• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

China Sichuan Food

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Index
  • Sichuan
  • Subscribe
  • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Index
    • Sichuan
    • Subscribe
    • About
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Recipes » pork

    Chairman's Red Braised Pork Belly

    Last Modified: October 9, 2022 by Elaine| 17 Comments

    669 shares
    • Share on Facebook
    Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

    Chairman's Red braised or red cooked pork belly (红烧肉)is one of the most famous Classic Chinese dishes from Hunan cuisine. It is extremely comforting because of the strong flavor and bright red color. 

    chairman Mao's red braised pork belly|chinasichuanfood.com

    In china, there are different variations of red braised pork belly. The most popular two versions are Shanghai style red cooked pork belly(苏氏红烧肉) and Maoshi red cooked pork belly. The former version usually colored with soy sauce and sugar with a pure savory and sweet taste. However the later version is colored with sugar only with a naughty spicy savory and sweet taste.  Mao style re braised pork belly(毛氏红烧肉) belongs to Hunan cuisine with a spicy and savory taste. I think that you have gotten that Mao style red cooked pork is named after Chinese chairman Mao zedong. 

    In addition to regular braised pork belly,  dried long beans, turnip, hard boiled eggs and other side vegetables can be also add in red braised pork belly. 

    chairman Mao's red braised pork belly|chinasichuanfood.com

    The original color is coming from caramelized sugar other than dark soy sauce. We call this type of coloring as sugar coloring (糖色). Sugar color can be made either water or oil. Caramelized sugar not only brings color but also great unique flavors.

    chairman Mao's red braised pork belly|chinasichuanfood.com

    How to make sugar coloring

    1.Add 3 tablespoons of oil in wok and then place smashed rock sugar in. Continue frying over medium fire until the sugar melts and turns into amber. 

    2.Pour hot water quickly, be carefully as the liquid may splash. Let it simmer for another minute.

    chairman Mao's red braised pork belly|chinasichuanfood.com

    Instructions

    1. Prepare a pan and fry the pork rind until slightly browned. This helps to hold the shape and remove the odd taste. Then wash the pork rind well. 

    2.Cut the pork belly into cubes around 2 cm and the. Add some clean water in a wok, add 1 tablespoon cooking wine and green onion sections. Cook for 5 minutes after the water boils. Transfer out and drain well. 
    chairman Mao's red braised pork belly|chinasichuanfood.com
    3.Place the pork belly in a pan and sauté  until the surface becomes slightly brown.  This helps to remove extra oil and also hold the shape after cooked by hardening the surface.

     

    4.Get a stew pot, add dried chili pepper, star anise, ginger slices and garlic slices to stir fry until aroma.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is chairman-maos-red-braised-pork-belly-23.jpg
    5.Place the cooked pork in. Only pork cubes, discard the oil. Add 4 tablespoon of sugar color and 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce. Mix well.
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is chairman-maos-red-braised-pork-belly-24.jpg
    6.Pour in boiling water and simmer for around 1 hour. Use high fire to thicken the sauce.
    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is chairman-maos-red-braised-pork-belly-27.jpg

    Red Braised Pork Belly

    Elaine
    Homemade simplified version of red braised pork belly.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 30 mins
    Cook Time 30 mins
    Total Time 1 hr
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Chinese
    Servings 4
    Calories 1049 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    Braised pork belly

    • 800 g pork belly
    • 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
    • 4 tbsp. sugar color
    • 1 tbsp. cooking wine
    • 1 inch root ginger sliced
    • 3 garlic cloves , peeled
    • 2 star anise
    • 1 small piece Chinese cinnamon
    • 4-6 dried chili peppers
    • 2 scallion sections
    • 2 bay leaves

    Sugar coloring

    • 3 tbsp. oil
    • ¼ cup smashed rock sugar
    • 1.5 cup hot water

    Instructions

    Sugar color

    • Add 3 tablespoons of oil in wok and then place smashed rock sugar in. Continue frying over medium fire until the sugar melts and turns into amber.
    • Pour hot water quickly, be carefully as the liquid may splash. Let it simmer for another minute.

    Braised Pork Belly

    • Prepare a pan and fry the pork rind until slightly browned. This helps to hold the shape and remove the odd taste. Then wash the pork rind well.
    • Cut the pork belly into cubes around 2 cm and the. Add some clean water in a wok, add 1 tablespoon cooking wine and green onion sections. Cook for 5 minutes after the water boils. Transfer out and drain well.
    • Place the pork belly in a pan and sauté  until the surface becomes slightly brown.  This helps to remove extra oil and also hold the shape after cooked by hardening the surface.
    • Get a stew pot, add dried chili pepper, star anise, ginger slices and garlic slices to stir fry until aroma.
    • Place the cooked pork in. Only pork cubes, discard the oil. Add 4 tablespoon of sugar color and 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce. Mix well.
    • Pour in boiling water and simmer for around 1 hour. Use high fire to thicken the sauce.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 1049kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 19gFat: 106gSaturated Fat: 39gCholesterol: 144mgSodium: 272mgPotassium: 414mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 157IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 19mgIron: 1mg
    Keyword Pork Belly, Red Braised
    Tried this recipe?Mention @ChinaSichuanFood

    More recipes you may enjoy

    • Sichuan Dry Fried Potato
    • Rou Jia Mo- Chinese Hamburger-Braised Pork Belly Buns
    • Mapo Tofu Recipe
    • Hunan Pork Stir Fry

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Tyler

      March 13, 2014 at 2:58 pm

      I have a question for the cook. How much boiling water should be added in step 5? Also, should you use shui dian fen to thicken the sauce?

      Reply
      • Elaine Luo

        March 13, 2014 at 7:36 pm

        Hi Tyler,

        Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
        In step 5, add boiling water to just cover the pork belly.
        For the second question, we do not use shui dian fen to thicken the sauce. Just turn up the fire to evaporate the extra water after the pork belly is cooked. For most of the meat dishes, we do not use shui dian fen. It is commonly used in soup or veggie stir-fry recipes.
        I hope the information can help.
        Nice day!

        Reply
    2. Marie

      May 26, 2014 at 1:25 pm

      Tried it and it was pretty good! I wonder how restaurants make it this 'perfect red' though.

      Reply
      • Elaine Luo

        May 26, 2014 at 8:26 pm

        Marie,

        In fact there are many ways for cooking red braised pork belly. I am using the simplest way in this recipe. Some requires large amount of sugar and stir fry the sugar to a red color, while others use red fermented bean curd for coloring. Besides there are restaurants using Red yeast rice powder or even monascus pigments for the bright color. Soy sauce with crystal sugar cannot bring such a red color.

        Reply
    3. Paul M.

      May 24, 2016 at 6:30 am

      Just a quick question:....Do you remove the tough outer skin first?
      I enjoy your food!
      PAulM

      Reply
      • Elaine

        May 25, 2016 at 2:23 pm

        No Paul, we treasure the pork rind in most of our Chinese dishes. They will become quite yummy when well cooked, even better than the meat. But it is ok to remove them if you do not like to deal with the hair.

        Reply
    4. Corey Dubay

      July 09, 2016 at 1:05 am

      How much white sugar do you use?
      What is the last bullet point?

      Reply
      • Elaine

        July 09, 2016 at 5:10 pm

        Hi Corey,
        I believe that rock sugar should be match better than white sugar for this recipe.

        Reply
    5. Justin

      November 25, 2016 at 10:22 pm

      Great recipe! I love this dish and have always wanted to cook it well. Thanks for posting

      Reply
      • Elaine

        November 27, 2016 at 8:54 am

        Hi, Justin
        Thanks for kind comment. May you like it!

        Reply
    6. Richard

      May 14, 2017 at 8:15 am

      Hi Elaine, your page is fantastic, i'm learning so much. I especially love the hunan and sichuan kitchen, cause i love hot food with a lot of chili peppers . Here in Germany it is quite hard to find a real chinese restaurant, so i'm very glad i found your page 祝福你一切顺利并在...方面成功 and thank you very much ! Best regards Richard

      Reply
      • Elaine

        May 15, 2017 at 8:23 am

        Thank you, Richard.

        Reply
    7. Jack

      January 30, 2019 at 10:05 am

      5 stars
      Hi Elaine, what do you recommend serving this dish with?

      Reply
      • Elaine

        January 30, 2019 at 8:18 pm

        Jack,
        Since pork belly contains lots of oil, I usually serve this with some refreshing salad and vegetable soups. I highly recommend you try this bok choy and tofu soup and healthy vegetable stir fries or salads.

        Reply
    8. Dave Peel

      October 29, 2019 at 6:36 am

      The six steps in the pictures don't agree with the six steps in the printable recipe. The recipe doesn't mention adding sugar and cassia. (Step 5 in the picture.) Star anise is two steps after garlic and ginger in pictures, but same step in printed recipe? Which should I do?

      Thanks so much for your recipes, I really enjoy them!

      Reply
    9. Eileen Ma

      June 03, 2021 at 10:14 pm

      Hi Elaine - I'm excited to see this recipe and I'm looking forward to trying it!

      I have a question, though. What is the pork rind that we are supposed to fry? Is that a separate item to purchase? Or is it trimmed from the pork belly?

      Thank you!
      Eileen

      Reply
      • Elaine

        June 04, 2021 at 8:22 am

        Eileen,
        To make braised pork belly, we need to keep the rind. Fried it firstly can help to keep the shape and make the rind more aromatic.

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi Welcome

    Hi welcome to my little corner where I sharing authentic and easy to follow Chinese recipes. Don't be limited by the site name. Know me more from About Page.

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Popular

    • Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing)
    • Mapo Tofu Recipe
    • How to Make Boba Pearls at Home -Tapioca Pearls
    • Twice Cooked Pork--Szechuan Pork Stir Fry
    • Red Braised Pork Belly —(HongShaoRou)
    • Pork and Mushroom Stir Fry

    Find Recipes

    Email List

    Subscribe Our Email list to get updates and recipes

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    • Privacy Policy. Disclaimer. About. Hot Pot cookbook

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 ChinaSichuanFood.com | All Rights Reserved