I don’t know how this dish escaped me for all these years, but I never even heard of twice cooked pork until a new Chinese restaurant opened up down the street. I have a thing for cheapy Chinese, so I wandered into the Sichuan Spice House wondering what, if anything might be good there.
When I opened the menu I was astonished: Tripe. Spicy wontons. Lamb with cumin. Crispy fish served whole. And this twice cooked pork belly. Wow. Real Chinese, I thought. When the food came, I was stoked: Real-deal Sichuan cooking in my little neighborhood!
Since then I’ve eaten their twice-cooked pork belly probably a hundred times. Fatty yet meaty. Super savory from black beans, all brightened by lots and lots of leeks.
What I liked the most was that the cook decided to use even the tougher green part of the leek, which most cooks use only for stock; the green parts give the dish a contrast in texture and are stronger in flavor than the white parts, as you might expect.
Twice-cooked pork gets its name because the pork is first simmered until tender, a process that also renders out a lot of fat, and then stir-fried until nicely browned.
This recipe will work well with either regular farmed pork, or, if you can get it, a fat wild hog. Bear belly would work, too, if you happen to be a bear hunter.
My recipe is an amalgam of several, but I am especially indebted to my friend Kian Lam Kho over at the Red Cook blog. His website is a treasure trove of real-deal Chinese recipes.
Serve your twice-cooked pork with steamed rice and a beer. It reheats very well, too, and will last a week in the fridge.
Sichuan Twice-Cooked Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds uncured pork belly (do not use bacon)
- 3 medium-sized leeks, sliced in half then in pieces you can pick up with chopsticks
- 3 tablespoons peanut oil or lard, reduce by 1 tbsp if your pork is very fatty
- 1 tablespoons chile bean paste
- 3 tablespoons black bean sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine, or dry sherry
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a healthy pinch of salt to it. Drop the pork belly in it and lower the heat until the water is barely simmering. Cook domesticated pork belly like this for about 45 minutes, or wild pig belly for up to 2 hours; somewhere around 90 minutes is normally about right. Remove the pork belly and set on a plate in the freezer to chill.
- When the pork belly has chilled through, which should take 30 to 60 minutes, slice it thinly across the grain. You want thin squares or rectangles you can pick up with chopsticks.
- Heat a wok or large saute pan over high heat until it's good and hot. Add the peanut oil and swirl it around, then add the pork belly. Arrange the pork belly in one layer all around the wok and let it sear like this for a minute or two, until it gets a little browned and starts to release some fat. Toss to flip and use tongs or chopsticks to make sure the pork is cooking on the opposite side. Let this cook for a minute or two. Remove the pork for now.
- Add the chile bean paste, black bean paste, cooking wine and leeks. Stir-fry over high heat until the leeks are bright green and glossy, about 2 minutes. Add the pork back and stir-fry another minute. Add the cooking wine, soy and sugar and stir-fry another few seconds. Serve over rice.
Nutrition
Pork Recipes
You can find all sorts of recipes for both farmed and wild pork here on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.
Laurentius: Clearly you have a limited knowledge of Sichuan cooking. This recipe is directly from Sichuan sources.
Ha! I just happen to have some pork-belly left from our hunt in Texas in May! Been wondering how I’d use it!