~672 cal · 61g protein · 10g carbs · 39g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Glossy cubes of red-braised pork belly with scallions
🇨🇳 Shanghai
Red-braising is Shanghai’s mother technique, and hongshao rou its masterpiece — sugar melted to caramel, then soy and wine reduced to a glossy red-brown coat. Every family calibrates sweetness differently and considers all other calibrations wrong.
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Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 4 —
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2 lbs pork belly, large cubes
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3 tbsp rock sugar
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3 tbsp + 1 tbsp light + dark soy sauce
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1/2 cup Shaoxing wine
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4 + 3 ginger, thick slices + scallions
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2 star anise
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1 small stick cinnamon
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2 tbsp neutral oil
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for 4 steamed rice + blanched greens, to serve
Instructions
1
Blanch the pork cubes 3 minutes; rinse. (Plant version: sear the mushrooms and puffs instead.)
2
Melt the rock sugar in oil over medium until amber — the moment it foams, add the pork and tumble to coat in caramel.
3
Add ginger, scallions, spices, wine, both soys, and water to nearly cover.
4
Simmer, lid ajar, 75 minutes (30 for the plant version) until fork-tender.
5
Raise the heat and reduce, turning constantly, until the sauce clings like lacquer. Serve over rice with greens.
Shanghainese home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Shanghai. Where red-braising is the color of home.
🗺️
China. Eight great culinary traditions inside one border.
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Asia. From street-cart woks to slow monastery kitchens.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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