Introduction: I remember the old man from the TV series "Wang Gui and Anna" saying that braised pork should be cooked with rock sugar to be flavorful. So, last weekend, I特意 went to the supermarket to buy a bag of rock sugar and a piece of pork belly to make authentic braised pork for my husband and daughter.
1. First, cut the pork into cubes, about a finger's thickness thick. Prepare seasonings like ginger, star anise, garlic, and Sichuan peppercorns.
2. Add a little oil to the pot. Once the oil is hot, add the pork and stir-fry it over medium-low heat for 5-6 minutes to render out the fat. This makes the pork less greasy to eat. Then, remove the pork from the pot.
3. Add a little more oil to the pot. Once it's hot, stir-fry the pork and the seasonings together. When a slightly scorched aroma develops, add the rock sugar and keep stirring.
4. Once the rock sugar has melted, continue stir-frying for a few more minutes. Add soy sauce for coloring, then add water and start to stew.
5. Stew for at least an hour; the longer the pork is stewed, the more tender and delicious it becomes. The braised pork I made was so good that even my daughter, who usually avoids fatty meat, praised it for not being greasy.
Commentary by Wang Xufeng, a National Level 2 Nutritionist: Braised pork typically uses pork belly, so it's relatively high in fat. This reader first "stir-fries" the meat before stewing, which converts the solid fat in the meat into liquid. As the oil is rendered out, the fat content of the meat is reduced, so the texture is naturally less greasy, and the calorie count is also lower.
To make the stewed pork less greasy, you can also add a few hawthorns or a piece of fermented tofu. Using rock sugar for stewing is a common practice in Southern China, and it gives the dish a very rich and mellow flavor.