Grandma’s Braised Pork Belly
Grandma’s braised pork belly, aka. braised pork belly with ginger and crystal sugar, is my absolutely favorite dish!
I heart sweet and savory food. Learnt the tricks of making this scrumptious dish from my Shanghainese auntie. The meat is sooooo tender it melts in your mouth. I can eat up a huge bowl of rice with this meat dish.
This is essentially a one pot dish. All you need is pork belly, ginger, and condiments.
No frying needed. Simply be patient and braise the meat over lowest heat for 3 hours to get the tenderest texture. Adding sugar at the last hour, then thicken the sauce over high heat will help giving the meat a shiny coating. Another trick is do not add water. Use rice wine when you feel you need to add some more liquid if the dish dries up too quickly when simmering.
冰糖紅燒肉（外婆紅燒肉）是我的最愛！配飯可以吃超大一碗。
跟我上海大舅嬷學的食譜～ 不加一滴水，文火慢燉五花肉至軟嫩; 冰糖後加，最後大火收汁自然上亮亮的糖色，完全免去先炒糖色的步驟。姜是唯一配料，簡單而超級美味，喜歡大啖五花肉的朋友們一定要試試!
Servings: 2
Ingredients:
720g (1.6lb.) pork belly
½ cup rice wine
50ml soy sauce
25ml dark soy sauce
70g crystal sugar
8-10 ginger slices
2 ginger pieces for blanching
Instructions:
1. Cut pork belly meat into large pieces (about 1.5” x 1.5”, 4cm x 4cm each). Blanch the meat in boiling water with large ginger pieces for 3-5 minutes. Drain the pot and rinse the meat under running water, place the meat in a clean pot.
2. Add ginger slices in the pot with meat. Add rice wine, soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. Bring to boil then switch to low heat. Simmer for 2 hours with lid on, only leaving a small opening to let some air out, avoiding too much moisture forming too much liquid inside. Flip the meat every 40-60 minutes to evenly color and cook all sides.
3. Meat should be soft after braising for 2 hours. Add a little more rice wine should the pot dries up too fast before meat becomes tender. Do not add water.
4. Add crystal sugar in the pot, and continue simmering for 40 minutes until all sugar melts, meat becomes very tender.
5. Turn the heat high to thicken the liquid sauce. Flip the meat to evenly coat all sides with sauce.
6. Serve with rice! Yum yum~
