Steamed tung-po pork

6 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
2 pounds Pork shoulder or loin
4 cups Water
1 teaspoon Sugar
2 teaspoons Sherry
4 tablespoons Soy sauce (up to)
2 pounds Spinach
3 tablespoons Oil

Directions

1. Place pork and water in a pan, bring to a boil, then cook, covered, 15 minutes over medium heat. Drain, reserving stock.

2. Combine sugar, sherry and soy sauce, and add to pork in pan. Cook over very low heat, turning meat constantly until evenly colored. (If the pan gets dry, moisten with a few drops of reserved stock.) 3. Add remaining stock; bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, 20 minutes. Remove pork and let cool. Cut against the grain in ½-inch slices, then in strips about 1 by 2 inches.

4. Place pork slices skin side down in a deep, heatproof bowl. Steam on a rack 1 hour (see HOW-TO SECTION).

5. Wash spinach and remove tough stems. Heat oil, add spinach and stir-fry until softened, but still fresh and green (about 2 minutes).

6. Heap spinach over pork in the steaming bowl. Invert bowl into a deep serving dish, so that spinach is at the bottom and pork, skin side up, is on top.

NOTE: This dish, sometimes called Chinese Casserole of Pork, is attributed to Soo Tung-Po, a well-known poet of the T'ang Dynasty.

VARIATIONS: For the spinach, substitute Chinese lettuce, cut in 3-inch sections.

Simmer the pork in water to cover 1-½ hours, then drain. Brown meat on all sides in oil heated to smoking. Let cool slightly and slice as above.

Transfer to a shallow heatproof dish. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons soy sauce and steam 1-½ hours. Serve on a bed of stir-fried spinach leaves.

From <The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook>, ISBN 0-517-65870-4. Downloaded from Glen's MM Recipe Archive, .

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