Braised Pork in Master Stock

Public reference · Home adaptation The braised pork sits in the you position, after the braised fish and before the stir-fry, and is the last meat dish of the table. It belongs to the same meat line as the knuckle that opens the table but takes a different route: not caramel-red braising but the braising liquor, with the spices and soy soaking in slowly, so the meat carries no scorched colour but the savoury depth of the stock. At a country banquet that liquid is often not thrown away — it braises the next dish or thins into soup — which makes this course one of the sources of the table's soup. The menu source is the Xuancheng municipal government's 'Maolin twelve bowls banquet', which records dish names and serving order only (you-meat braised in master stock) and no method, and does not say whether the stock is kept and reused. **The source records only the dish name and its place; this version's technique comes from a published braised pork method and has no correspondence to the Maolin twelve-bowls kitchen. It is not a historical original.** The reference states: preparation — skin-on belly pork cut into small pieces, dried shiitake soaked and diced, red onion diced, eggs boiled with cold water for three to four minutes then left off the heat; make the onion first, adding the diced onion to hot oil and frying over medium-low heat without scorching; the pork goes into cold water, is brought to the boil, skimmed, lifted out and set aside, and the skimmed liquor is kept for the braise; the oil left from the onion heats and the pork is fried gently over low heat with a couple of slices of ginger; once the pork is golden and has rendered some fat, the shiitake goes in and is fried, then the crisp onion; light soy and dark soy are added, together with the kept pork liquor — carefully skimmed — which should cover the meat, a little more if you like, plus spring onion, ginger and a braising spice packet (Sichuan pepper, star anise, bay leaf, dried chilli, cassia); the peeled boiled eggs go in, it is brought to the boil over high heat and turned down; simmer forty to sixty minutes in a clay pot or enamelled cast iron, twenty minutes longer in other pots, adding rock sugar part-way and salt to taste; finally reduce the sauce a little and leave a good amount of it. **That reference is for braised pork over rice; this version drops the eggs and the rice to serve the braised pork on its own, as the seat list names, and cuts back the dried chilli in line with the source's sweet leaning — both editorial changes, stated here. The reference says to leave plenty of sauce, and this version keeps the stock for the next dish; that is an editorial handling taken from the reference, and **the source does not record whether the Maolin table reuses its braising liquid, so it must not be treated as a custom of that table.** The simmering time is the reference's own; heat level and the thickness of the reduction are editorial settings and this has not been kitchen-tested. Pork. Contains soy and wheat (light and dark soy sauce); check sauce labels. Skin-on belly pork is high in both fat and salt, a rich course for the table, so limit it if you are managing blood sugar or lipids. The reference includes eggs, which this version leaves out; if you keep them, note the allergen. Cook right through (at least 74°C at the centre). AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of a kitchen-tested dish. 茂林十二碗宴席（宣城市人民政府，2023-02-13，信息来源：市文旅局） — Menu basis: it lists 'you-meat braised in master stock' in serving order and states that the twelve bowls differ from salty, hot, sour home cooking and lean sweet. It records dish names and order only, with no methods and no statement about reusing the stock. https://www.xuancheng.gov.cn/News/show/634526.html 皖美宝藏小城丨食遇泾县（泾县人民政府·泾县文化旅游） — Jing County corroboration: it records the Shuiyang three treasures — duck-foot parcels, duck wings and dried tofu — as a traditional speciality of Shuiyang town in Xuancheng, a braised-meat combination, as a reference for the braised dishes of southern Anhui country banquets. It records no method for braised pork. https://www.ahjx.gov.cn/News/show/1698460.html 下厨房：好吃到停不下来的卤肉饭 — The method: 1000 g skin-on pork belly, half a red onion, 12–16 dried or fresh shiitake, eggs as you like, one or two lengths of spring onion, five or six slices of ginger, a few Sichuan peppercorns, one star anise, a bay leaf, a small piece of cassia, one dried chilli, one or two lumps of rock sugar, brewed or light soy, dark soy and salt. Preparation: cut the pork into small pieces, soak and dice the shiitake, dice the onion, and boil the eggs in cold water for three to four minutes then leave off the heat. Make the onion by frying diced onion in hot oil over medium-low heat without scorching. The pork goes into cold water, is boiled, skimmed and lifted out, and the skimmed liquor kept; the oil left from the onion heats and the pork is fried gently with a couple of slices of ginger until golden with fat rendered out, then the shiitake and the crisp onion go in; light and dark soy are added with the kept pork liquor (carefully skimmed) enough to cover the meat, together with spring onion, ginger and a spice packet of Sichuan pepper, star anise, bay leaf, chilli and cassia; the peeled boiled eggs are added, it boils hard and then simmers; in a clay pot or enamelled cast iron it cooks forty to sixty minutes (twenty minutes longer in other pots), with rock sugar added part-way and salt to taste; finally reduce the sauce a little and leave plenty of it. https://m.xiachufang.com/recipe/103751565/

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