Dong Bo Rou （东玻肉）

I heard so much about this dish that I know one day I will want to try cooking it myself.

You need lots of patience when cooking Dong Bo Rou (东玻肉) and good time management as well.

Cooking this dish, I encountered quite a few mistake.  First I didn't make sure the skin was thoroughly cleansed.  Only after I blanched the meat did I noticed that I need to clear out those hair roots.  

Also I got the wrong cut, I should have asked for a square block.  Cooking it was relatively easy but because it used two different method of cooking, spacing your time to get this dish ready on the table needs planning.  

Overall, though it has a melt in the mouth texture but we finds it very salty to our liking.  Though I used a good shao xing wine but this was not delectable at all.  


I guess I need to continue my search for THE recipe.

What you need:

1.5kg pork belly, with skin (square shaped), make sure you cleanse the skin really well (remove hair root etc)
3 inch of ginger, sliced
12 cloves of garlic, whole and deskin
12 stalk white part of shallot, about 4 inch
3 star anise

Seasoning:

1½ cup of soy sauce (I will reduce this as I find it way too salty)
6 tbsp of dark soy sauce
12 tbsp of Shao Hsing wine
65g rock sugar
1½ cup of water

Method: 

Blanched pork belly in a pot of boiling water for 5 mins. Remove pork and let it cool.

In a wok, add a tbsp of cooking oil, fry garlic, ginger and shallot till fragrant. Add seasoning and star anise, then reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes.

Place pork skin face down into a claypot. Add seasoning. Cook on high heat for 5 minutes.

Reduce to simmer and turn the pork skin face up. Simmer for minimum an hour. Gradually add more water if sauce starts to thicken. 

After an hour, transfer the pork into a stainless steel bowl. Pour all the sauce into the bowl. Wrap tightly with heat proof cling wrap.

Steam for another 2-3 hours.

Source: Confessions of a Weekend Cook

Cheers