White-Braised Pork (Bai Wei Rou)

Ingredients

• 1 jin (catty, ~600g) pork
• 8 parts out of 10 water for initial boiling
• 0.5 jin rice wine (黃酒, huangjiu)
• 2.5 qian (tael, ~12.5g) salt
• 0.5 volume light soy sauce (生抽, sheng chou)
• 1 qian star anise (八角, ba jiao)
• scallion, Sichuan pepper, wood ear fungus, Chinese chives (蔥、椒、木耳、韭菜)

Instructions

1. METHOD ONE:
2. Bring water to a boil and cook the pork until 80 percent tender, then remove and discard the cooking liquid.
3. In a braising vessel, combine half a jin of rice wine and 2.5 qian of salt. Braise the pork for one hour (一個時辰 — a traditional double-hour, roughly one modern hour).
4. Add back half of the original braising liquid and reduce over heat until the broth becomes glossy and unctuous (湯膩為度 — until the liquid turns rich and oily, the traditional endpoint for wok hei, the breath of the wok). The heat should start high and fierce (武火) and finish gentle and even (文火).
5. Finish by scattering scallion, Sichuan pepper, wood ear fungus, and Chinese chives over the meat as you wish.
6. METHOD TWO (ALTERNATIVE):
7. Combine one jin of water, half a jin of rice wine, half a teacup of light soy sauce (生抽), and 1 qian of sugar. Begin with the wine, bring the liquid to a rolling boil, and turn the pork in it 20 times or so. Add 1 qian of star anise, then braise covered until the meat is utterly tender and the broth has reduced. This method is also excellent.