dongporou 东坡肉

first time i attempted dongporou 东坡肉 on 23.8.2017. ^^

i did this for 7pax dinner for my OPS buddies. 

dongporou 东坡肉

bascially trying to replicate the dongporou 东坡肉 at zai shun where WT bought 4pax lunch recently on 17.8.2017. 🙂

i found & followed one web recipe here.

dongporou 东坡肉

tying the string for 9 cuts of belly pork kind of tedious.

i layered the claypot first with cabbage (my own improvisation), then spring onions, then sliced ginger. i had some leftover pig skin (from char siu 叉烧) i inserted to help hold up the pork belly pieces.

dongporou 东坡肉

then i added 2tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1tbsp brown sugar, 4tbsp shaoxing wine, and 1/2 cup water. added the belly pork, skin down.

then cooked low fire for 1.5hrs. added water as required, and turned over belly pork at 1hr.

then took out belly pork & placed in a small holder & steamed for 1.5hrs, so in total 3hrs.

dongporou 东坡肉

though my first time, the dongporou 东坡肉 was quite good standard. the gelatinous parts were excellent. flavour was pretty ok…

i think can have more wine taste, so i am going to increase to 6tbsp shaoxing wine. the pigskin & cabbage were excellent – collateral goodness, haha! ^^

all my OPS friends liked the dongporou 东坡肉. one rated it second after the egg bittergourd with salted egg. some lean parts still not tender enough after 3hrs lor…

not quite sure why need to cut the pork (& having to tie pork to hold it together) in the first place? to let the sauce & the steam reach the individual pieces?

i think i will instead experiment using low temperature braising to render the whole 400g pork belly tender, then open steaming to add moisture & further tenderise the pork, then cut into small pieces (currently the steam could not reach the lean parts of the pork in the small holder)…so i intend to experiment/improvise..

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

• 400g fresh belly pork simmered in boiling water for few minutes (to remove scum & also easier to cut belly pork..i cut 9 pieces for 7pax & didn’t want to eat too much belly pork, but 4 pieces would be better)

to lace the claypot-

• 2-3 large cabbage leaves
• 2 stalks spring onions cut into 3 sections
• 3-4cm sliced ginger
• & i added 6 garlic cloves to flavour the meat

braising sauce-

• 2tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1tbsp brown sugar (or what i did – 2tsp brown sugar & add 1 small piece rock honey sugar)
• 4tbsp shaoxing wine1/2 cup water
• Directions:

1. simme in boiling water for few minutes to remove scum & also easier to cut belly pork.
2. cut pork to 4 pieces.
3. use string to tie the cut belly pork
4. layer claypot with cabbage, spring onions, sliced ginger. add 6 cloves peeled garlic
5. put in a fitting pot (i used leftover pig skin (from char siu 叉烧) to help hold up the pork belly pieces in a small claypot
6. add 2tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1tbsp brown sugar, 4tbsp shaoxing wine, and 1/2 cup water.
7. add belly pork, skin down. cook low fire for 1.5hrs. add water as required, and turn over belly pork at 1hr.
8. take out belly pork & place in a small holder & steam for 1.5hrs, so in total 3hrs.