Title: Braised & Deep Fried Pork Slices In Wine Sauce
Categories: Chinese, Pork
Yield: 4 servings
1 ts Red rice vinegar
2 tb Medium sherry
3/4 c Stock
Corn starch paste
1 1/2 lb Boned pork butt
3 tb Peanut oil
3 cl Garlic; minced
2 Egg yolks
1 ts Water
1 c Fine plain bread crumbs
4 c Oil; for deep-frying
Paste:
2 tb Cooked rice
1/2 ts Sugar
1 ts Dry baker's yeast
2 tb Dark soy sauce
2 tb Water; warm
1 ts Wet bean cheese (optional)
The flavoring of the pork with our version of Fujinese
"wine lees paste" gives it a distinctive and uniquely
delicious flavor.
Prepare Paste: Use mortar and pestle to pulverize
cooked rice. Combine with sugar, yeast, soy and warm
water. Let stand in warm place for 30 minutes to
activate yeast. Authentic wine lees paste is not
available in the U.S. to our knowledge, this is the
best substi- tute we have found. You can add wet bean
cheese for a sharper flavor.
Braise Pork: Slice pork butt across the grain into
strips, 1" by 3" by 1/2" thick. Heat peanut oil in
wok until it begins to smoke. Add some of pork to hot
oil; stir-fry pieces until they lose their pink- ness;
repeat in batches until all pork is browned. Next,
add garlic to wok; stir briefly. Pour in wine lees
paste, rice vinegar, sherry and stock; bring to slow
boil; add pork slices. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer
for 30 minutes.
Remove pork, without sauce, to large platter. Cool
pork. Cooling is essential so that it will deep-fry
properly. Reserve sauce in small pan. You can hold
pork for several hours, if you wish to braise it in
advance.
Deep-fry Pork: Heat deep-frying oil in wok. While
oil is heating, beat egg yolks with water; set out
bread crumbs on platter. Dip pork pieces in egg
mixture, then bread crumbs, to thoroughly cover.
When oil is at deep-frying temperature, 375 degrees F,
slip in a slice of pork as a test: pork should
lightly brown in about 1 minute. Place 6 pork slices
on Chinese strainer, and lower into oil, strainer and
all. Check in 2 minutes (browning should take slightly
longer than test because strainer cools the oil). If
you prefer to fry in larger batches, use more oil.
Remove fried pork to warm platter, uncovered.
Finish: Reheat sauce, and pour over pork just before
serving.
