Beer Braised Pork Belly (Chinese Style)
Sweet and sticky, this melt in your mouth beer braised Asian pork belly recipe is simple to make and incredibly flavourful.
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr 30 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 2 lb pork belly
- 1 onion ((sliced))
- 4 x4 cm ginger ((sliced))
- 2 clove garlic
- 1 cup beer
- 3 cup beef broth
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinese rice cooking wine ((or Shaoxing wine))
- 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
- 2-3 small Chinese yellow rock sugar
- green onions ((finely chopped))
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- 1
Slice the ginger and onions and roughly smash the garlic (you don't want to finely chop it, else it will burn.)
- 2
Cut the pork belly into 2cm x 3cm chunks. (Don't cut them up too thin else they will melt away into nothing!)
- 3
In a skillet or heavy-bottomed pot, set the heat to medium and add in the pork belly to start browning it. (Be careful at this point. Pork belly splatters a lot! Use a lid as a shield to deflect some of that hot oil away from you, if you have to!)
- 4
When you have browned the pork belly halfway through, add in the onions, garlic and ginger to brown them as well.
- 5
Once all the pork belly has been browned, stir in 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder, 1 cup beer, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 3 cups beef broth, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine, 2-3 small Chinese yellow rock sugar (or 3 tablespoons of regular sugar).
- 6
Set the stove to high and bring everything to a vigorous boil and boil it for 15 minutes
- 7
Once everything has boiled for 15 minutes, set the stove to medium-low to low heat and put a lid on the pot. You want the braising liquid to be doing a low rolling boil. Check on the pot at the 45-minute mark to make sure the sauce hasn't reduced to less than half the amount of liquid and that it isn't burning. If the sauce is a syrupy consistency, then it's done. If the sauce hasn't reduced to a syrupy consistency, cook it for another 35 minutes but check on it every 10 minutes. (For a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes)
- 8
If it still hasn't reached that syrupy consistency, continue to cook it for 5-10 more minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- 9
Once everything is done cooking, drain the layer of oil that is floating at the top by scooping it out carefully with a spoon.
- 10
Serve with white rice, plain noodles or roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes or fries.