Twice cooked pork is a Sichuan specialty prepared by cooking fatty pork leg or belly (with the skin intact) in two different ways. Pork is first simmered in a pot and cooled in the refrigerator in order for the meat and fat to firm up. After that, the meat is sliced and stir-fried with vegetables such as cabbage, bell peppers, leeks, and mushrooms until it develops a brown color and the skin gets crispy on the edges.
Chinese Twice Cooked Pork | (回锅肉 – Huíguōròu)
Course: MainCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Medium4
servings20
minutes40
minutes188.5
kcal1
hourTwice cooked pork is a Sichuan specialty prepared by cooking fatty pork leg or belly (with the skin intact) in two different ways. Pork is first simmered in a pot and cooled in the refrigerator in order for the meat and fat to firm up. After that, the meat is sliced and stir-fried with vegetables such as cabbage, bell peppers, leeks, and mushrooms until it develops a brown color and the skin gets crispy on the edges.
Ingredients
300g Skin-on pork ham -or- pork belly ~50/50 lean to fat
- Seasoning for the poaching liquid:
1 small leek cut into sections,
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
2 inches ginger sliced
2 tbsp liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine
3 sprigs Green garlic
1.5 tbsp Pixian Doubanjiang a.k.a. Chili Bean Paste
1 tbsp Douchi a.k.a. Fermented Black Beans
- Aromatics:
1 inch ginger
3 cloves garlic
- Seasoning:
1 tsp sugar,
¼ tsp dark soy sauce
sprinkle of MSG.
Directions
- Grill the skin of the pork belly over a flame for ~4 minutes.
- Add the leek, the Sichuan peppercorns, the ginger, the liaojiu wine, and the pork to a pot of cool water. Cover, bring to a boil, then turn the heat to medium low. Lightly boil, covered, for 20 minutes.
- Remove the pork and let it dry/cool down.
- Thinly slice the pork, arranging them on a tray in one layer.
- Cut the green garlic into ~2 inch sections, mince the chili bean paste, slice the aromatics.
- Stir-fry. As always, first longyau: get your wok piping hot (about steak searing temperature), shut off the heat, add in the oil (here about two tablespoons), and give it a swirl to get a nice non-stick surface. Heat on medium now:
- Pork slices, in.
- Scooch the pork to the side of the wok
- Shut off the heat, add in the chili bean paste, and fry for ~30 seconds. This is coming off the heat so that it doesn’t scorch the bean paste.
- Flame back on medium, in with the douchi fermented black soybeans. Super brief mix.
- Ginger and garlic slices, in. Combine the pork back with everything and fry for about 30 seconds.
- Dark soy sauce, in. Super brief mix.
- Sugar and MSG, in. Super brief mix.
- Green garlic, in. Stir-fry for 15-30 second
- Heat off, out.