Dong Po Rou Recipe: Oven braised technique

There is nothing quite as seductive and unctuous as a shiny slab of Dong Po Rou.  This Dong Po Rou recipe is actually quite easy as it only requires a few easily available ingredients, but you will need to be patient and allow the passage of time to turn it into a piece of heaven on a plate.

There are 3 key steps in Dong Po Rou.  The pork needs to be boiled, then braised, then finally, steamed into submission.

You might wonder why all the fuss?  Why not just put the entire slab of pork into the pot with the ingredients and just boil away?  Sure, you can do that but it just won’t possess the power the entice someone with its smooth glassy shine and translucent jelly like texture!

Take your time and prepare the pork belly step by step and you will be rewarded with a sublime slab of pork belly that would make time stand still!

Click to link to the little cast iron pots shown in the video.

Ingredients

Pork Belly 2 Slabs

Gp A
Chinese Wine 50ml
Ginger slices x 6
Scallions x 2

Gp B
Light Soy Sauce 200ml
Chinese Wine 200ml
Rock sugar 200g
Water 200ml
Ginger slices x 10
Scallions x 4

Method

1. Pan sear skin side of pork belly on hot pan until its golden brown.
2. Cool in water and scrub with steel wool.
3. Place in pork belly in cold water in a pot, add ingredients in Gp A and bring to a boil, lower heat to a gentle simmer for 40mins.
4. Remove pork and cool in water.
5. Slice pork belly into desired size to fit steaming bowl.  Slice pork into 3-4cm quarters, but don’t cut all the way through.
6. Add rock sugar to pot with 2 Tbsp water and slowly heat to caramelize the sugar.
7. Add Soy sauce first and fry for a while.  Once you smell the aroma add Chinese wine and water.
8. In a pan heat oil and fry ginger slices and white part of scallions.
9. Place the ginger and scallions on the bottom of the pot.
10. Place the pork belly in the pot.
11. Add prepared braising sauce and enough water to just cover the pork.
12. Preheat oven to 120°C.
13. Bring to a simmer then place in oven for 2 hours.
14. Remove pork slabs from pot and place in small pot for steaming (You can leave it to cool place it in the fridge overnight at this stage until you are ready to eat)
15. Sieve and reduce the braising liquid to half and pour over pork.
16. Steam for another 2 hours.
17. Thicken the gravy with cornflour slurry if it is still too runny.  You can add 2 Tbsp Mirin for extra gloss.
18. Serve with greens like broccoli or Shanghai greens

Other Pork Recipes:

Places to eat Dong Po Rou:

Other recipe using Kikkoman Soy Sauce:

Check out recipes you can do during CNY:

18 CNY Recipes to Usher in the New Year

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