Should Red Braised Pork Use Brown Sugar or White Sugar? Master Says: Don't Use Either!
Red braised pork is a frequently made dish in our family, and its popularity is due to the fact that red braised pork is fatty but not greasy, sweet and tender, and very appetizing. Even people who don't like meat will be tempted by the sight of red braised pork, feeling like they could eat another bowl of rice. When making red braised pork, we know that we need to add sugar to color it, so whether to use rock sugar or white sugar is the key. Today, we'll talk about whether to use rock sugar or white sugar for red braised pork. Master: Don't use either!
Whether it's rock sugar or white sugar, they're actually both for coloring red braised pork, because the red color of red braised pork comes from the sugar caramel. So, when making red braised pork, we first need to add sugar to make sugar caramel. However, whether it's rock sugar or red sugar, making sugar caramel requires a certain amount of time and is also quite dangerous. If you're not careful, you could get burned. However, many years of cooking experience has taught us a different method: using red sugar instead.
Red sugar itself has a reddish color, so it can be directly mixed with the meat to color it, saving a lot of time to make sugar caramel. Compared to rock sugar or white sugar, it's a safer and faster way to make. All we need is ginger slices, scallion segments, light soy sauce, cooking wine, oyster sauce, and a mixture of lean and fatty five-spiced pork belly.
First, the five-spiced pork belly needs to be soaked in salted water for a period of time to remove impurities. After washing the five-spiced pork belly, we can add the seasonings for marinating. The marinating time is about half an hour. When the meat is marinated, we can start cooking. Pour a little oil into the pot, wait for the oil to smoke, and heat it up. Then, add the marinated five-spiced pork belly and stir-fry.
When the pork is slightly browned and has released a lot of pig fat, it's time to add an appropriate amount of red sugar and stir-fry. When the five-spiced pork belly gradually turns color, we can then add warm water and our favorite seasonings to make the meat sticky, and then we can use high heat to boil, cover it with a lid, and simmer over low heat for about an hour, waiting for the meat to emit a meaty aroma before taking it out.
The red braised pork made in this way is convenient and delicious, and it's better at coloring and looks more beautiful. Have you learned it?
