| We all need projects right now and, pork belly. It’s been a while since we’ve shared a recipe with y’all, but this one here, will make up for all that all those other clicks we tricked you into in past emails, promise. This sauce is/has become/was destined to become a signature here. Spicy, sweet, tangy, slightly bitter, unctuous. These are all the qualities we look for in like… everything. The idea came from a “Bite of China” episode (highly recommended viewing), though I don’t recall which episode. In it these villagers made this fatty pork sauce that was tinged red and had local vinegar in it. They then used it as a noodle soup base and added 6-7 different color vegetables to represent some parts of the season or occasion that they were celebrating. It looked fantastic and I had to get that idea on the Rose’s menu somehow. As with any idea you rip of a government funded food culture film you find on YouTube, it took some mistakes, adjusting, and tinkering to make it a sauce we could call our own. This is our finished method, it can’t get any easier and the end result is on point. The steps may seem unnecessarily broken up, but there’s a reason for it, and I’d advise you not to melt any two steps together. But you do you, it’s still gonna turn out a-ok. |
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| So for the “belly”You don’t want to use all pork belly, you can, but it’s best to put some lean meats in there to bulk it up and balance all the fat of the belly. We normally use the entire shoulder as well as any shanks we have. The golden rule is you want as much meat as you can with skin attached to it, that’s what makes the sauce what it is. I would avoid pork loin or pork leg meats as they don’t stew real well, (they become stringy and grainy). Cut the pork into large strips and blanch in boiling water for about 5 minutes. This helps get the strong pork scent off of it and cleans it up for cooking. We also clean the skin after blanching to get rid of anything that might destroy the eating experience (like hairs), same goes for glands, Cut the meat into 1 inch squares with the skin attached if you can. Season the meat after it’s been cut with a light but committed dusting of salt, sugar, a little bit of Chinese dark soy and 5 spice powder. Go light on the 5 spice, it’s just there to heighten the aroma, not change anything. Same goes for the dark soy, it’s just for a touch of color. Recently in the kitchen we have started to roast the pork, but up until then we have always browned it in a pan. Either way, you just want a light brown color on it, it ain’t French food. We are just adding another note to the flavor profile. Remove all fat left or rendered from browning and save it for another use. |
| We add then 1/2 chicken stock &1/2 water or all chicken stock if it’s pretty thin.In our kitchen it’s easiest to go ahead and season that liquid before it goes in as well. First with Shaoxing wine or a little sherry if you’re in a pinch, A light amount of soy sauce (and a dash of Chinese dark soy if you have it), salt and sugar of your choice to balance it out. (We like sugar in the raw). Keep the seasoning light, we’re working up to something big here. You wanna just cover the meat you have, don’t make a soup. You can always a more stock/water if you need but you can’t take away, and you don’t want to cook the meat to mush. Cook it down, preferably on the stovetop with a lid until the liquid is reduced at least by 1/2, the belly is starting to jiggle when you shake the pan or the meat is starting to pool oil on top. You can remove some at this point again, but not all. Dry Chilies thrive in hot oil, and we want it to be red so leave at least a 1/2-1/4” of fat on top. At this point you can add the chili. I’d suggest the coarse ground stuff from the asian market or the Korean style plus a little run-of-the-mill spicy stuff. Don’t over do it, For a 1 gallon of stewed meat, I’d add about a 1/2-3/4 cup chili. Stew that again. Just for a little bit longer until the color starts to change. At this point the pot should be pretty dry and the meat hopefully just starting to break apart on its own. Now we’re gonna add Black Vinegar from Shanxi. We use this specific one because it has a strong malty bitterness that just works perfectly with this. The yellow label vinegars from Zhenjiang add more of a sweet overtone which we want to add in other ways. The vinegar is going to quickly make the meat fall apart at this point. If it doesn’t keep cooking it, pray you didn’t F’ this up and stir very, very often. For 1 gallon of stewed meat, I’d add at least half a bottle. |
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| When the meats about half broken up, it’s done, try not to bust it up too much, you want a lot of different textures in there. Here’s the last part that separates the chips from the chipmunks. You wanna stand over the pot and get that seasoning perfect. Grab the rest of that bottle of vinegar, soy sauce, salt and sugar (we use Taiwan Black Sugar for this part of the recipe, it takes it over the top). Start with the salt (always). Use soy until it’s getting watery and salt after that, but you wanna season it until it’s just a little bit salty. Then grab your sugar, and take it back down until it just a teeny tiny bit too sweet. Then grab the vinegar, and balance it all out, you can add as much or little as you likeHoly Crap thats a lot.Don’t be intimidated, Gather all your ingredients, put them in front of you and go with your gut (and the instructions). We don’t actually have a recipe written for this and we’ve been making it for 6 years! We pass the method down from chef to chef and it always comes out solid.If you want extra credit add a sachet of whole Vietnamese cinnamon bark and lots of bay leaves. Just another note in the chord y’all. What the heck do you do now? Well, it lasts forever (2 weeks? Maybe a month?). Don’t take the fat off when you pack it away in the fridge or freeze it, thats what helps preserve it. You can remove what grease you don’t want when you re-heat, it will all separate. |
 There’s many. Got questions? Holler via Email, we’ll respond. If you made it all the way down here and have zero intention of making this.. Come on by Rose’s this weekend, we’ll have it on the menu along with lots of other great stuff.  Here’s some ideas for what to do with it:My Favorite is to eat it on fresh steamed rice, I heat some in a pan, add a bunch’a greens of some sort (spinach, kale, rapini, Roasted Radicchio if you’re an all star) Toss Noodles in it, add more soy sauce and vinegar to taste as well as chili oil. Add Fresh tomatoes to it and cook it down a bit, put inside a omelette Throw it in some fried rice with broccoli Put it in some pre-made steam buns from the asian market freezer section, Maybe some sliced celtuce or cucumber in there. Fried garlic on top is always 🤌 |