Beer Braised Pork Belly (Chinese Style)
Sweet and sticky, this melt in your mouth beer braised Asian pork belly recipe is simple to make and incredibly flavourful.
Servings: 4 Servings
Calories: 1299kcal
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork belly
- 1 onion (sliced)
- 4 x4 cm ginger (sliced)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup beer
- 3 cups beef broth
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine (or Shaoxing wine)
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 2-3 small Chinese yellow rock sugar (or 3 tablespoons of regular sugar)
Toppings (Optional)
- green onions (finely chopped)
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Slice the ginger and onions and roughly smash the garlic (you don't want to finely chop it, else it will burn.)
- Cut the pork belly into 2cm x 3cm chunks. (Don't cut them up too thin else they will melt away into nothing!)
- In a skillet or heavy-bottomed pot, set the heat to medium and add in the pork belly to start browning it. (Be careful at this point. Pork belly splatters a lot! Use a lid as a shield to deflect some of that hot oil away from you, if you have to!)
- When you have browned the pork belly halfway through, add in the onions, garlic and ginger to brown them as well.
- Once all the pork belly has been browned, stir in 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder, 1 cup beer, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 3 cups beef broth, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine, 2-3 small Chinese yellow rock sugar (or 3 tablespoons of regular sugar).
- Set the stove to high and bring everything to a vigorous boil and boil it for 15 minutes
- Once everything has boiled for 15 minutes, set the stove to medium-low to low heat and put a lid on the pot. You want the braising liquid to be doing a low rolling boil. Check on the pot at the 45-minute mark to make sure the sauce hasn't reduced to less than half the amount of liquid and that it isn't burning. If the sauce is a syrupy consistency, then it's done. If the sauce hasn't reduced to a syrupy consistency, cook it for another 35 minutes but check on it every 10 minutes. (For a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes)
- If it still hasn't reached that syrupy consistency, continue to cook it for 5-10 more minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- Once everything is done cooking, drain the layer of oil that is floating at the top by scooping it out carefully with a spoon.
- Serve with white rice, plain noodles or roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes or fries.
Notes
- IMPORTANT UPDATE: Update 08/29/18: A few people have made this with dark beers (stouts and porters) and found it incredibly bitter. Since beers have different IBU (International Bitterness Scale), I recommend using a beer that you enjoy drinking or a light or medium beer - unless you enjoy the bitterness of dark beers.
- During the simmering process a lot of the fat will render out of the pork belly. Skim off the fat so there isn't a layer of grease before serving.
- Pork belly splatters a lot during the browning process! Use a lid as a shield to deflect some of that hot oil away from you
- An alternative to pork belly that this also works with is pork ribs or pork hocks! :) Cut up the pork ribs into individual ribs and use the same directions.
