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!
I’ve never left comments for recipes even though my son wouldn’t be well fed without the Internet but I wanted to thank you all. For 1) Due to covid, I haven’t been able to fly back home to Taiwan and eating out in Paris will burn my wallet so your website has satisfied all my Asian food cravings and honestly, kept me sane. With that you have 2) encouraged me to revisit and learn my roots through food and 3) expose my half-Taiwanese son to Asian cuisine. Thank you so much for all that you do on this space. It means more to us than just eating. Thank you ❤️🔥🥢🍜🍲🥟🥢❤️🔥
Hi Irene, thank you for your wonderful words—so glad we can be helpful :-)
Utterly superb. Saw the recipe made on Rick Stein’s tv program on Shanghainese cooking -I looked it up online and found your Hunan recipe, which I prefer because we like chilis. The recipe was perfect except that due to others’ comments I only added 2 cups of water which was plenty! It turned out beautifully and I will make it again. Thank you.
Thank you so much for trying our recipe, Katherine, there are a lot more for you to explore here :-)
It’s probably the dish that taste the most fatty that I ate in my life ! I was trying « the woks of life » recipe for the first time and I’m really disappointed in this recipe. Too much fat to even finish my plate ! Do not recommend for sure !
I hear you, Gabrielle, try to look for a leaner cut of pork belly, or use pork butt (with skin on).
Thanks for posting this wonderful recipe – surely we don’t add 4 cups of water AND cover the wok? I tried it this way and the water obviously never evaporated. And then when I tried to cook it off at the end the pork fell apart. Am I missing something?
Hi Ray, sounds like 4 cups of water is too much. Please try 3 cups of water next time, or start with 2 cups and add more until the meat reaches the right tenderness. In this case, it’s ok to start with less water and add more as necessary during the simmering process.
Delicious flavor, but just ludicrously too much water. I saw this comment and only added 3 cups, but it STILL took so long to reduce that the texture of my meat went from chunks to shredded.
Some seriously tasty shredded pork though! Next time I will probably try 2 cups and uncovered.
i want to cook this for my boyfriend, what kind of salad should i made with this dish? and any dessert ideas also? thanks! I want to make a whole menu and im thinking of cheesecake oreo or it doesnt match? Also i love tomato – greek salad but idk if it matches also.
Hi Georgia, here is a good dish that you can make with your romaine to go with this braised pork belly.
Brilliant recipe
Agree! Two thumbs up.
Hi there, Thank you for the recipe. It was superlative as usual. Even then I had to make it from boneless pork knuckle instead of pork belly . Because supply was exhausted in the nearest supermarket (Budapest, Hungary) on Sunday evening. :) The ratio of fat/meat/skin was roughly the same. I hope I did not commit sacrilege with that. :)
Best regard!
Sandor
Hi Sandor, I think boneless pork knuckle is a great choice, you did good :-)
A lovely and rich dish! One of my husband’s new favourites! I did run into the same issue as several other people have commented, where it took much longer for the liquid to reduce down. We weren’t in a hurry though, and the extra long braising time just made it that much more melt in your mouth delicious. Thank you for a fabulous recipe!
All sounds great, you did well ;-)
Can I adapt this to a slow cooker? Please let me know what the appropriate time would be for the setting on LOW. Thanks!
Sorry, Marivi, I don’t have much cooking experience using a slow cooker :-|