The Meltz-in-your-mouth fats and Fall-apart Tender Dong Po Rou (東坡肉)

Dong Po Rou (東坡肉) is a dish where the pork belly was braised in a pot of aromatic wine with sweet black sauce until the fats melt in your mouth and the meat becomes easily fall apart tender. The taste profile of this dish is sweet and salty, with bursting aroma of the yellow wine with every bite.

A bit of history on this dish~ well.. I am not much of a historian but I get to know the history of this dish while I was watching a Hong Kong drama – 東坡家事 and after that a bit of read up on it.

Dong Po Rou is said to be a dish invented by the famous Chinese poet , Su Dong Po  (苏東坡) who discovered that braising the pork belly with wine produced the most flavourful braised pork belly ever!

Traditionally, the secret recipe to ensure the most aromatic piece braised of pork belly is to braise with as little water as possible and as low fire as possible –  慢着火，少着水，火候足时味自美.

However, this recipe uses no water at all to ensure that the pork belly is soaked and simmered only in the aroma of the yellow wine (Hua Tiao Wine – 花雕酒).

There are many different range of Hua Tiao, price ranges from $2 bucks to as expensive as $20. It very much depends on how generous you are. I believe the more expensive range will be yield a more aromatic piece of meat.

I used about 500 to 700 ml of Hua Tiao for about 600g of Pork Belly.

There are 2 methods or more variations to this dish. Some fried the skin of the pork belly before braising, some don’t.

The reason behind frying the skin of the pork belly is to create a different texture of the pork fats when eating ; instead of just the melts in your mouth fats. Frying the skin also bring some chewiness to the skin after braise so you will not have a too greasy feel while eating the dong po rou. This step is optional if you feel like skipping the oil splattering part (cover the pan with lid if you prefer to fry the skin).

Some recipes only called for braising the pork in the liquid. While some recipes required you to add an additional steaming steps before serving. And usually the latter method is adopted by restaurant. Both steps work well and if you want to take an additional step to ensure a even better texture of meat, please do. Just put the braised pork belly in a steamer with some Gravy.  Add another 100 ml of Hua tiao wine and steam for another hour. If not,  the texture of the pork belly in this recipe already restaurant quality!

Will tying the pork belly with kitchen twine necessary?

Yes! It hold the pork belly together and prevent it from falling apart when braising. Remember? The meat of the pork belly is supposed to be fall apart tender ( u want the fall apart to be when u are biting it not when braising).