Oil-Blanched Pork (Stir-Fried in Hot Oil)

Ingredients

• pork (hard/lean cuts)
• wine (黃酒, huangjiu)
• soy sauce (醬, jiang — fermented bean paste or soy sauce)
• oil for deep-frying
• scallion (蔥)
• garlic (蒜)
• vinegar (醋)

Instructions

1. Cut hard, lean pork into cubes and remove all sinew and connective tissue. Steep the meat thoroughly in wine and soy sauce (jiang).
2. Heat oil until it reaches a smoking point. Immerse the marinated pork in this hot oil and blanch-fry it (炮炙) until the fatty portions lose their greasiness and the lean meat becomes tender and slightly loose in texture—this technique achieves the proper wok hei (鑊氣, the breath of the wok).
3. As you are about to remove the dish from the heat, add scallions and garlic, then give a light spritz of vinegar across the meat.