Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re adding to our series dedicated to the Bay Area restaurant scene with a shot at the newest menu item on the Woo Can Cook pop up menu, which is a Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly, or “lu rou fan,” (I’m allowed to feature my own restaurant in this series…right? Idunno. Doesn’t matter, I make the rules anyway). For those unfamiliar, a lu rou fan (or often more colloquially, just simply “roufan”),is a classic Taiwanese comfort food that features a slow cooked pork belly which has been braised in dark soy sauce for a deeply rich, tender and savory piece of pork.

In addition, rou fan is also most often accompanied in its braise by a wide variety of toasted spices to achieve its fragrant and aromatic nature as well. Today we’ll be doing this with a classic licorice-leaning combination of star anise, cinnamon, and Sichuan peppercorn (or in other words, any or all of the spices found in Chinese 5 spice, which fun fact, is not actually limited to five spices).  In addition to our pork belly, we’ll also be taking advantage of our long dark soy sauce braise as an opportunity to make some brown “tea” eggs by throwing in some soft bowled eggs during the braise. Then finally finishing this all off with some crispy low and slow cooked caramelized shallots for a tasty sweet finishing garnish. Hope you try it.

 

Serves 3-4

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 cloves garlic

  • 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

  • 1 lb pork belly (skin on)

  • 3-4 shallots

  • 10-12 shiitake mushrooms

  • 4 eggs

  • peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

  • 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

  • 2 tbsp dark soy sauce

  • 2 tbsp brown sugar

INGREDIENTS (spices)

  • 2 cinnamon sticks

  • 4 star anise pods

  • 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn

PREP

  • CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside

  • FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside

  • SLICE the pork belly into strips, set aside

  • SLICE the shallots thinly, set aside

  • REHYDRATE the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water until tender, then reserve the water, slice the mushrooms into strips, and set aside

  • COMBINE all the sauce ingredients, set aside

ON THE STOVE

  • HEAT a wok over medium low heat, then add all spice ingredients and dry toast until fragrant for about 5 minutes

  • ADD the spices to a spice bag or cheese cloth, then tie shut and set aside

  • BOIL a a pot of water, then reduce heat to a simmer, add the eggs and cook to a soft boil for 6 minutes

  • PEEL the eggs and set aside

  • HEAT the wok on medium low heat, then add 1 1/4 cup peanut oil and long yao

  • ADD the shallots and with constant agitation for about 20 minutes until 80% caramelized, then remove from heat and set aside

  • ADD the pork belly to a cold wok, then gradually bring up heat until fat renders for about 5 minutes, then remove and set aside

  • REHEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao

  • ADD the garlic and ginger and toss until fragrant for about 15 seconds

  • ADD the shiitake mushrooms and pork belly back to the wok, then toss to combine

  • ADD the braising sauce and mushroom water, then toss to combine

  • COVER the wok and let simmer for 1 hour, then add the eggs to the wok and toss to combine

  • COVER again and let simmer for an additional hour, adding additional water if needed

  • FINISH with caramelized shallots

 

tagged with woo can cook, lu rou fan, pork belly, braised pork belly, taiwanese pork belly, slow cook

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