China · Chinese

Pork braised with bamboo shoots

One of the braised dishes at a jiudouwan. Dried bamboo shoots are soaked in cold water for 24 hours until pliable, cut into rhomboid lengths and boiled 3 minutes, then cooled; rock sugar is caramelised over low heat; pork belly is cut into 1 cm dice and dry-fried over medium heat 5 minutes until the fat runs out, then stock, caramel and the shoots are added, seasoned, brought to the boil and simmered about 10 minutes before being served with chopped scallion. The seat record gives only the four characters “pork with bamboo shoots”; this version's method is taken from the public bamboo-shoot-and-pork braise. Public reference · home adaptation.

90 minutes · 4 servings · Moderate

Pork braised with bamboo shoots

Public reference · Home adaptation In Sichuan cooking the flavour of bamboo shoots is built by rehydrating: dried shoots need a full day in water, changed several times, before that deep rounded note emerges. The local-history account places pork with bamboo shoots alongside braised pork elbow, shaoshijin, re-cooked chicken and fish with chili-bean paste, showing that a rural feast's rich dishes simply rotated through pork, chicken, fish and bamboo shoot. This version replaces the 24-hour dried-shoot soak with ready-cooked shoots or briefly soaked fresh ones to suit a home kitchen, and says so. The same source also cautions that the pork must be dry-fried properly and the fat rendered out, and that the braising time must be sufficient. **This entry previously cited several `newton.com.tw/wiki/<dish-name>` links (such as 燒白, 紅燒肘子, 燒什錦 and 夾沙肉). On checking, every one of them returned 404 — those pages do not exist on the encyclopedia; the links had been constructed by pattern. They have all been removed. The method here rests on the openable sources listed above. If a matching entry does exist for this dish, cite the page that actually exists rather than guessing a URL from the dish name.****The seat record names the dish but not the method**: the local-history account lists “pork with bamboo shoots” among the braises, by name only. The encyclopedia has no entry under the exact character string 筍子燒肉, so this version uses the synonymous entry 竹筍燒肉 (dried bamboo shoots, pork belly, caramel, dry-frying over low heat) and states plainly that this is a synonym substitution, not a jiudouwan-specific technique, and that it has no exclusive correspondence to jiudouwan. **Soaking is downgraded and disclosed**: the cited method calls for 24 hours of cold soaking with two or three water changes, which takes time and space. This version defaults to ready-cooked tender or winter shoots, or fresh shoots soaked 4 hours in cold water, and offers the dried-shoot route as an advanced option — because a 24-hour soak in a home kitchen is easy to forget to change the water, which risks spoilage. **High sugar is flagged**: the cited method uses 100 g rock sugar (including the caramel) with 500 g of meat. This version has scaled the sugar down proportionally and the allergen note records the dish as sweet-savoury and high in sugar. **Quantities are editorial and untested**: 500 g pork, 25 g dried shoots and 10 minutes of simmering are set for four servings; not kitchen-tested. **Technique only, no therapeutic claims**: the related entries in the same source describe bamboo shoots as a medicinally used food with a cold nature; none of that is adopted. Contains soy (light soy) and wheat (cooking wine). **Risk note on soaking dried shoots**: keep them refrigerated while soaking and change the water on schedule; discard any that smell off or feel slimy rather than using them. The dish is sweetened with rock sugar, so it is sweet-savoury and comparatively high in sugar. Contains meat; not a vegetarian dish. 阿坝州地方志办公室：传统川菜“九斗碗”（发布 2013-08-09） — Menu source 1. It records jiudouwan as also called tianxi and san-zheng-jiukou-xi; the three steamed dishes as rice-flour pork, savory and sweet shaobai (jiasha rou); the braises as braised or steamed pork elbow, pork with bamboo shoots, mixed braise (shaoshijin), re-cooked chicken and fish with chili-bean paste; the cold dishes as braised pork elbow (or steamed pork elbow), pork with bamboo shoots, shaoshijin, re-cooked chicken and fish with chili-bean paste; the stir-fries as bamboo shoots fried in lard, gong bao diced pork and shredded pork with yellow chives; the stew as stewed tuotuosu pork; spinach and flash-fried cabbage as table fillers. It also records that a feast without the three steamed dishes is not a feast, that each bowl holds eight slices of pork, and the serving order of cold dishes, steamed dishes, stir-fries, braises, stews and soup. https://dfzb.abazhou.gov.cn/abzdfsbgs/c104049/201308/e7ab6e8e28a04dc9836c6b82d420b5c9.shtml 中文百科全書：九斗碗（又称坝坝宴、九大碗） — Menu source 2. It records jiudouwan as a Sichuan feast whose “dou” means a large vessel in Sichuan speech, with nine bowls as a minimum and versions of seven or eleven; its contents as home-style dishes made from whatever chicken, duck, fish, pork, eggs and seasonal vegetables the household has, listing mixed braise, steamed pork elbow and ginger-sauce re-cooked chicken as representative dishes, served in farmyards on improvised stoves. https://newton.com.tw/wiki/%E4%B9%9D%E6%96%97%E7%A2%97/2750801 FDA: Food Allergies — Basis for declaring soy, wheat and sesame allergens. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition/food-allergies AI-generated illustration; not kitchen-tested.

Ingredients

  • pork belly, cut into 1 cm dice500 g
  • dried bamboo shoots, or ready-cooked tender shoots as a substitute150 g
  • rock sugar or white sugar40 g
  • fresh stock, or water800 ml
  • rapeseed oil40 ml
  • salt8 g
  • light soy sauce, optional, for colour15 ml
  • chopped scallion15 g
  • cooking wine, optional10 ml

Directions

  1. 1

    Prepare the shoots (default route here): soak in cold water 4 hours until pliable, rinse and slice. With dried shoots, soak 24 hours in cold water changing the water two or three times until a thumbnail dents the surface, then cut into rhomboid lengths.

  2. 2

    Blanch the shoots in boiling water 3 minutes to remove bitterness and oxalic acid, then drain under cold water. Do not skip this: undercooked shoots taste astringent and bind calcium.

  3. 3

    Melt the rock sugar in a pan with a little water and oil over low heat until fine amber bubbles form — that is the caramel. Caramel goes from amber to burnt in seconds, so keep it on low heat and never look away; use it the moment the colour is right.

  4. 4

    Add the diced pork and dry-fry over medium heat 5 minutes without added oil until the surfaces look dry and the fat has rendered and been driven off; pour off the excess fat if needed. If the pork is not properly fried, the finished dish will be greasy.

  5. 5

    Pour in the stock (with optional light soy), the caramel and the shoots, and bring to the boil over high heat.

  6. 6

    Season with salt, cover and simmer about 10 minutes over low heat so the shoots take up the braising liquor and the pork tightens. The shoots are the point, and under-simmered they will not taste of anything.

  7. 7

    Turn up the heat briefly to reduce until the sauce coats the meat, scatter with chopped scallion, bowl and serve hot.

Source: WorldBite · public-reference adaptation · Source-attributed editorial adaptation; AI illustration; not an authenticated original recipe.