Savory Steamed Pork Belly 蒸扣肉 Kou Rou

If the sweet pork belly is the dessert of this banquet, this Kou Rou is the main event. But I have to tell you, the real star of this bowl is not the meat. It is the ugly little vegetable underneath — Ya Cai (芽菜), Sichuan pickled mustard sprouts. It looks like nothing. But this is the soulmate.

The meat gives oil to the sprouts. The sprouts give salt to the meat. Perfect marriage. Better than most marriages I know.

This is what we call a Rice Killer. I can eat three bowls of rice just with these sprouts. My husband can eat four. But we do not talk about that.

Ingredients

For the pork:

• 520g (1.1 lbs) pork belly
• 35g ginger (10g crushed for boiling, 15g finely chopped for stir-frying)
• 2 green onions
• 2 star anise
• 3 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
• 10g salt (for rubbing the skin)
• 3 tbsp cooking oil (for frying)

For the Ya Cai:

• 150g Ya Cai (Sichuan pickled mustard greens)
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped

For the sauce:

• 20g light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 3-5 tbsp red sugar syrup (Tang Se — same recipe as the sweet pork belly)
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns

Directions

1. Boil the pork belly with crushed ginger, green onions, star anise, and cooking wine until cooked through.
2. Poke holes and salt. Remove the pork and poke holes all over the skin with a fork or skewer. Rub salt on the skin. This is important — the salt stops the oil from exploding everywhere when you fry it.
3. Fry until golden. Heat oil to 410°F (210°C). Carefully lower the pork in, skin-side down. Listen to that sizzle. You want the skin to wrinkle up — that is called tiger skin. That wrinkled texture is how it absorbs all the sauce later.
4. Soak in broth. After frying, put the pork back into the broth you boiled it in. Soak for 20 minutes. Watch the skin puff up.
5. Stir-fry the Ya Cai. This step is not optional. Ya Cai is naturally very salty. Stir-frying it with the chopped ginger and garlic wakes up the aroma and takes away some of the harsh saltiness. If you just dump it in raw, way too salty.
6. Mix the sauce. Combine the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar syrup, white sugar, and white pepper.
7. Assemble. Cut the pork into 9 thick slices, keeping the skin attached. Coat each piece in the sauce. Place them skin-side down in a bowl. Pack the fried Ya Cai on top. Pour any remaining sauce over everything.
8. Steam on medium-low for 2 hours. Then flip it onto a plate. The skin should be on top now, sticky and beautiful, with the Ya Cai underneath.

Chinese Mom Tips

Do not skip stir-frying the Ya Cai. I cannot say this enough. Ya Cai straight from the package is harsh and too salty. Stir-frying it first in oil with ginger and garlic transforms it — the aroma opens up and the saltiness mellows. This one step is the difference between good Kou Rou and great Kou Rou.

Why poke holes in the skin? The holes let the salt penetrate the skin and let steam escape during frying. Without the holes, the skin can pop and splatter hot oil. Safety first, always.

Why soak after frying? The broth rehydrates the fried skin, making it puffy and spongy. This is how it soaks up all the sauce during the two-hour steam. If you skip the soak, the skin stays hard.