I bet this red braised pork belly “红烧肉” is most Chinese people’s favorite childhood dish.
The savory, glossy, and sticky sauce covering the red braised pork belly can totally turn everyone into a RICE KILLER!
I cooked the red braised pork belly with quail eggs on the Lunar New Year’s Eve – because this was a MUST-HAVE traditional New Year’s Eve dish for my family!
Mr He and I don’t mind eating it every single day.
Our grandparents always make the best 红烧肉! I have adjusted this recipe for years and finally perfectly duplicated my grandpa’s red braised pork belly.
Other Chinese New Year’s LUCKY Foods Recipes:
Two essential tips to make the perfect red braised pork belly:
Red braised pork belly is one of the most popular dish in Chinese families. Therefore, each family has its own SECRET family recipe for this dish. My family’s red braised pork belly tips are originated from my grandpa. To me, my grandpa made the best red braised pork belly EVER! Better than any five-star restaurants!
Tip 1: Blanching the pork belly for 30 minutes instead of 3 minutes.
Most recipes will tell you to blanch the pork belly for 3 to 5 minutes to skim off the dirty froth. However, my grandpa always boiled the pork belly for half hour, and he would get rid of the broth.
He did tell me the reason behind this step. I’ve also tried to blanch the pork belly for 3 minutes. The result was obvious – my grandpa’s method could make the red braised pork belly less oily and more tender.
Tip 2: Pan-frying the pork belly without adding any cooking oil.
Other recipes will tell you to pan-fry sugar with cooking oil to get the sugar color (this article teaches us how to fry sugar color.)
However, pork belly already contains A LOT of oil. You may want to get rid of some oil instead of adding more cooking oil to your dish.
My grandpa always pan-fry the blanched pork belly cubes, until they release about 1/4 cup of pork oil (lard) and turn a bit crispy. He always collected the lard to make lard scallion noodles. OMG these noodles were heavenly delicious!
Light Soy Sauce v.s. Dark Soy Sauce
Red braise is a special cooking technique in China. The secrets are the light soy sauce and dark soy sauce.
Many of you may wonder what the differences are between the two types of soy sauces.
Basically, light soy sauce tastes more liquid, thinner, and saltier, while dark soy sauce is thicker, very stickier, and has a hint of sweetness.
The dark soy sauce can stain the food with the red-wine-color (with more soy flavor too) way better than the light soy sauce. You need a combination of the two in order to make this dish in perfect color and flavor!
Personally, I prefer to use soy sauce with less sodium (which is relatively healthier for someone uses soy sauce a lot); and I only use dark soy sauce when the color of the recipe matters, like this one.
Cold Water v.s. Hot Water
Another key secret to this recipe is the use of cold and hot water at the appropriate time.
Cold water must be used when you blanch the raw pork – this step is to get rid of the blood inside the meat for better taste. Hot water will make surface of the meat turn hard immediately, so that it will lock the blood inside the meat, thus should not be used when we blanch raw meat.
On the other hand, hot water must be used when you stew the pork – this is because cold water would shrink the meat (when the meat is already at high temperature) and ruin the texture of the meat! The pork is supposed to melt in your mouth so we want to ensure the desired texture.
Choice of Pork
And speaking of the texture, this is why we choose pork belly for the dish – it has multiple layers of lean and fat, which is just perfect for this recipe because the meat will taste very dry (hard to chew) if it is mainly lean.
Last but not least, you would want to look for pork belly with skin on. The skin also contributes to the texture of the dish – it adds a layer of soft and glutinous texture to the meat (imagine biting a mochi), which is my favorite part of this entire dish!
Many grocery stores don’t sell pork belly with skin on, so you may need to look for an Asian market for the most authentic taste!
EQUIPMENT
- 1 frying pan
- 1 Dutch oven pot (or other stew pot)
INGREDIENTS
- 1.5 lb Pork belly with skin (Cut into 1” cubes)
- 16 Quail eggs (Optional. Or you can use 5 chicken to substitute.)
- 4 Green onions (Cut into 2” pieces)
- 6 slices Ginger
- ¼ cup Brown sugar
- ¼ cup Cooking wine (Shaoxing wine. If you can’t find shaoxing wine, you can use Japanese sake as a substitute.)
- ¼ cup Light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- Water (Cold water for blanching, hot water for stewing.)
INSTRUCTIONS
– Prepared quail eggs (This step is optional if you don’t want to add quail eggs to this dish.)
- Put 16 quail eggs in a small saucepan. Add cold water to cover eggs by one inch. Bring to a boil. Once the water is boiled, simmer over medium low heat for 7 minutes.
- Transfer the hard boiled quail eggs to a bowl of iced water. Leave eggs in the ice bath for 5 minutes for easy peeling.
- Peel the quail eggs. Set aside.
– Cook Red Braised Pork Belly
1. Cut pork belly into 1 inch cubes. Put them into a pot and fill with cold water. Boil over high heat. Once boiled, skim off the froth if there is any.
2. Add 2 green onions and 3 slices of ginger into the pot. Put the lid on, simmer the pork belly over low heat for 30 minutes. (Most recipes do not have this step. This is the most special and important part from my grandpa’s secret recipe! With this simmering step, the pork belly will be less oily and much tenderer!)
3. Drain the pork belly. Dry them up with kitchen towels.
4. Layer the pork belly cubes in a frying pan, pan fry over medium heat until each side turns golden brown and a little crispy. (Do not add cooking oil at this step. Pork belly will release oil.)
5. Transfer the pan fried pork belly cubes to a Dutch oven pot. (There should be a layer of pork oil (lard) in the frying pan. You can pour the lard into a clean jar, and save it for other dishes. Lard is perfect for cooking Chinese style noodles.)
6. Add 2 green onions, 3 slices of ginger, ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup cooking wine (Shaoxing wine), ¼ cup light soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce to the Dutch oven pot. Add hot water until barely cover the pork belly cubes.
7. Cook over medium high heat until boiled. Put the lid on. Turn to medium low heat to simmer for 1 hour.
8. Remove the lid. Add peeled quail eggs to the pot. Stir to cover the eggs evenly with the sauce.
9. Leave the pot uncovered, use medium heat to thicken the sauce for 10-15 minutes, until all the pork belly cubes and eggs are coated in glossy sauce, and there is barely no liquid left in bottom of the pot.
10. Serve with steamed rice and vegetables of your choice.
Red Braised Pork Belly with Quail Eggs
Equipment
- 1 frying pan
- 1 Dutch oven pot (or other stew pot)
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb Pork belly with skin (Cut into 1'' cubes)
- 16 Quail eggs (Optional. Or you can use 5 chicken to substitute.)
- 4 Green onions (Cut into 2'' pieces)
- 6 slices Ginger
- ¼ cup Brown sugar
- ¼ cup Cooking wine (Shaoxing wine. If you can't find shaoxing wine, you can use Japanese sake as a substitute.)
- ¼ cup Light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- Water (Cold water for blanching, hot water for stewing.)
Instructions
Prepared quail eggs (This step is optional if you don't want to add quail eggs to this dish.)
- Put 16 quail eggs in a small saucepan. Add cold water to cover eggs by one inch. Bring to a boil. Once the water is boiled, simmer over medium low heat for 7 minutes.
- Transfer the hard boiled quail eggs to a bowl of iced water. Leave eggs in the ice bath for 5 minutes for easy peeling.
- Peel the quail eggs. Set aside.
Cook Red Braised Pork Belly
- Cut pork belly into 1 inch cubes. Put them into a pot and fill with cold water. Boil over high heat. Once boiled, skim off the froth if there is any.
- Add 2 green onions and 3 slices of ginger into the pot. Put the lid on, simmer the pork belly over low heat for 30 minutes. (Most recipes do not have this step. This is the most special and important part from my grandpa's secret recipe! With this simmering step, the pork belly will be less oily and much tenderer!)
- Drain the pork belly. Dry them up with kitchen towels.
- Layer the pork belly cubes in a frying pan, pan fry over medium heat until each side turns golden brown and a little crispy. (Do not add cooking oil at this step. Pork belly will release oil.)
- Transfer the pan fried pork belly cubes to a dutch oven pot. (There should be a layer of pork oil (lard) in the frying pan. You can pour the lard into a clean jar, and save it for other dishes. Lard is perfect for cooking Chinese style noodles.)
- Add 2 green onions, 3 slices of ginger, ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup cooking wine (Shaoxing wine), ¼ cup light soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce to the dutch oven pot. Add hot water until barely cover the pork belly cubes.
- Cook over medium high heat until boiled. Put the lid on. Turn to medium low heat to simmer for 1 hour.
- Remove the lid. Add peeled quail eggs to the pot. Stir to cover the eggs evenly with the sauce.
- Leave the pot uncovered, use medium heat to thicken the sauce for 10-15 minutes, until all the pork belly cubes and eggs are coated in glossy sauce, and there is barely no liquid left in bottom of the pot.
- Serve with steamed rice and vegetables of your choice.
Video
@msshiandmrhe Sweet and Sticky ❓🤔 Chinese Red Braised Pork Belly ❗️😆 #redbraisedporkbelly #chinesefood #easyrecipe #cookingasmr #mealprep #comfortfood #asianfood #foodtiktok
♬ comethru – Jeremy Zucker
Absolutely loved this, we were skeptical of how edible the fat would be and omg it was delicious
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