Lu Rou Fan (滷肉飯)

New: October 2022

This is a double recipe, probably could make a 3x next time...

2 lbs pork belly, skin on (next time: do skin off, and do half pork belly, half pork shoulder or loin)

4 t oil

1 T sugar

2 small onions or 6 shallots

16 shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dried)

0.5 cup shaoxing wine

6 T light soy

4 T dark soy

4 c water

2 star anise

2 cinnamon stick

12 cloves

6 bay leaves

4 t sichuan peppercorns

4 t dried tangerine peel (I used fresh clementine peels)

4 slices fresh ginger

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil (just enough so that the pork will be fully submerged)

2. Dice pork (leave skin on or cut it off)

3. Blanch the chopped pork belly for 1 minute. Drain, rinse clean of any scum, and set aside.

4. Heat the oil in a dutch oven over low heat, and add the sugar. Cook the sugar until it starts to melt.

5. Add the onions or shallots. Turn up the heat to medium high and stir-fry the onions for a minute. 

6. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry for another couple minutes.

7. Add the blanched pork, shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and water. 

8. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, add the spices (which should be tied in cheese cloth)

9. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

10. At this point the meat should be fall-apart tender. To finish the dish, remove the spice packet and turn up the heat to medium high to thicken the sauce, stirring occasionally. This process should take about 5-minutes. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon, but there should still be plenty of it left. Serve over steamed white rice.