Eye appealing Sichuan style pork slices have a wonderful combined taste featured by garlic sauce and Sichuan style red oil. In the previous post, Elaine introduced a way of making super great taste Chinese red oil. I have been staying in my hometown with my family recently and get completely inspired by a family dinner in a local restaurant, which is famous for its Sichuan style cold dishes. Their most popular dishes include this one and the cold spicy fish fillet salad. If you have one jar of Chinese red oil, this dish can be quite quick in the following summer days.
What part of pork to use
The key point of this dish is to choose meat with both fat and lean meat. In China, we usually sue Ham leg (shown as part 7) to make Sichuan style pork slices in garlic sauce because it contains nearly a ratio of 3:7 (fat vs lean meat). Pork belly contains too much fat but it can work fine too. If you want to use pork belly, choose the leaner strip.
The Chinese name of this dish is “蒜(suàn)泥(ní)白(bái)肉(ròu)”; literally mean pork slices in garlic sauce. In Sichuan area, restaurants usually use the hind leg meat. But it is ok to use pork belly or other part as long as there are both lean meat and fat.
Instructions
Firstly place the pork belly or hind leg in cold water, add ginger slices, green onion and Sichuan peppercorn and then heat to boil. Slightly slow the fire to medium and cook for around 30 minutes to 40 minutes.
Transfer out and cool down to warm. Cut the pork into slices, as thin as possible. Place smashed cucumber in the bottom of the serving plate and then lay the pork slices.
During the cooking time, smash the garlic and let the garlic set for a while. Then add black vinegar (not for sour taste, but to remove the oily feeling), sesame oil, ginger and spring onion, sweetened soy sauce, low salt soy sauce and chili oil. Mix well. 
Spread the sauce evenly over the dish. You can assemble two plates of pork slices with this batch. Save the sauce for the remaining half.
- 500 g pork hind leg or pork belly
- 1 thumb ginger , smashed
- 2 large onion sections or spring onion sections , smashed
- 1 tbsp. Shaoxing cooking wine
- 1/2 tsp. Sichuan peppercorn
- 1 Long cucumber , hard skin removed and smashed
- 5-8 garlic cloves , smashed
- 1 tsp. green onion , minced
- 1 tsp. minced ginger
- 2 tbsp. sweetened soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce or water for boiling the pork , I recommend using Lee Kum Lee low sodium soy sauce.
- 1-3 tbsp. Chinese red oil , divided. Some of chili oil mixed with the sauce and the remaining for drizzling.
- 1 tsp. black vinegar
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
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Firstly place the pork belly or hind leg in cold water, add ginger slices, green onion and Sichuan peppercorn and then heat to boil. Slightly slow the fire to medium and cook for around 30 minutes to 40 minutes.
-
Transfer out and cool down to warm. Cut the pork into slices, as thin as possible. Place smashed cucumber in the bottom of the serving plate and then lay the pork slices.
-
During the cooking time, smash the garlic and let the garlic set for a while. Then add black vinegar (not for sour taste, but to remove the oily feeling), sesame oil, ginger and spring onion, sweetened soy sauce, low salt soy sauce and chili oil. Mix well.
-
Spread the sauce evenly over the dish. You can assemble two plates of pork slices with this batch. Save the sauce for the remaining half.
It can be also made with pork belly.
This looks delicious, and I made some of your ‘red oil’ a few days ago (will try Dan Dan noodles this week).
How does ‘Sichuan Style Pork Slices’ fit into a meal?
What other dishes would be added to make a complete meal for 2-4 people?
I served mine with a side of stir-fried broccoli with oyster sauce, and some rice.
Your dishes always look delicious and this is no exception. Thanks for publishing these great recipes!
Thanks Paula for the warm and kind comment.
This looks really yummy. Have to try this recipe this weekend.
Could I make this with pre sliced pork belly? If so how would I adjust the boiling time in the first step?
I don’t recommend using pre-sliced pork belly. It is very hard to control the time. By the way, the sliced pork belly will be cured after cooking.
I may be crazy… but I made a vegetarian version of this, using tempeh instead of pork. I poached it just like you cook the pork, and made everything else exactly the same, and it came out AMAZING! I’m sure it’s fantastic with pork too, and I’ll try it that way one of these days, but I wanted to let you know that even with a vegetarian protein, this is absolutely delicious!!!
I used a vegetarian protein (tempeh) with this exact method and recipe (following your instructions) and I can’t tell you how delicious it was! I’m sure the pork is fantastic too; I needed to use what I had around the house. thank you for this!!!
I made this and thought it was delicious. I especially love the sauce. I’ll be using the sauce for dipping other yummies. Thank you so much!
Thanks Thu!! I get feedback about using the sauce in a vegetarian salad. It should be yummy too!! Happy cooking!
This recipe is an all time favorite of mine. You wouldn’t think so at first, but this dish is very simple to make, and very inexpensive. It’s become a regular weeknight meal in my home. The hardest part is slicing the pork, and as long as you have a good, sharp knife, that’s pretty easy, too. We eat it once or twice a month. The best news is, the leftovers are great for lunch the next day!