipe! My favorite at restaurants is the tofu with the deep-fried fish pieces. I have never had it with oysters, but it sounds far more more manageable for a dish at home. I adore the clay pot in the winter time.

[Dejah]

In comparing my sand pot with the clay pots I have seen, it appears that the clay pots are glazed both the inside and outside, and possibly fired in a kiln? My sand pot is glazed only on the inside, and I don't think it would have been fired.

I was told to never put a sand pot on high or direct heat. Another bit of advice was to soak the sand pot before using?

[Seitch]

In comparing my sand pot with the clay pots I have seen, it appears that the clay pots are glazed both the inside and outside, and possibly fired in a kiln? My sand pot is glazed only on the inside, and I don't think it would have been fired.

I was told to never put a sand pot on high or direct heat. Another bit of advice was to soak the sand pot before using?

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Yeah, I think it's a good idea to really soak the sand pot for a few hours before using. I soaked my last one for about 20 min before use and it cracked. I've been thinking of getting a clay one like the one in the pics. I'm sure it'll be more durable than the sand pot.

[pcbilly]

I was told to never put a sand pot on high or direct heat. Another bit of advice was to soak the sand pot before using?

←

This is pretty much what I have heard about cooking with sand pot.

Another thing that I have read is to make sure the base is dry before putting it on the stove top to prevent cracking.

Does anyone know why the base need to be dry?

[jo-mel]

[...]hzrt -- One of my fav restaurtants in NYC has an oyster sandy pot that is wonderful. With pork but no tofu.[...]

←

Which restaurant? Please post about it in the New York forum; we want to know about it.

←

Pan -- You know this place ----- NY Noodletown. It is on that menu that sits on the table.

[jo-mel]

Spendid, once again, Ah Leung! Does much Cantonese cooking include cilantro? I was surprised to see it in this dish -- but perhaps I'm ignorant on the use of this herb.

←

In the recipes that I've seen it, it was called Chinese Parsley -- not Cilantro.

Rhoda Yee uses it in her Shao Mai recipe. Those dumplings are good without it, but BETTER with it!!

[jo-mel]

I don't exactly know the difference between a clay pot and a sand pot.  Anybody?

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I thought the term sandy pot and clay pot were the same, as the pot is composed of both sand and clay. The unglazed exterior has the color and texture of sand and so is usually referred to as a sand pot.

Confusing if the totally glazed pot is called 'clay pot'. But I guess they are interchangeable.

And where do earthenware pots fit in?

Yunnan pots are made of what? But they don't belong in this discussion because they don't go directly on the fire.

I've always followed Barbara Tropp's direction in that she never soaked her sandy pots first. I don't soak and have never had any trouble -- as long as I have food in it when it goes onthe flame. The totally unglazed terracotta pots have to be soaked, but those pots are another ballgame.

She also said that sandy pots with cracks ---- (even cracks that go thru to the glazed interior) will often heal themselves. I have a much used one with a crack on the bottom and sides but not in the inside. It cooks beautifully.

About the water on the bottom --- maybe the heat would not be evenly dispersed if there was water there when the pot is heated?

I don't have any totally glazed pots. All are of the sandy exterior type in different sizes and shapes. I even have one that is 3 inches across! But just as a conversation piece!

[hzrt8w]

May be clay pot and sand pot are different names for the same thing?

The ones glazed on the inside only are the most common ones used in Hong Kong restaurants. Again, I have seen those clay/sand pots on high open fire (kind of like we have at home in the USA, not the strong burner for wok cooking) in restaurants specialized in bo jai choy (clay pot entrees).

[AzianBrewer]

This is an awesome dish. The first time I had this dish was at a Cantonese restaurant in LA's Monterey Park. I think they have also added some lettuce as filler.

[Dejah]

I made this dish in my enamel cast iron casserol tonight.

Veered from Ah leung's recipe a bit as my brown bean sauce was "off". I added a spoonful of Guilan chili sauce instead, and sliced bamboo shoots. This added a little bite (not spicy) and a crunch to the otherwise soft texture. I thought the Guilan sauce would help cut the richness a bit, and it did.

It is a make again dish. Might be an item for my Xmas list: clay pot!

[aznsailorboi]

When I bought my sandpot and a herb pot, the lady at the store told me to soak it overnight first, then air dry till the unglazed part doesnt have that water saturated look (ie. the wet areas look darker than the dry area) then she said to cook plain jook in it and cook it till the rice is almost dissolved and really thick almost like a paste, and when the jook is ready just pour out the contents to another pot, or another clay pot that you are prepping if you have more than one, and cook it for about the same amount of time with the other pot....transfer the jook to another pot or discard( you dont have to eat it.... so just use about half a cup rice ). then leave the pots unwashed for 24 hrs. then rinse well, then you can now use your clay pot, sandy pot, herb pot, etc. The idea behind cooking jook in the new pots is to seal the micro cracks to prevent further damage that makes the cracks larger. I just followed instructions....eheheh at least this time I asked before I left the store....(in reference to my dried sea cucumber experience )

[hzrt8w]

[...]The idea behind cooking jook in the new pots is to seal the micro cracks to prevent further damage that makes the cracks larger.

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That seems to make sense. Never thought of that. It is a great trick!

I saw some documentary programs on Discovery that they discovered that workers used rice portridge (congee) as an agent to glue the stones together in building The Great Wall. When dried and harden, congee is really strong.