Chinese Food Culture

It has become a long standing Chinese tradition to serve a variety of foods that symbolize good luck and prosperity during the New Year’s Eve Reunion Dinner to usher in the Lunar New Year. One example is steamed fish because the Chinese word for fish �¼(yú) sounds similar to the word 余, which means surplus or abundance. Another is whole chicken, which represents completeness or togetherness.

In the spirit of the upcoming Lunar New Year, I have prepared another pork dish of Chinese origin to add to my series of delicious Chinese New Year recipes – Peking Pork Chop (Jing Du Pork, 京都排骨). The pig is a symbol of plumpness or abundance therefore any pork dish is an auspicious symbol of prosperity. The sweetness and stickiness of the Peking style glaze respectively signify “a sweet year ahead” and “family cohesiveness”. And to top it all off, the color of the sauce is red, which is the Chinese color for celebration, prosperity, and longevity.

The tenderness and juiciness of the pork coupled with the sweet, tart and smoky taste of the sauce makes this a perfect dish to serve with steamed rice. And that is why Peking Pork Chops is one of the most popular items on the menu of Chinese restaurants today.

(Click Page 2 for the Peking Pork Chops Recipe)

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Shanti is a good friend of mine, we met each other through her husband Peikwen Cheng—my ex-colleague and the most talented photographer I know. Based in Beijing, Shanti travels all over China meeting with local families to learn about authentic home-style Chinese cooking. Her many journeys are documented on ShowShanti. If you’re a fan of local culture and story-telling, you have to check out ShowShanti. She is also the proud designer of her gorgeous and colorful Chinese aprons, which you can enter to win. Don’t miss this scrumptious red-cooked pork belly recipe, which she learned from real Chinese home cooks in China, and remember to start following her adventures on ShowShanti.com.

When I first came to China, I didn’t know about Chinese food any more than what I had eaten at countless Chinese restaurants in California. Typical dishes my family and I would order included egg flower soup 蛋花�¯, barbecued-pork steamed buns 叉燒包, spareribs in black bean sauce, barbecued pork, roast pork, Cantonese roast duck, glutinous rice stuffed with pork and steamed in lotus leaves 糯米雞, Ma Po tofu, and pork fried rice. Those dishes were a great beginning for my American Chinese food repertoire. Upon living in China, I encountered many more dishes; too many to list and yet so many more to try.

The dish that quickly made an impression on me was hóngshāo ròu (红烧肉, red-cooked pork belly)â��cubed cuts of pork belly braised in soy sauce and fragrant spices with fat that tenders the lean and falls apart in the mouth. The savory-sweet combination seduces the taste buds, rendering me addicted to this dish for life. As I write this, I wonder, “Is it time for me to stew another pot of this simple dish that waited nearly three decades to find my appetite?”

I learned a version from one Shanghai family (Chen Chen’s hóngshāo ròu Recipe) that had neither chili nor spice; I felt something was missing. I’d learned hóngshāo yu (red-cooked fish), hóngshāo shanyu (red-cooked eel), hóngshāo tuji (red-cooked organic chicken), and hóngshāo zhuti (red-cooked pig’s feet) all of which included fragrant spices like star anise, chilies, Sichuan peppercorn, cassia bark, and black cardamom. I prefer hóngshāo ròu with chilies, Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, and cassia bark. Hóngshāo r�²u is a simple dish and deserves every spice and minute you can give to its perfection.

After making different variations of hóngshāo ròu, I have decided upon a medley of flavors that makes my own family claim this recipe a favorite. As with all home-style recipes, you learn someone’s original recipe then you make it your own. Stick to my recipe a few times then stray with the muse of your own taste buds. Serve hóngshāo ròu with rice and Chinese broccoli. Enjoy!

(Click on Page 2 for the Red-cooked Pork Belly Recipe)

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This sweet and sour pork is prepared American-style with more batter and deep-fried twice for extra crispiness.

Serves 4 to 6
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Directions for sweet and sour pork
Cut the pork into 1-inch cubes. Marinate in the soy sauce and cornstarch for 20 minutes.

To prepare the sauce, in a small bowl, combine the sugar, ketchup, dark soy sauce, salt, water or juice and vinegar. Set aside. In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the water. Set aside.

Peel the carrot and chop on the diagonal into 1-inch pieces. Cut the bell peppers in half, remove the seeds and cut into cubes.

Heat the oil for deep–frying to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the batter, combine the flour and cornstarch. Stir in the egg white and vegetable oil. Add as much of the warm water as is needed to form a thick batter that is neither too dry or too moist. (The batter should not be runny, but should drop off the back of a spoon).

Dip the marinated pork cubes in the batter. Deep-fry in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the wok. Deep-fry the pork until it is golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels.

(If desired you can deep-fry the pork at second time to make it extra crispy. Make sure the oil is back up to 375 before you begin deep-frying again).

To prepare the sweet and sour sauce, bring the sauce ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot, green pepper, and pineapple. Bring to a boil again and thicken with cornstarch mixture, stirring. Check the sauce one more time and adjust seasonings, adding salt and/or vinegar if desired. Serve hot over the deep-fried pork. Serve the sweet and sour pork over rice.