Braised meat, with its distinctive flavor, is a signature dish essential for weddings, celebrations, and festivals among the Hakka people of Meizhou, Guangdong. It comes in two varieties: braised pork and braised beef. First, thoroughly scrape and clean a whole piece of pork with skin, then boil it in a large pot until tender. Cut it into 1.5-centimeter cubes.Next, prepare a braising sauce by simmering an appropriate amount (based on meat quantity) of brown or white sugar with premium soy sauce until the sauce turns a golden-red hue.
Gently stir the cooked meat cubes into the braising sauce, ensuring they are fully coated.Add several washed and soaked dried shiitake mushrooms, along with an appropriate amount of glutinous rice wine lees and salt. Place a clean muslin bag containing ground peppercorns into a clay jar. Transfer the meat pieces coated with the marinade and seasonings into the jar. Seal the lid tightly, securing it with damp strips of earthen paper.
Finally, place the clay jar filled with meat over charcoal and simmer gently over low heat until the meat is tender and falling apart. When serving, lift the lid to release the rich aroma. The golden stewed meat is tender yet intact, with square pieces retaining their shape. It boasts a deep, savory flavor that is rich yet not greasy.
Braised Meat Recipes
Clam and Pork Stew
Ingredients: 750g clam meat, 150g pork belly, rice wine, scallion segments, ginger slices, salt, pepper to taste.
Method:
1. Rinse pork belly and cut into 4cm x 1cm chunks.
2.Remove the mud intestines from the clam meat and rinse clean.
3. Place the clam meat, scallion sections, ginger slices, rice wine, and a small amount of water in a pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, skim off the foam, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add the pork chunks and simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Once the clam meat and pork are tender and falling apart, season with salt to taste.
Stewed Pork with White Radish
Pork, white radish, light soy sauce, star anise, dark soy sauce, ginger slices, sugar, scallion greens
Delicious stewed pork
Delicious stewed pork
Method:
1. Wash pork and white radish, cut into chunks and set aside.
2. Place pork chunks in a clay pot with sufficient water, ginger slices, light soy sauce, and star anise. Bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Reduce to medium heat, add radish chunks, a pinch of sugar, and dark soy sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes, then garnish with scallions.
White radish aids digestion, boosts appetite, accelerates gastrointestinal motility, relieves coughs and phlegm, and helps prevent colds.However, white radish is unsuitable for those with weak spleen and stomach. Additionally, avoid consuming white radish while taking ginseng-based tonics, as it may reduce their efficacy. Braised Pork Ingredients: Pork belly, Shaoxing wine, scallions, ginger, garlic, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon bark, dark soy sauce, sugar. Method:
1. Cut pork belly into cubes.
Various Braised Meats
Various Braised Meats
2. Place meat in a pot over heat to reduce moisture.
3. Once half the liquid has evaporated, add Shaoxing wine. Simmer over medium heat briefly, then add a small amount of water along with scallions, ginger, garlic, star anise,Sichuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, etc. Cook until 80% done, then add salt.
4. Reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid is nearly evaporated. Add a small amount of white sugar and dark soy sauce. Optionally add a pinch of MSG before serving.
Country-Style Braised Pork
Ingredients: Pork belly (preferably marbled with three layers of fat and five layers of lean meat). Rice wine lees, scallions, ginger, garlic, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, Chinese five-spice powder, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, light soy sauce, sugar, salt, fried sauce.
Country-Style Braised Pork
Country-Style Braised Pork 2. Heat oil in a pot, add pork, and stir-fry until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a pot, add scallions, ginger, and garlic, and stir-fry until fragrant. Add pork chunks and stir-fry evenly. Add the above seasonings, then add fermented rice wine lees until the pork is submerged. Pour in boiling water and add scallion and ginger sections. Simmer over high heat for 30 minutes.
Tips: Avoid scorching the scallions and ginger while stir-frying. Use fermented rice wine in moderation. If not preparing this dish in a rural setting, cut the meat into smaller pieces. For reduced fat intake, opt for pork belly with more lean meat.
When stewing meat in a clay pot, controlling the heat is crucial. Generally follow the sequence: low heat → medium heat → low heat.First, before stewing, fill the clay pot eight-tenths full with water and heat it over low heat. This is because although clay pots withstand prolonged cooking, rapid or localized temperature changes can cause thermal expansion and contraction, leading to cracks or even breakage. Therefore, never use high heat on a cold pot.Second, once the pot is evenly heated, adjust to medium heat. After the water boils, add seasonings and meat. Third, maintain a constant low heat throughout stewing. The hallmark of clay pot stewing is tender, flavor-infused meat with nutrients easily absorbed by the body. Achieving this requires precise timing based on meat type and freshness.Generally, beef and lamb require longer simmering—about two hours; pork takes one and a half hours; chicken about 40 minutes. Note that pork, especially marbled pork belly, benefits from extended simmering to render fat, resulting in less greasy meat. However, avoid simmering beyond two hours, as this may cause the meat to become overly soft and lose its shape.