Basil Shredded Spice Tofu Chicken and Cantonese Pork Sausage Chow Mein (紫蘇五香豆腐絲臘腸鷄炒麵, Zi2 Sou1 Ng5 Hoeng1 Dau6 Fu6 Si1 Laap6 Coeng4 Gai1 Caau2 Min6)

I always have a package of Cantonese pork sausage in my refrigerator. The sausages have a characteristic deep red color and provide a tasty addition to any dish, in this case, chow mein noodles. The sausages are dried, so they are dense and hard, and not at all like fresh sausages. The sausages can be purchased at your local Asian market. There are many variations (of content), but this dish uses the pork only version. The sausages are also available lean, with less fat content. Oil may be need to be added to the wok if the lean version is used, otherwise the sausages produce their own oil when cooked.

Enjoy!

Steamed Chili Black Bean Bitter Melon Pork Baby Back Ribs (紅番椒豆豉苦瓜蒸排骨, Hung4 Faan1 Ziu1 Dau6 Si6 Fu2 Gwaa1 Zing1 Paai4 Gwat1)

Braised pork spareribs and bitter melon with black bean sauce is a classic Cantonese dish. I previously published a recipe using pork short ribs (similar to pork ribs cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces, but with meat above the bone): Braised Pork Short Ribs with Bitter Melon (燴苦瓜豬排骨, Wui⁶ Fu² Gwaa¹ Zyu¹ Paai⁴ Gwat¹). The pork ribs are marinated beforehand, but this certainly does not have to be done if you prepare this dish at the last minute. For this recipe, I steam the ingredients, which decreases the cooking time and gives the dish another taste profile. The only tricky part to making this dish is that you can’t steam all the ingredients together for the same amount of time, otherwise the bitter melon becomes mushy. So the bitter melon is added to the dish in the steamer for the last 5 minutes of cooking to keep the bitter melon’s texture.

Enjoy!

Gochujang (Korean Hot Pepper Paste) Fish Ball and Kurobuta Pork (苦椒醬魚蛋豬肉, Fu2 Jiao1 Zoeng3 Jyu4 Daan6 Zyu1 Juk6)

My local Japanese market had thinly sliced Kurobuta pork loin on sale and, as usual, bought it before knowing what dish I was going to make. Kurobuta pork, or Berkshire pork, is a heritage pig, meaning that it’s not the mass farmed pig that’s raised in the USA whose meat is widely available in grocery stores. The only way I can describe the taste compared to regular is that Kurobuta pork is more “porky” tasting. If Kurobuta pork is not available at your local Asian market, then regular pork may be substituted. I added fish balls to make the classic seafood and meat combination found in Chinese dishes, and then decided to use Korean hot pepper paste and powder to give the dish an added Asian twist.

Enjoy!

Chili Oil Bean Curd Salted Radish Fuzzy Melon Pork (紅油腐乳菜脯節瓜豬肉, Hung4 Jau4 Fu6 Jyu5 Coi3 Pou2 Zit3 Gwaa1 Zyu1 Juk6)

Here’s another recipe using thinly sliced pork, this time using bean curd, salted radish, and fuzzy melon. The previous recipe: Chili Black Bean Bitter Melon Pork (辣椒豆豉苦瓜豬肉, Laat⁶ Ziu¹ Dau⁶ Si⁶ Fu² Gwaa¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶), used a black bean sauce. I used a salted radish made in China rather than Thailand because the radish is more sweet than salty. Thinly sliced meat is used for a Japanese dish called Shabu Shabu. The raw meat is dipped into a stock with chopsticks, moved around quickly in the stock to cook, and then dipped into a sauce before eating. The meat (typically beef) can be found at your local Japanese or Asian market. For this recipe, thinly sliced pork butt is stir fried with other ingredients rather than using it for Shabu Shabu. Thinly sliced Berkshire pork can be substituted to make this dish also.

Enjoy!

Chili Black Bean Bitter Melon Pork (辣椒豆豉苦瓜豬肉, Laat6 Ziu1 Dau6 Si6 Fu2 Gwaa1 Zyu1 Juk6)

Thinly sliced meat is used for a Japanese dish called Shabu Shabu. The raw meat is dipped into a stock with chopsticks, moved around quickly in the stock to cook, and then dipped into a sauce before eating. The meat (typically beef) can be found at your local Japanese or Asian market. For this recipe, thinly sliced pork butt is stir fried with other ingredients rather than using it for Shabu Shabu. I used thinly sliced Berkshire pork to make a noodle dish previously: Black Pepper Sauce Kurobuta Pork Chow Mein (黑椒汁豬肉炒麵, Hak¹ Ziu¹ Zap¹ Zyu¹ Juk⁶ Caau² Min⁶), and that meat can be substituted to make this dish also.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chili Garlic Sauce Hard Apple Cider Black Pepper Pork Ribeye Steaks (燒烤蒜蓉辣椒酱蘋果酒黑椒豬排, Siu1 Haau1 Syun3 Jung4 Laat6 Ziu1 Zoeng3 Ping4 Gwo2 Zau2 Hak1 Ziu1 Zyu1 Paai4)

This is a spicier version of the Grilled Hard Apple Cider Black Pepper Pork Ribeye Steaks (燒烤蘋果酒黑椒豬排, Siu¹ Haau¹ Ping⁴ Gwo² Zau² Hak¹ Ziu¹ Zyu¹ Paai⁴) recipe using chili garlic sauce as part of the hard apple cider and soy sauce marinade. You can of course use regular apple cider in place of the hard apple cider; just use whatever’s available. The marinade is discarded and freshly ground black pepper is used to coat the pork before grilling.

Enjoy!

Black Pepper Sauce Kurobuta Pork Chow Mein (黑椒汁豬肉炒麵, Hak1 Ziu1 Zap1 Zyu1 Juk6 Caau2 Min6)

Here’s another recipe using Kurobuta (aka Berkshire) pork, which is a heritage breed with more flavor. The last recipes to use Kurobuta pork were made with spareribs in a clay pot: Clay Pot Black Bean Sauce Kurobuta Pork Spareribs (砂煲豆豉豬排骨, Saa¹ Bou¹ Dau⁶ Si⁶ Zyu¹ Paai⁴ Gwat¹) and Clay Pot Basil Pork Sparerib and Fish Ball (砂煲紫蘇魚蛋豬排骨, Saa¹ Bou¹ Zi² Sou¹ Jyu⁴ Daan⁶ Zyu¹ Paai⁴ Gwat¹). This recipe uses thinly sliced Kurobuta pork butt in a stir fry noodle dish. Regular pork butt sliced thinly can be used if Kurobuta is not available at your local Asian market.

I was asked recently about making the dishes found on this blog when a particular manufacturer’s brand was specified in the recipe. If you notice in the ingredient list where a brand is specified, I specify a brand and add the words “or equivalent”. For this recipe, I’ve specified Lee Kum Kee’s brand of Black Pepper Sauce. Lee Kum Kee is not the only manufacturer of Black Pepper Sauce, so while it is the brand I use, feel free to substitute another manufacturer’s Black Pepper Sauce (which would be the “or equivalent) that’s easily available to you. Adapt your recipe to use the local ingredients and brands, and don’t worry about using the exact brand specified.

Enjoy!

Clay Pot Black Bean Sauce Kurobuta Pork Spareribs (砂煲豆豉豬排骨, Saa1 Bou1 Dau6 Si6 Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1)

Here’s another clay pot recipe using pork spareribs. The first recipe was Clay Pot Basil Pork Sparerib and Fish Ball (砂煲紫蘇魚蛋豬排骨, Saa¹ Bou¹ Zi² Sou¹ Jyu⁴ Daan⁶ Zyu¹ Paai⁴ Gwat¹). This time the recipe uses Kurobuta (aka Berkshire) pork, which is a heritage breed with more flavor. Regular pork spareribs can be used if Kurobuta is not available at your local Asian market. Clay pots need to be prepared before using for the first time to prevent cracking. I used this website for advice: Clay Pot Use and Maintenance Tips at Chinese Soup Pot. Since the pork spareribs take some time to cook and to cook the dish all at once, the other ingredients used were chosen to hold up to the cooking time (the green onions are added after cooking is complete).

The pork spareribs are placed into the clay pot first after being stir fried. Since the pork spareribs are in contact with the clay pot during cooking, the meat gets an added flavorful crust that cannot be obtained by just stir frying. I’ve seen some recipes where the browning is done in the clay pot, rather than a wok, but using high heat with a clay pot can crack it, so I used the wok for browning. Another advantage of using a clay pot is that it also serves as the serving dish and keeps the contents hot.

Enjoy!

Grilled Hard Apple Cider Black Pepper Pork Ribeye Steaks (燒烤蘋果酒黑椒豬排, Siu1 Haau1 Ping4 Gwo2 Zau2 Hak1 Ziu1 Zyu1 Paai4)

This recipe was updated on 01 May 2016. The Chinese name for the recipe was added.

I used a bottle of hard apple cider and soy sauce as the basis for the marinade for this grilled pork ribeye steak recipe. You can of course use regular apple cider in place of the hard apple cider; just use whatever’s available. The marinade is discarded and freshly ground black pepper is used to coat the pork before grilling.

Enjoy!

Clay Pot Basil Pork Sparerib and Fish Ball (砂煲紫蘇魚蛋豬排骨, Saa1 Bou1 Zi2 Sou1 Jyu4 Daan6 Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1)

I bought a clay pot recently and used it to make this dish. Clay pots need to be prepared before using for the first time to prevent cracking. I used this website for advice: Clay Pot Use and Maintenance Tips at Chinese Soup Pot. Since the pork spareribs take some time to cook and to cook the dish all at once, the other ingredients used were chosen to hold up to the cooking time (the green onions and basil leaves are added after cooking is complete).

The pork spareribs are placed into the clay pot first after being stir fried. Since the pork spareribs are in contact with the clay pot during cooking, the meat gets an added flavorful crust that cannot be obtained by just stir frying. I’ve seen some recipes where the browning is done in the clay pot, rather than a wok, but using high heat with a clay pot can crack it, so I used the wok for browning. Another advantage of using a clay pot is that it also serves as the serving dish and keeps the contents hot.

Enjoy!

Grilled Gochujang (Hot Pepper Paste) Pork Ribeye Steaks

I used Korean hot pepper paste (gochujang) and hot pepper powder (gochugaru) in a marinade for grilled pork rib eye steaks. The amount of hot pepper powder can be varied depending upon your tolerance for spiciness. The hot pepper paste actually provides more sweetness to the dish than spice, so there’s no need to use hoisin sauce (my usual sauce used in marinades). This is a really easy and tasty way to grill pork chops (or any other meat).

Enjoy!

Doubanjiang Pork Stomach with Green String Beans (辣豆瓣酱青豆角豬肚, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Zyu1 Tou5)

Pork stomach is one of my favorite parts of the pig to eat. Pork stomach or pork tripe differs from beef tripe in that beef tripe is white in color, while pork tripe is brown. The fresh whole pork stomach needs to be cooked and sometimes is available already cooked at Asian markets. While it’s convenient to be able to purchase the cooked version, you need to be careful when buying since the pork stomach is sometimes undercooked, which results in tough, rather than tender, pork.

This recipe is really a version of twice cooked pork using pork stomach, rather than pork belly. My previous recipe, Twice Cooked Pork with Fish Cake and Fuzzy Melon (節瓜魚片回鍋肉, Zit³ Gwaa¹ Jyu⁴ Pin³ Wui⁴ Wo¹ Juk⁶), stir fried thinly sliced pork belly after it had been boiled. The same technique, using pork stomach instead, is used to make this dish. Doubanjiang, a spicy fermented broad bean paste, is the basis for the sauce. Broad beans are fermented with spices and red chilies to produce this paste. The more famous producers are based in Sichuan Province in the People’s Republic of China. Broad beans are not soy beans, so soy bean based pastes does not have the same flavor as Doubanjiang. The Doubanjiang is first stir fried to bring out the flavor before adding and stir frying with the pork stomach. The sauce should look dry, so there’s not a lot of liquid.

Enjoy!

Twice Cooked Pork with Fish Cake and Fuzzy Melon (節瓜魚片回鍋肉, Zit3 Gwaa1 Jyu4 Pin3 Wui4 Wo1 Juk6)

Twice cooked pork is a dish using pork belly and Doubanjiang, which is a spicy fermented broad bean paste. If you search on the internet for a twice cooked pork recipe, you’ll find many variations in the use of ingredients. This particular variation has fuzzy melon and fish cakes. The one common ingredient is Doubanjiang, which can be purchased at your local Asian market. Broad beans are fermented with spices and red chilies to produce this paste. The more famous producers are based in Sichuan Province in the People’s Republic of China. Broad beans are not soy beans, so soy bean based pastes does not have the same flavor as Doubanjiang. The sauce for this dish is the Doubanjiang and it should look dry (meaning that there’s not a lot of liquid).

Twice cooked means that the pork (or other meat) is first boiled and then stir fried. Pork belly is the traditional meat used and it’s ideal to make this dish. The pork belly should still have the skin attached and be a single (or large) pieces, i.e. the pork belly shouldn’t be sliced into pieces before being boiled. The pork belly can be boiled and then refrigerated one day before the dish is to be made. Cut the pork belly into thin slices before stir frying. What’s different about this dish’s preparation is that the sliced pork belly is stir fried in the Doubanjiang, after the Doubanjiang itself is stir fried to deepen the color and flavor.

Enjoy!

Korean-Style Pork Belly and Fish Cake Stew (韓燉魚片豬腩肉, Hon4 Dan6 Jyu4 Pin3 Zyu1 Naam5 Juk6)

I made this pork belly and fish cake stew using three basic Korean ingredients: hot pepper powder (gochugaru), hot pepper paste (gochujang), and fermented soybean paste (doenjang). I am fortunate to live in an area where there is a large Koreatown, so these ingredients (and the fish cakes) are readily available at multiple Korean markets. As with all ingredients, there are multiple brands that can be purchased. My criteria for picking a particular brand of hot pepper paste and fermented soybean paste was what ingredients were used to make them. All the brands’ pastes were made in South Korea and the brand I chose is unknown since the label is mostly written in Korean. I chose this particular brand because it didn’t have any added preservatives or sugar. It was amazing to see that many brands had corn syrup high on their list of ingredients! For the hot pepper powder, it comes in both a fine and coarse grind (I used the coarse), and from my limited knowledge of this ingredient, I picked the brand on sale and in the size that wouldn’t overwhelm me (this is used to make Kimchi, so you can purchase this in 10 lb. (5 kg.) packages and larger!).

Making this dish was a nice change in tastes for me using the Korean pastes and chili powder. The spiciness is controlled by the amount of hot chili powder used in the sauce, while the pastes provide the basic flavor. The amount of hot chili powder probably does not meet the level of spiciness found in Korean dishes, so feel free to increase (or decrease) the amount.

Enjoy!

Grilled Annatto-Rubbed Pork Rib Eye Chops

I purchased a package of annatto seeds from my local Asian market some time ago with the intention of using them in a dish one day and put them into my cupboard. I recently rediscovered the package and decided that I should really do something with them. I found this recipe, Annatto-Rubbed Pork Chops with Salsa Recipe at cookthink.com, and changed it into a grilled pork chop recipe (without the salsa). Annatto seeds give a distinctive color to a dish. For this recipe, pork rib eye chops are rubbed with a spice mixture after being marinated overnight in a soy based marinade that I usually use with the addition of lime juice.

Enjoy!

Braised Pork Short Ribs with Bitter Melon (燴苦瓜豬排骨, Wui6 Fu2 Gwaa1 Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1)

Pork short ribs are the spare rib or baby back rib tips, cut into a single 2-inch (5 cm.) wide piece with the intercostal meat (the meat between the ribs) and meat above the bones still attached. I found this cheftalk.com page with the information on what pork short ribs are. There’s a picture of the pork short ribs in the recipe section of this post. I’ve only found this cut of pork at two Asian markets in my area (and not always consistently available), so it’s relatively hard to find. Pork spareribs or baby back ribs cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces can be substituted if you can’t find pork short ribs and there will not be any meat “above” the bone.

Other than the use of pork short ribs, the ingredients are readily available. Fresh bamboo shoots are available at my local Asian market and I use them when I can, but canned can be substituted. The dish is easy to cook since all you have to do is put all the ingredients (minus the bitter melon and green onions) into a Dutch oven to cook with Lee Kum Kee’s brand Black Bean Garlic Sauce. The bitter melon and green onion are added at the end of cooking to keep them from getting overcooked. All you then have to do is eat the finished dish over rice.

Enjoy!

Grilled Barbeque Sauce Pork Rib Eye Chops (燒烤醬豬排, Siu1 Haau1 Zoeng3 Zyu1 Paai4)

This is an easy to make grilled pork chop recipe using Koon Chun brand’s Barbeque Sauce. Hoisin sauce can be substituted if Koon Chun’s Barbeque Sauce is not available. Marinade the pork chops overnight, grill them, and then smoke using your favorite wood in a barbeque grill.

Enjoy!

Pork and Mixed Mushroom Fish Ball Stew (燉菇魚蛋豬肉, Dan6 Gu1 Jyu4 Daan6 Zyu1 Juk6)

This is actually a very simple to make slow cooker (aka crock pot in the USA) recipe. The dried ingredients just have to be soaked before it’s assembled in the slow cooker. This is also another seafood-meat combination dish that the Chinese love to make. The fish balls are available packaged in your Asian market’s refrigerator or frozen section. Throw in some vegetables, mushrooms, and bean curd sticks, and you can have a slow cooker stew for dinner by doing the preparation work for cooking in the morning.

In the USA, what are called country-style ribs is actually pork butt (which is actually the pork shoulder) cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) wide strips. The “ribs” are available prepackaged at the supermarket either with- or without the bone. I recommend getting the boneless version to make preparation easier. You can, of course, cut your own “ribs” from the pork butt, but why bother when they’re already available pre-cut. The pork also has fat running through the meat, which should not be removed, as the fat adds to the flavor and texture of the stewed pork when cooked in the slow cooker. In fact, pork prepared in this manner without any visible fat would be very dry after cooking.

Enjoy!

Carne Adovada (Red Chile Pork Stew) Enchiladas

As with my other enchilada recipes, Grilled Chilpotles Chili Chicken Green Chile Enchiladas and Mexican Pulled Pork Enchiladas, the enchiladas are made with leftovers from another dish, in this case Carne Adovada (Red Chile Pork Stew). For these enchiladas, I added leftover rice to the enchilada before adding in the Carne Adovada (Red Chile Pork Stew) filling. Serve with shredded cabbage and Pickled Vegetables.

When I made these enchiladas, I could purchase 10-inch (25.4 cm.) flour tortillas. Now I’m unable to get that size and 8-inch (20.3 cm.) flour tortillas are the largest currently available. This means that more (but smaller) enchiladas will fit into a pan or alternatively you can make the same sized enchilada out of two overlapping 8-inch tortillas. I also switched brands of enchilada sauce to Las Palmas. Las Palmas uses chile peppers as the main ingredient, rather than tomato sauce with chile peppers.

Enjoy!

Grilled Lemon Porterhouse Pork Chops

The principal marinade ingredient for this dish is lemon juice. Lemons add a nice bit of acidity to the pork chops and together with the herbs and spices, makes for a tasty grilled dish. The amount of salt to use is a personal preference; some people like more salt, others like less, and others prefer none at all. The amount of salt used in this dish will likely taste under-salted to most people, since that’s my personal preference. So feel free to adjust the amount of salt. For those that do not want added salt, more lemon juice can somewhat compensate for this.

The strategy to cook the pork chops is to first grill them to get the grill marks, and then smoke them to finish cooking. The thickness of the pork chops affects the cooking time, so you really want to purchase pork chops that are at least 1-inch (2.5 cm.) thick. If the pork chops are thinner, just adding the grill marks to both sides of the pork would fully cook them, and smoking them further would make the pork tough and dried out. So to be able to both grill and smoke the pork, try to purchase thicker pork chops (the thicker the better!).

Enjoy!