Chinese pork belly slices recipe

It's Cinco de Mayo and you're probably wondering why I'm sharing a Chinese dish with you on this day that General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín led a ragtag band of Mexicans to victory against a French force double it's size. Well, I don't have a good excuse, but I can tell you that this Huí Guō Ròu is AMAZING stuffed into a fresh corn tortilla

Huí Guō Ròu (回锅肉), which literally means "meat returned to pot" is a dish with Sichuan roots. As the name implies, the meat is boiled once before being stir-fried. The idea is that by boiling the pork belly, it not only renders out some of the fat, it also tenderizes the meat. Because the boiling time is so short it's debatable how tender it makes the meat, but what it does do is prime the fat for high-heat cooking.

After being boiled and sliced, the pork belly is stir-fried over high-heat, crisping up the edges, while rendering the fat in the middle melt-in-your-mouth tender. It's seasoned with Doubanjiang, a fiery chili broad bean paste, and a sweet and nutty wheat and fermented soybean paste called Tianmianjiang. Added to the hot pan, the sauce instantly caramelizes, glazing each slice of pork with the perfect balance between sweet and spicy, with a lingering savory complexity.

While many versions of this dish call for adding other vegetables such as cabbage, bean sprouts or peppers, I like it simpler. Garlic scapes and scallions are the only vegetables I add, contributing aromatic allium notes while giving the pork center stage.

It's Cinco de Mayo and you're probably wondering why I'm sharing a Chinese dish with you on this day that General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín led a ragtag band of Mexicans to victory against a French force double it's size. Well, I don't have a good excuse, but I can tell you that this Huí Guō Ròu is AM...Marc Matsumoto

Ingredients

1 tablespoon

Tianmianjiang (sweet wheaten bean paste)

1 tablespoon

Shaoxing wine

1 teaspoon

Sugar - granulated

1.25 centimeters

Ginger - fresh (peeled and thinly julienned)

2 teaspoons

Doubanjiang (chili bean paste)