Braised Pork in Sweet and Sour Vinegar Sauce 糖醋豬肉

Braised Pork in Sweet and Sour Vinegar Sauce is my mom’s signature dish and is also one of my kids’ favorite. Every time my mom comes visit, my kids will request it for dinner.

This Braised Pork is coated with a sweet and tangy sauce made with ingredients like sugar, vinegar, dark soy sauce and soy sauce. They are tender and complemented by the savory-sweet taste of the sauce. Ensure there’s additional rice prepared; I could consume several bowls solely with the sauce. 😉

Ingredients 材料

3lbs Skinless Pork Belly or Pork Shoulder Butt 無皮豬腩肉/豬肉

1 small piece of Ginger 一小片薑

80-100 g Slab Brown Sugar (chop them into little piece) 片糖（揼碎）

1/4 C Soy Sauce 豉油

1/8 C Dark Soy Sauce 老抽

1/4 C Water 水

Salt to taste 適量鹽

2-3 T Vinegar, Apple Cider Vinegar or any Chinese Vinegar you prefer 醋，蘋果醋或任何中式醋

Instructions

1. Rinse pork, drain in colander for 10-15 minutes and then pat dry it with a paper towel

2. Cut pork into preferred bite size (approx. 1”x1”x2”)

3. Preheat a wok WITHOUT oil for pork belly OR preheat wok with oil for pork shoulder butt for a few minutes

4. Put all pork into wok and let it brown for a minute or two on one side, oil will come out from the pork belly, and the pork belly will become golden, then flip and let it brown, in the mean time, add a piece of ginger and continue to let it brown

5. After browning the pork for a few minutes, add brown of sugar to the meat and keep stir frying until all the sugar are melted (see pic)

6. Then add soy sauce, dark soy sauce and water, bring it to a boil, then simmer in medium low heat for about 20 minutes or until it is tender (add “old” sauce now if you have any, see tips #2 below)

7. Salt to taste if needed

8. Add vinegar and mix well, serve with rice

Tips

1. You may use pork shoulder butt instead of pork belly if you prefer leaner meat. Will need to add oil to cook at the beginning if using pork other than pork belly

2. 👉👉👉One of the secrets tips my mom taught me in order to make the sauce tastier is to save a few tablespoons of sauce for next cooking. Keep it in fridge or freezer, add the “old” sauce to a new batch of braised pork right before adding vinegar and bring to boil, then add vinegar at the end. That way all the essence and richness in the “old sauce” come from each cooking over years make the sauce super tasty! It is like icing on the cake! 😉

3. As soon as the soy sauce mixture is boiling, turn the fire to medium low heat heat and let it simmer, try not to over boiling the sauce as the soy sauce will become a little sour.

4. After cooking in medium low heat for about 20 mins, the sauce should be thicken and darken meaning this is done

5. Make sure you cook extra rice, my kids can eat extra bowls of rice with the sauce only 😋😋😋

6. One little trick to avoid intaking a lot of oil that is released from the pork belly is to 👉👉 separate the meat and sauce, and then put the sauce in the refrigerator until the oil solidifies and is sitting on top of the sauce, scoop the oil out and throw it away, now you may mix the sauce back with the meat and slowly reheat.