Braised and deep fried pork slices in wine sauce

4 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 teaspoon Red rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Medium sherry
¾ cup Stock
Cornstarch paste
1½ pounds Boned pork butt
3 tablespoons Peanut oil
2 tablespoons Cooked rice
½ teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Dry baker's yeast
3 Cloves garlic, minced
2 Egg yolks
1 teaspoon Water
1 cup Fine plain bread crumbs
4 cups Oil for deep-frying
2 tablespoons Dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons Warm water
1 teaspoon Wet bean cheese (opt)

Directions

PASTE

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 substitute 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 ½" 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 pinkness; 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, 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.

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