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Twice-cooked pork helped me get married.

Picture yourself flipping slivers of crisp pork in the wok with chopsticks. You’re at your girlfriend’s parents’ house and have planned an ambitious spread of Chinese dishes. Think Red Braised Pork (红烧肉), Velveted Eggs with Gulf Shrimp (虾仁炒蛋), Poached White Cut Chicken (白切鸡), Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐) and, most importantly, Twice Cooked Pork (回锅肉), your future mother-in-law’s favorite.

Your goal?

To impress them just enough, so that once your girlfriend passes out on the couch from sipping sweetened laozao, you pray that they’ll shower you with their marriage blessings carte blanche, when asked.

Twice cooked pork counts itself among the perfect dishes of the Chinese textural lexicon. Some say the seriousness of Sichuan cuisine rests in its mapo tofu, but I’d argue the progression of Sichuan cuisine led us to twice cooked pork. Gritty and dry twice cooked pork is OK to enjoy in your standard Sichuanese American take-out pail, and the checkered chunks of bell peppers in lieu of alliums may be what you’ve been used to seeing since Sichuan cuisine surfaced in America in 2005 (the year the USDA lifted its ban on the prized Sichuan peppercorn).

But in the kitchen of Tongle Restaurant (同乐餐厅) in Chengdu, Sichuan, where its popularity among locals may have much to do with its stewed blood cubes in fragrant chili oil or its fried pork intestines smothered in red lantern peppers, I’m betting that it’s the twice cooked pork that keeps the owner up at night.

Tongle Restaurant’s twice cooked pork is celebratory, its belly a millefeuille of three textural contrasts: a lean, satiny base; white, squishy subcutaneous fat; and a curled, chewy skin, nostalgic of al dente-braised tendon in pho. A bite into these layers reminds you of bittersweet caramel, a nifty trick from the chef of steeping ginseng and angelica root during the belly’s poach. The garlic sprouts smell of intense char, but their crunch has the mouthfeel of steamed chives. Couple that with the funk of doubanjiang and cut from black vinegar, and you’ve got a peasant dish born out of a “fly restaurant” (苍蝇馆子), yet with the rigor of a Michelin star.

A simple Google search for either “best twice cooked pork recipe”, “twice cooked pork traditional” or “twice cooked pork recipe Sichuan authentic” will probably yield a billion results. My hope is you won’t have to do that again.

• 500g pork belly, preferably skin on, rubbed liberally with 2% salt in weight overnight
  

• Salt, preferably kosher
  

• 1900g or approx 2 qts of water
  

• 75g Shaoxing wine
  

• 30g ginger, peeled and sliced into thick disks
  

• 10g dried ginseng, soaked in 200g water overnight
  Optional
  

• 5g angelica root
  Optional
  

• 5g green sichuan peppercorns (preferably)
  Can substitute with red sichuan peppercorns

• 30g or approx 2 tbsp lard (pork fat)
  Can substitute with either grapeseed or canola oil

• 225g garlic chives, cut at a bias, 2 inches in length
  Can substitute with either garlic sprouts, baby leeks, or full sized leeks

• 30g or approx 2 hefty tbsp pixian doubanjiang (fermented broad bean paste)
  The preferred brand in Sichuan is Juancheng (鹃城) Pixian Doubanjiang, available at most Chinese supermarkets

• 15g whole erjintao or tianjin chilis (soaked overnight, then cut into 2 cm lengths)

• 20g ginger, peeled and finely minced
  

• 10g or approximately 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
  

• 15g or approx 1 tbsp black fermented soybeans (soaked overnight)
  Can substitute with taucheo beans (does not have to be soaked)
  

• 15g or approx 1 tbsp tianmianjiang (sweet wheat sauce)
  The preferred brand in Sichuan is Juancheng (鹃城) Pixian Tianmianjiang; can substitute with hoisin sauce

• 5g or 1 tsp light soy sauce
  

• 3g or approx 0.50 tsp dark soy sauce
  

• 2g or approx 0.40 tsp monosodium glutamate or powdered chicken bouillon
  

• 2g or approx 0.40 tsp granulated sugar
  

• 3g or 0.5 tsp black sorghum vinegar
  Can substitute with Zhenjiang black vinegar
  

• 3g or approx 0.40 tsp green sichuan peppercorns, toasted and finely crushed, ideally powdered
  Can substitute with red Sichuan peppercorns
  

• 15g or approx 1 tbsp Lanzhou chili crisp oil
  

PREPARE THE PORK BELLY

• 500g pork belly, preferably skin on, rubbed liberally with 2% salt in weight overnight

• Salt, preferably kosher
  

• 1900g or approx 2 qts of water
  

• 75g Shaoxing wine
  

• 30g ginger, peeled and sliced into thick disks
  

• 10g dried ginseng, soaked in 200g water overnight
  Optional
  

• 5g angelica root
  Optional
  

• 5g green sichuan peppercorns (preferably)
  Can substitute with red sichuan peppercorns
  
  Let pork belly rest with salt for either at least 2 hours or ideally overnight. Salting the protein in advance helps break down some of its muscle structure and, in this case, helps develop xianwei (umami). You’re going to fabricate the pork belly in two phases:
  
  1) Bring a medium-sized pot of water to a boil, then add in the pork belly. Maintain a rolling boil for 5 minutes. Strain and discard the water.
  
  2) In the same pot with the belly, add in the 1900g water, Shaoxing wine, ginger, ginseng and its liquid, angelica root and green sichuan peppercorns. Season with salt as though you’re preparing a broth. Bring everything to a gentle simmer, turn off the heat and poach, covered, for 60 minutes.
  
  This technique of poaching is inspired by how Cantonese/Singaporean chefs would prepare Hainanese chicken rice and will yield a supple pork belly cooked pink to medium; don’t be alarmed with the color. You’ll be cooking the pork a second time, so gently poaching your pork ensures you won’t overcook it in the wok later.
  
  Remove the pork belly and chill completely. The remaining herbal liquid can be served as soup.
  
  Once cooled, slice the pork belly into 2 mm segments (the thickness of 3 credit cards), then set aside.
  
  

PREPARE EVERYTHING ELSE

• 30g or approx 2 tbsp lard (pork fat)
  Can substitute with either grapeseed or canola oil

• 225g garlic chives, cut at a bias, 2 inches in length
  Can substitute with either garlic sprouts, baby leeks, or full sized leeks

• 30g or approx 2 hefty tbsp pixian doubanjiang (fermented broad bean paste)
  The preferred brand in Sichuan is Juancheng (鹃城) Pixian Doubanjiang, available at most Chinese supermarkets

• 15g whole erjintao or tianjin chilis (soaked overnight, then cut into 2 cm lengths)

• 20g ginger, peeled and finely minced
  

• 10g or approximately 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
  

• 15g or approx 1 tbsp black fermented soybeans (soaked overnight)
  Can substitute with taucheo beans (does not have to be soaked)
  

• 15g or approx 1 tbsp tianmianjiang (sweet wheat sauce)
  The preferred brand in Sichuan is Juancheng (鹃城) Pixian Tianmianjiang; can substitute with hoisin sauce

• 5g or 1 tsp light soy sauce
  

• 3g or approx 0.50 tsp dark soy sauce
  

• 2g or approx 0.40 tsp monosodium glutamate or powdered chicken bouillon
  

• 2g or approx 0.40 tsp granulated sugar
  

• 3g or 0.5 tsp black sorghum vinegar
  Can substitute with Zhenjiang black vinegar
  

• 3g or approx 0.40 tsp green sichuan peppercorns, toasted and finely crushed, ideally powdered
  Can substitute with red Sichuan peppercorns
  

• 15g or approx 1 tbsp Lanzhou chili crisp oil
  
  

SEASON THE WOK

If you’re using either a carbon steel or cast-iron wok, season your wok before cooking. That way your ingredients will less likely stick and cook with wok hei (鑊氣; “breadth of the wok”), the lovely charred flavor found in Chinese cuisine.

First, add about 1 tbsp of neutral cooking oil to your wok and turn on your heat to high. Use a paper towel to wipe the entire interior of the wok until a glossy sheen forms. Be careful not to burn yourself, as the oil may be hot at this point. Gradually rotate your wok over the flame until the sheen begins to smoke. Continue heating the wok until the smoke disappears, roughly 5 minutes. You’re creating a thin coat of carbon on the wok’s inner cavity. 

LET’S ROLL

Heat your seasoned wok over high heat. 

Add the lard and warm the fat until it begins to smoke slightly. Add the sliced pork belly and saute until the skin begins to curl. Add in the pixian doubanjiang to the wok and maintain the high heat. Saute for about 2 - 3 minutes until the paste aromatizes. 

Add in the bowls of minced garlic, minced ginger, soaked chilis, and soaked fermented black beans. Saute for another 3 minutes. Once the ginger begins to perfume:

Add in the tianmianjiang, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, msg, and sugar. Stir fry everything until the wet ingredients are fully incorporated. Add in the garlic sprouts and toss until the greens turn from bright green to a darker hue, slightly wilted, about 30 seconds. Be careful not to overcook the sprouts. You still want a mild crunch of the greens without the pungency of raw alliums.

To prepare for the final cooking process, warm up the dishware you’d like to serve your twice cooked pork in in either a microwave or preheated oven at 250° fahrenheit.

Turn off the wok's heat. Add in the powdered green sichuan peppercorns and Lanzhou chili crisp oil. Deglaze with the black sorghum vinegar. Toss one last time and pour the twice cooked pork into your heated bowl. Skip any thought of garnishes. Enjoy with steamed rice. 🙏