Eight Treasures Braised Pork (Ba Bao Rou)

Ingredients

• 1 jin (斤, ~500g) pork
• 2 liang (兩, ~75g) dried scallops (淡菜)
• 2 liang chicken feet (鷹爪)
• 1 liang dried shiitake mushrooms (香蕈)
• 2 liang dried jellyfish (花海蜇)
• 4 pieces walnut meats
• 4 liang bamboo shoot slices (筍片)
• 2 liang premium ham (好火腿)
• 1 liang sesame oil (麻油)
• autumn-pressed soy sauce (秋油)
• rice wine (酒)

Instructions

1. Begin with one jin of pork, choosing meat that is half lean and half fatty. Blanch it in boiling water twelve to twenty times, then slice it into leaves as thin as willow fronds.
2. Prepare the supporting ingredients: small dried scallops (2 liang), chicken feet (2 liang), dried shiitake mushrooms (1 liang), dried jellyfish (2 liang), walnut meats (4, skinned), bamboo shoot slices (4 liang), and premium ham (2 liang). Have sesame oil (1 liang) ready.
3. Place the pork in a wok. Season it with autumn-pressed soy sauce and rice wine, and braise (紅燒 — red-braising, a technique combining soy, sugar, and wine) until the meat reaches fifty-percent doneness. At that point, add all the remaining ingredients, but introduce the jellyfish last, as it is delicate.