Pagoda Dongpo Pork

Overview

Many people are familiar with the story of Dongpo Pork, which is named after the great writer Su Dongpo. This well-known dish is widely spread in the professional field and among the people. The cooking method is mostly stewing, boiling and steaming, which is simple and easy to learn. Pagoda meat is a hard dish famous for its shape. Many professional restaurants are reluctant to promote this dish. Whether it is the selection of materials or the exquisiteness of the knife, it poses a difficult problem for the chef. I have nothing to do today, so I combined these two famous dishes into one and made a family version of Pagoda Dongpo Pork that combines taste and appearance.

Tags

• hot dishes
• clear water
• fortress meat
• light soy sauce
• oil
• onions
• shaoxing wine
• sugar
• ginger

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 Take one pound of fresh fort meat or pork belly. For health reasons, you should choose meat with less fat layer. If it is pork belly, the width of the meat should not be too narrow, otherwise after heating and shrinkage, it will be impossible to cut into the pagoda. Personally, I think it should be about ten centimeters wide or narrow.

   

2. 2 Clean the meat strips and blanch them in a pot. After removing the foam and debris, boil them for about five minutes, take them out and wash them.

   

3. 3 Cut the meat strips into large pieces. The reason why you cook them first and then cut them is to make the meat pieces more square and avoid deformation caused by blanching. If you are making Dongpo pork, the meat pieces can be smaller, but if you want to change it into a pagoda later, the meat pieces must be larger.

   

4. 4 Heat the wok, add oil and sugar, and simmer over low heat. This is the time to stir-fry the sugar color. For those who don’t like heavy colors, you can skip this step and stew the meat directly in the pot. The sugar needs to be boiled until it changes color. After the fire is turned on, first, keep the heat low, and second, stir constantly to avoid burning the pot or overheating, which will turn the sweetness into bitterness.

   

5. 5 This step is a very dangerous step, so I would like to remind everyone to pay attention. After the color of the sugar in the oil pan becomes darker, put the meat pieces into the oil pan for coloring, skin down first. At this time, there will be a lot of hot oil splashing. It is said that it is called oil frying professionally. It is not mentioned in many recipes. I would like to emphasize that you should take precautions and pay attention to safety. It's best to have a splash screen or something to stop it. Of course, the pot lid is actually the best shield.

   

6. 6 When the meat is almost colored, put the Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, green onion and ginger into the pot and fry it, then put it in the pressure cooker, just like normal stew, keep the pressure for about 25 minutes. For those who don’t use a pressure cooker, just use a casserole or wok to stew the meat. It will be ready in about an hour and a half. Just add more Shaoxing wine and water.

   

7. 7 When the time is up, the meat will be cooked. At this time, impatient friends can actually eat it as Dongpo meat. But for the sake of looks and fun, the process of modifying the knife has just begun. Take the meat out and let it cool. It is best to freeze it slightly or refrigerate it overnight. This way the meat will be tighter and easier to cut without breaking.

   

8. 8 The process of changing the knife requires patience. The meat layer must be thin but not broken. My experience is to put two mutton skewers on the upper and lower sides of the meat piece, so that you don't have to worry about cutting it every time. In addition, when making coir raincoat cucumbers, you can also place chopsticks like this. After changing the knife, the meat pieces will become meat strips.

   

9. 9 After cutting, roll the meat strips into a pagoda shape, and thread the unstable areas with toothpicks. The little pagoda will begin to take shape. The cute little pagoda is very suitable for coaxing children.

   

10. 10 The space inside the pagoda can be filled with other ingredients, both for balanced nutrition and to support the pagoda. You can put plum vegetables, taro, yams, potatoes and other ingredients that can be paired with meat or steamed into the plate.

    

11. 11 Pour some stewed meat soup, sprinkle some salt if it is not flavorful enough, and put it in the steamer over high heat for 25-30 minutes.

    

12. 12 It’s ready to eat after it’s out of the pot. This is the combination of Pagoda Pork and Dongpo Pork, Pagoda Braised Pork.