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| Grandma's Hong Shao Pork with Chestnuts |
I can’t think of a better place to begin a blog on traditional
Chinese cooking than by taking a look at Hong Shao Pork, which is a popular,
archetypal dish that you will find on every Chinese family’s dinner table.
Due to its domestic popularity (I was even taught at school that
it was Mao’s favourite dish!), Hong Shao Pork is generally considered too
“common” a dish to include on a fancy restaurant menu in China, which I think
goes some way towards explaining its relatively low profile outside of China.
This is such a shame as I have yet to introduce someone to the dish here in the
UK who doesn’t absolutely love it.
In its most basic form, the dish consists of pork belly cubes (with
the skin on) caramelised in a sweet, sticky sauce incorporating sugar, ginger,
star anise, cinnamon, soy sauce, shaoxing cooking wine and, of course, love,
love and more love!
Every family has their own version of the recipe which is
usually a closely guarded secret passed down through the generations. Recipes
I’ve sampled over the years have incorporated a wide range of extra ingredients
like quails eggs, bamboo shoots, winter melon and citron lily flower.
There are also regional variations to the dish. For example, it
is common for recipes in the Southern provinces to use dark soy sauce to bring
about a deep, reddish colour whereas Northern provinces often use a higher
ratio of sugar to soy sauce to bring about a light, orangey effect.
My personal favourite has to be my
Grandma’s version (pictured above) made with chestnuts. They go perfectly with
the sweet, sticky glaze and immediately bring back sweet memories of Chinese
New Year celebrations in the living room of my Mum’s old flat and weekend
visits to my Grandma’s house...SWEET,
SWEET, SWEET…just like the dish!
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