Red Braised Pork Feet

Yan December 11, 2014

中文菜谱：红烧猪蹄

Red braised pork feet. Bizarre? Check. Delicious? Check.

You don’t have to be Andrew Zimmer to find pork feet can be quite tasty too. A well prepared pork feet dish (like mine, O(∩_∩)O~) doesn’t have any swinish smell or taste. Pork feet don’t have much meat as other pork parts. They are gelatinous because of their high content of gelatin. The skin and tender issue are the best part. Think about the outside skin of a cooked ham; that is what the pork feet skin taste like.

If I have to choose between pork loin and pork feet, I will go with pork feet without any hesitation.

The way I cook pork feet this time is very similar to what I did last time with pork hocks. The recipe link is here：http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/2014/11/24/asian-pan-bread-with-red-braised-pork-hock

Ingredients：

1 package of cut pork feet (about 2 pounds and 4 oz)
2 to 3 tablespoon rock sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
1/4 to 1/3 cup soy sauce
1 to 2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 large piece of ginger
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 cardamoms
2 to 3 star anises
5 to 6 clovers
1 to 2 pieces of dried rhizoma
3 to 4 bay leaves
2 green onions
1/2 cup rice cooking wine
salt to taste
boiling water

Directions：

Wrap the star anises, Sichuan peppercorns, cardamoms, clovers, dried rhizoma and bay leaves with a coffee filter paper (cheese cloth works well too). Tie it up.

Thoroughly clean and rinse the pork feet.

Bring a large pot of water to boil with pork feet in the water together. Cook them for 10 minutes after water boils, and then fish them out with a thong.

Put the pork feet, along with spice bag, rock sugar, rice cooking wine, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, green onions, ginger and salt into a cast iron pot. I use a 4 and1/4 quart Le Creuset soup pot. Fill the pot with fresh boiling water. The water should cover the pork hocks or a little bit above them.

Cook on medium high heat until it boils again, cover the pot and reduce the heat to simmer for about 90 to 120 minutes.

Discard the green onion. Cook on medium high heat again. Cook until the sauce thickens up. Stir gently to prevent meat getting burnt.

When the pork feet are all beautifully coated in red-golden brown caramel like sauce, remove from heat and serve immediately.

Go grab a couple cold beers and enjoy！

Stir-Fried Asian Aged Pork Belly with Dried Daikon

Yan December 8, 2014

中文菜谱：腊肉炒萝卜干

Asian aged pork belly is actually a great way to preserve pork when meat was scarce and nothing went to waste. Fresh pork belly is marinated with spices and alcohol and then air-dried for a month or longer. It is the fermentation process that gives Asian aged pork belly a distinct and unique aroma and taste.

When I was a little kid back home in Southern China, making Asian aged pork belly and sausage was like a traditional winter event involving the whole family’s effort. Aged pork belly is easier to make because it doesn’t require chopping and stuffing like the sausage.

Pork belly meat is my favorite when making aged pork belly. But it is not easy to find in this small northern American town I live. My husband and I drive to a nearby town where there is a newly opened Asian grocery store. I get my pork belly there.

For all those who don’t want to make Asian aged pork belly and sausage from scratch, they are available in frozen section in most Asian grocery stores. Dried daikon can be found in pickled vegetable section.

Since I made my own Asian aged pork belly a month ago, I have been waiting so anciently to try it. I also made some dried daikon a couple days ago. The newly made aged pork belly goes great with dried daikon.

Ingredients:

1 piece aged pork belly
2 cup chopped dried daikon
1 cup dried red pepper, cut into half inch pieces
1 to 2 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1/3 to 1/2 caup chicken broth/water
2 tablespoon soy sauce
3 to 4 tablespoon chopped green oion
2 tablespoon cooking oil
salt to taste

Directions:

Rinse the aged pork belly thoroughly with water and pat dry.

Steam the jerky for about 20 minutes, and then thinly slice them.

Dried daikon are chopped into small bit size too。

In a large wok, heat the oil over medium-high heat, along with garlic, Sichuan peppercorns and red peppers. Add the sliced aged pork belly; stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the daikon, stir fry for a couple minutes.

Add chicken broth, soy sauce and salt. Stir fry over medium-high heat until all the liquid evaporate. Sprinkle with green onion, stir them well. Serve hot.

I made 5 pieces this time. After sampling this dish, my husband decides we will definitely make aged pork belly more next time.

ESSENTIAL TOOLS

Asian Pan Bread with Red Braised Pork Hock

Yan November 24, 2014

中文版菜谱：红烧肘子肉夹馍

To be honest, it is so hard to come up with a proper English recipe name for this traditional Chinese dish.

Pork hock is one of my favorite meats to cook with. They contain a lot of gelatin which is claimed to be good for the skin. After cooked for a couple hours, they become tender and very flavorful. But they are not always available in my local grocery store. Whenever they show on the shelves, I have to get to them before other Asian people do.

I was lucky enough to score two packages of pork hocks during my last grocery trip. Each hock weighs about one pound, the perfect size. When the pork hocks are cooking on the stove, I use bread machine to make bread dough, and then use an electric grill to make some Asian style pan bread.

Red braised pork hock ingredients:

2 pork hocks (about one pound each)
2 to 3 tablespoon rock sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
1/4 to 1/3cup soy sauce
1large piece of ginger
1tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 cardamoms
2 to 3 star anises
5 to 6 clovers
1 to 2 pieces of dried rhizoma
3 to 4 bay leaves
2 green onions
1/2 cup rice cooking wine
salt to taste
boiling water

Directions：

Wrap the star anises, Sichuan peppercorns, cardamoms，clovers，dried rhizoma and bay leaves with a coffee filter paper（cheese cloth works well too）。

Tie it up.

Bring a large pot of water to boil with pork hocks in the water together. Cook the hocks for 10 minutes after boil, and then fish them out with a thong.

Put the pork hocks, along with spicy bag, rock sugar, rice cooking wine, soy sauce, green onions and ginger into a cast iron pot. I use a 4 and1/4 quart Le Creuset. Fill the pot with fresh boiling water. The water should cover the pork hocks or a little bit above them.

Cook on medium high heat until it boils again, cover the pot and reduce the heat to simmer for about 90 minutes or until a fork or chopstick can easily pierce the meat.

Discard the green onion. Cook on medium high heat again. Cook until the sauce thickens up. Stir gently to prevent meat getting burnt.

When the sauce thickens up enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove from heat and serve immediately.

The remaining sauce should have consistency of dark thick syrup.

Prepare Asian style pan bread while the pork hocks are being braised.

Ingredients：

2 cup bread flour
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
1 teaspoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions：

Dissolve the yeast with lukewarm milk. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Transfer the milk into bread machine container, add bread flour, sugar, oil and salt, and start Dough cycle.

The bread machine will automatically work all ingredients into a smooth dough ball and proof it.

When the Dough cycle is done, the dough should be double in size. Sometimes, the dough may double in size before designated time. In that case, remove the dough earlier.

Punch down the dough, fold it gently into a ball, cover and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Evenly divide the dough into 16 pieces.

Using a rolling pin, flatten each dough piece out into a thin flap, roll it up from one end like a jelly roll, and then roll them up again like a dough lollipop as shown in the picture.