Today, I’m sharing a recipe for Chairman Mao’s Red Braised Pork Belly.
While the recipe for Shanghai Braised Pork Belly is admired by many, I think it’s time to expand upon it. Many of you have inquired about adding aromatics like scallions, ginger, garlic, and spices like star anise. I resisted a bit, because I really like the traditional flavors of Shanghai-style pork belly. It’s like vanilla ice cream––understated, but it really hits the spot.
Chairman Mao’s Red Braised Pork Belly is kind of like the rocky road to Shanghai-style Pork Belly’s vanilla. I personally like everything original: vanilla ice cream, old-fashioned donuts––they’re familiar and comforting. But sometimes, a little rocky road is needed.
Variations on Braised Pork Belly in China
Overall though, Chinese people love their braised pork belly. It’s a very popular dish, but depending on where you’re traveling in China, the taste can vary drastically from city to city, and from one kitchen to another.
In Shanghai, the taste of the dish is pure, dark soy sauce. In Wuxi, an hour and a half drive away, the braised pork belly tastes closer to candy in sweetness. And if you hop on a plane to Hunan, you’ll find Chairman Mao’s Red Braised Pork Belly. The dish is more heavily flavored with spices, as every meal there requires the addition of chili peppers.
Even in Hunan, there are many variations of Chairman Mao’s Red Braised Pork Belly. Soy sauce vs. no soy sauce; more aromatics vs. less aromatics; some recipes even ask for hoisin sauce.
But there are two common themes:
- Caramelize the sugar like you would in Shanghai Braised Pork Belly to add color, richness, and sheen.
- Add dried hot chili peppers, which are critical to Hunan cuisine.
But feel free to experiment. You really can’t go wrong with braised pork belly!
A Couple Quick Recipe Tips
A couple of tips before you start:
- For the dry hot chilis, the longer you cook them, the hotter they get. You can omit or remove them halfway through cooking if the dish gets too spicy.
- New discovery in my pork braising experience—adding ½ teaspoon sugar at the end rounds out the stronger flavors of the soy sauce and the spiciness from the dried chilies. Give it a try, and let me know what you think!
Mao’s Braised Pork Belly Recipe Instructions
The first step is to blanch the pork belly, which removes any blood or impurities from the meat. To do this, add the pork belly and 3 slices of ginger to a pot with enough cold water to submerge the pork belly. With the lid on, bring it to a boil. Once the pot boils, turn down the heat and simmer for one more minute. Drain, rinse the pork belly clean, and set aside.
With the wok set over low heat, add the oil and rock sugar (or 3 tablespoons regular sugar).
Slowly melt the sugar, taking care to not let it burn.
Then add in the pork belly, 3 slices ginger, and the white parts of the scallions. Turn up the heat to medium.
Stir and coat the pork belly with the melted sugar.
Now, add the Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cinnamon, star anise, bay leaves, dried chili peppers, and water.
Stir and make sure everything is submerged. There will be some caramelized sugar on your spatula, dissolve it in the water before covering the wok.
Bring the mixture up to a simmer over medium low heat for 1 hour. Check the pork periodically to make sure the sauce doesn’t dry up.
Once the pork is to your liking in terms of tenderness, turn up the heat to cook off any excess sauce, stirring constantly. The sauce will reduce to a glistening coating on the pork belly.
Last, add in the remaining ½ teaspoon sugar and the green parts of the scallions. Stir quickly and serve!
Chairman Mao’s Red Braised Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pork belly (900g, cut into ¾-inch pieces)
- 6 slices ginger (divided)
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 3 tablespoons sugar (or 40 grams rock sugar, plus ½ teaspoon)
- 3 scallions (diced with the white and green parts separated)
- ½ cup Shaoxing wine
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce (生抽)
- 1½ tablespoons dark soy sauce (老抽)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 4 bay leaves
- 1-2 dried chili peppers (optional)
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- The first step is to blanch the pork belly, which removes any blood or impurities from the meat. To do this, add the pork belly and 3 slices of ginger to a pot with enough cold water to submerge the pork belly. With the lid on, bring it to a boil. Once the pot boils, turn down the heat and simmer for one more minute. Drain, rinse the pork belly clean, and set aside.
- With the wok set over low heat, add the oil and rock sugar (or 3 tablespoons regular sugar). Slowly melt the sugar, taking care to not let it burn. Then add in the pork belly, 3 slices ginger, and the white parts of the scallions. Turn up the heat to medium. Stir and coat the pork belly with the melted sugar.
- Now, add the Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cinnamon, star anise, bay leaves, dried chili peppers, and water. Stir and make sure everything is submerged. There will be some caramelized sugar on your spatula, dissolve it in the water before covering the wok. Bring the mixture up to a simmer over medium low heat for 1 hour. Check the pork periodically to make sure the sauce doesn’t dry up.
- Once the pork is to your liking in terms of tenderness, turn up the heat to cook off any excess sauce, stirring constantly. The sauce will reduce to a glistening coating on the pork belly. Last, add in the remaining ½ teaspoon sugar and the green parts of the scallions. Stir quickly and serve!
Gorgeous rich and completely satisfying
That’s lovely!
I find that cooking pork belly on a low-medium simmer for an hour can sometimes lead to the meat toughening up. Should I keep cooking it on low (longer than 1 hour) to soften it up eventually? Or am I cooking it for too long and with the heat too high?
Hi Justin, did you blanch the meat starting with cold water, or did you boil the water, then add the pork chunks in? By doing the latter, you are tightening the meat texture.
This recipe is so easy to make and was absolutely delicious. It does reduce after about 15 mins to a beautiful glaze.
Hi Carolyn, 15 minutes is a long time. You can try to use less water to begin with next time :-)
Love this recipe, make it all the time in the winter!
I usually use pork shoulder instead of belly, since it’s easier to find in my local grocery store.
Way to go, Cameron, love it :-)
This is one of those dishes that i get such an irresistible craving for every so often that i make it even though my wife hates it, and have leftovers for days all to myself. I find 2 dried chilies to have no impact at all, and usually have to upgrade to 6 or 7.
Hahaha…more chilies sounds great :-)
Love the flavors of this recipe but I’m having an issue with it. At the end, there is so much fat that has been rendered from the pork that the sauce won’t reduce to a glaze when all the water is evaporated. Is there anything I can do to either remove fat during the braise or prevent it from rendering in the first place?
I understand the problem, Eric, I usually pick leaner pork bellies to avoid this problem. You can skim off some fat when there is still a lot of sauce, but the fat is visibly there. (Do keep the fat for cooking other dishes like this Yang Chun Mian) :-)
Delicious! As always, I had issues with my caramel crystallizing instead of melting, but of course it dissolved once the water was added. As with other comments, liquid never reduced, but this was fine since I threw in tofu knots, which soaked up the excess. (Any excuse to add tofu knots!)
Hi Susan, if you turn the heat up slightly and keep it cooking, it definitely will reduce back to a glaze ;-)
For the sugar the text says rock sugar but the picture shows the brick type . Which is the correct one to use ?
Both are workable and both are marked as rock sugar. They are just in different form.
Just made this recipe for the second time, and the result was absolutely WONDERFUL.
However, I did have the same issue as a couple of other commenters. After simmering in the wok covered for an hour, pretty much all of the liquid was still in the wok. I had to cook at high heat uncovered for an additional 40 minutes to cook off most of the water. Not sure if it’s because of my cheap wok or my electric coil stove, but this recipe did take much longer due to this.
Will still cook this again though, it was that good!! Maybe next time I should simmer uncovered? Any insight as to why some people have issues with the liquid reducing would be helpful.
Lower BTU cooks less liquid off. Do reduce the water next time :-)