Hongshao Rou (Red Braised Pork Belly)
Serves 4 Servings Time Prep: ~15 minutes Cooking: 1 hour Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 9 Steps 8
Hongshao rou (lit. red-cooked meat) is a traditional Chinese pork dish. It is a very popular homemade dish, but it is rarely found in Western restaurants. Often a family's exact recipe is a secret and passed down the generations. It consists of pork belly in a thick, sweet, dark sauce, simmered for a long time to soften the normally tough meat. Frequently other meats such as tripe or beef tendon are used in addition…
Ingredients
- 700 g pork belly, cubed
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 350 ml pork or chicken stock
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 50 ml Shaoxing rice wine
- 3 star anise pods
- 4 small spring onions, sliced
Steps
- Heat oil and sugar in medium saucepan over high heat until sugar melts and turns brown.
- Add cubed pork. Brown all over.
- Reduce heat. Add stock, ginger, star anise, soy sauce and Shaoxing wine.
- Cover tightly. Simmer 40 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
- Remove lid. Add spring onions.
- Boil sauce until only thick, dark gravy remains.
- Serve now, or refrigerate a day to develop flavours.
- Serve with rice. Garnish with sliced spring onion.
Notes from the original
- Add 500 g sliced tripe. If the tripe was frozen, boil vigorously for about 40 mins until tender and not chewy. If fresh tripe is used (highly recommended) this is not required. Add to the pan about halfway through the simmering.
- Add 250 g beef tendon, cut into small cubes. Boil vigorously for about 40 mins until translucent and not too chewy. Add this to the pan about halfway through the simmering.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Hongshao Rou (Red Braised Pork Belly)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-18, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.