Grandma’s Red Braised Pork Belly | A Basic Chinese Dish

In our new series “A Basic Chinese Dish,” we teach you how to cook classic and simple dishes from China. Because it’s as easy as learning your ABCDs.

Grandma’s red braised pork belly, or hongshaorou, is a classic sweet and salty Shanghainese dish. Here’s how you can make it at home.

Chinese people around the world love making and eating red braised pork belly. To them, the dish reminds them of home. It’s a plate of tender and juicy pork covered with a thick glossy coat of sauce that pairs well with rice or noodle.   

If you’d like to follow along, we have the recipe here:

Recipe

• Oil
• Rock sugar 
• 500g (1.1 pound) of pork belly with skin on
• 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of Shaoxing wine
• 2 scallions
• 3 slices of ginger 
• 2 bay leaves 
• 1 star anise

1. Lightly roast the pork skin to get rid of the hair.
2. Scrape off the burnt bits on the pork skin and rinse it.
3. Cut pork into pieces 3/4 inch thick.
4. Add pork, scallion, ginger, and Shaoxing wine to a pot of cold water.
5. Take the meat out once the water boils.
6. Heat up oil in a pan, and saute 3 slices of ginger and 1 scallion with the pork belly until it’s golden brown. 
7. Add 1 teaspoon of Shaoxing wine, 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce, and 3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce.
8. Add hot water until the meat is fully immersed.
9. Add rock sugar to taste, 1 star anise, and 2 bay leaves.
10. Close the lid and let the food simmer. The dish is ready when the sauce thickens.