Full of flavor spicy pan-fried pork butt. Pork butt is usually used for making char siu but I find a new way of making them more comforting for spice lovers.
Pork butt “梅花肉” is believed to be the most tender part on a pig and it is widely used in stews and stir-fries in Chinese cuisine. In Cantonese cuisine, we love to use it to make char siu. Thanks Andreas’s suggestion about introducing Chinese style pork cut. I have drawn a picture showing the very basic Chinese cutting.
Although char siu is yummy and comforting, I always want to explore some unique and special flavor to cooperate some of my favorite spice and seasonings. I have made this twice this week. It is so convenient and time-saving when you don’t want to cut the pork into thin shreds or slices.
Cut the pork butt into 2 cm thin large pieces and marinate the pork with all of the seasonings. Set aside overnight.
Then slightly drain to remove the extra sauce on the surface.
Heat oil in a cast iron or a regular pan until really hot, and then fry the pork butt over high fire for 1 minute on both sides until well caramelized. And then slow down the fire and fry the pork slices for another 3-4 minutes until you can insert a chop stick in easily. Turn over twice during the process. Sprinkle half of the spices evenly on both sides.
Cut the pork butt into small cubes and mix with the remaining spices. I recommend add some mint leaves, which can add a small faint flavor and work as a decoration.
- 500 g Pork butt ,cut into 4 slices
- several mint leaves ,decorating and highlighting
- 1 tbsp. cooking oil
- 3-4 slices of ginger
- 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. honey
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp. white pepper
- 1 tbsp. red chili pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp. ground pepper
- 1 tbsp. roasted white sesame seeds
- 1/2 tbsp. cumin powder
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Cut the pork butt into 2 cm thin large pieces and marinate the pork with all of the seasonings. Set aside overnight.
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Drain to remove the extra sauce on the surface. Mix all of the sprinkling spice together in a small bowl.
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Heat oil in a cast iron or a regular pan until really hot, and then fry the pork butt over high fire for 1 minute on both sides until well caramelized. And then slow down the fire and fry the pork slices for another 3-4 minutes until you can insert a chop stick in easily. Turn over twice during the process. Sprinkle half of the spices evenly on both sides..
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Cut the pork butt into small cubes and mix with spices. I recommend add some mint leaves, which can add a small faint flavor and work as a decoration.
Prepare time do not include the marinating time.
Pork butt as in pig ass? rump steak?
Check this.
Elaine, thank you for clarifying this and Adrian thank you for asking…
Otherwise I would have gone and bought a piece of Schinken (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_of_pork#German_cuts) for this without thinking twice about it.
Elaine, maybe you should add an explanation to the char siu recipe as well. The term pork butt is really quite confusing especially when one comes from an area where just about any part of pork is readily available – like I do.
It would be really cool however if you could publish a picture of Chinese pork cuts on your site and just reference these.
Now I’ll be off to buy some “Schweinebug” 🙂
Andreas,
That’s a great point. It is quite confusing, even to lots of home cooking in China. My mother in law does not know what’s the pork butt. I will supplement this part soon.
love the picture, the piggy looks so cheerful 🙂
Andreas
Thank you!
It’s also called pork shoulder just to confuse you more!
Thanks Elaine! will try this recipe soon! loved the hunan beef , its become a regular meal in our house as it reminds us of our visit to changsha. hunan food is amazing!
I love Hunan dishes too. They are quite brilliant on using all kinds of chili peppers.