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A plate of twice-cooked pork: glossy caramelized pork belly slices tossed with leeks and red bell pepper strips in a red chili oil sauce, served over steamed white rice

Twice-Cooked Pork (Hui Guo Rou)

Sichuan twice-cooked pork: pork belly simmered with ginger and scallions, cooled, sliced thin, then seared crisp and tossed with Pixian doubanjiang, leeks, and sweet bean sauce.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the boiled pork
  • 2 lb skinless pork belly in one piece (900 g)
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
  • 6 fresh ginger slices
  • 3 scallions cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
For the stir-fry
  • 2 tbsp neutral oil
  • 2 tbsp Pixian doubanjiang (fermented chili bean paste)
  • 1 tbsp douchi (fermented black beans) rinsed
  • 2 tsp tianmianjiang (sweet bean sauce)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp dark soy sauce
  • 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
  • 1 inch fresh ginger julienned
  • 2 leeks white and light green parts only, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 red bell pepper cut into strips

Method
 

  1. Boil the pork. Put the pork belly in a pot and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Add the Shaoxing wine, ginger slices, scallions, and salt. Bring to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer and cook 25 to 30 minutes, until a chopstick slides into the thickest part with slight resistance.
  2. Cool and slice. Transfer to an ice bath for 10 minutes, then pat dry. Slice into pieces about 4 to 5 millimeters thick, roughly 1/4 inch.
  3. Sear. Heat a wok over high heat with the oil until it shimmers. Add the pork slices in a single layer and sear 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until golden at the edges and some fat has rendered.
  4. Bloom the paste. Push the pork to the sides, drop the heat to medium, and add the doubanjiang and douchi. Fry about 30 seconds, stirring, until the oil turns red and smells toasty.
  5. Sweeten. Stir in the tianmianjiang, sugar, and dark soy sauce until the pork is coated.
  6. Add the vegetables. Add the garlic, ginger, leeks, and bell pepper. Stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes until the leeks soften at the edges but still hold their shape.
  7. Serve. Slide onto a warm platter and serve immediately with steamed white rice.

Notes

Note 1: The boil is the recipe. Test with a chopstick at 25 minutes: it should slide into the thickest part with slight resistance. Under-boiled pork is the most common reason this dish comes out chewy.
Note 2: Cool the pork before slicing. Ten minutes in an ice bath firms the belly enough to cut clean 4-millimeter slices; slicing warm gives torn, uneven pieces that cook at different speeds.
Note 3: Fry the doubanjiang about 30 seconds on medium heat, until the oil turns red and smells toasty. Longer and the paste scorches and turns bitter; shorter and it tastes raw and flat.
Note 4: Do not skip the sweet. Doubanjiang is salty and funky, and the tianmianjiang plus the pinch of sugar is what rounds it into something you want a second bowl of rice for. A teaspoon of hoisin works if you have no tianmianjiang.
Note 5: Leftovers keep 3 days refrigerated. Reheat in a hot wok, not the microwave, so the slices crisp again; the pork absorbs the sauce overnight, so the second-day bowl tastes deeper.