Shanghai-style Braised Pork with Baby Cuttlefish
Modern people are not short of oil and fat, and the frequency of eating braised pork in every household is not very high. Or perhaps, now that there is no shortage of any supplies, the small dishes that mothers used to make are not as memorable as they were in childhood. A sudden outbreak of the epidemic has made the originally comfortable life tense. A while ago, it was quite difficult to buy high-quality chilled pork belly, and inexplicably, there was a craving for braised pork. After buying the desired pork belly and picking up two portions of baby cuttlefish, a hearty dish can be served on the table.
Ingredients
Steps
Wash the pork belly and cut it into evenly sized pieces, similar to mahjong tiles.
Rinse the cut pork belly under running water, then soak it in purified water with two tablespoons of yellow wine and a few slices of ginger for at least one hour. Wash and drain the baby cuttlefish, set aside.
The ingredients for Shanghai-style braised pork are actually very simple: besides scallions and ginger, it's just soy sauce, yellow wine, rock sugar, and a little salt. I also prepare a small spoon of aromatic vinegar to reduce greasiness and tenderize the meat.
Drain the soaked pork belly or pat it dry with kitchen paper.
Heat the pan with a little oil and sauté the ginger slices until fragrant.
Add the pork belly pieces and stir-fry over high heat, ensuring each side is seared to render out the fat.
Remove the stir-fried pork belly and pour out most of the oil from the pan. Add 1/3 of the rock sugar and caramelize it over medium-low heat.
Add the pork belly, scallions, and ginger, and stir-fry quickly over high heat to coat each piece with the caramelized sugar.
Once the pork belly is golden brown, pour in all the yellow wine and bring to a boil to remove any gaminess.
Add a small spoon of aromatic vinegar and continue stir-frying.
Add the baby cuttlefish, then pour in the light and dark soy sauce and continue stir-frying.
Pour in enough hot water to cover the ingredients and bring to a boil over high heat.
Taste the broth and add salt and another 1/3 of the rock sugar to taste—it should be slightly strong in flavor. At this point, I also added five hard-boiled eggs with slits. If you like eggs, you can add them too.
Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for at least one hour—I simmered mine for about an hour and a half.
Before reducing the sauce, remove the eggs first. If you like the sauce for rice, you can also set aside some of the broth.
Turn the heat to high, and before reducing the sauce, sprinkle in the remaining 1/3 of the rock sugar to make the dish more glossy.
Stir-fry continuously over high heat to reduce the sauce.
Plate, serve, and enjoy!