Lu Rou Fan (Braised Pork Rice)
The essence of Taiwan and a taste of home, all in a pot on your kitchen table.
Lu Rou Fan (滷肉飯) Taiwanese Braised Pork Over Rice recipe
makes 4-6 servings
Ingredients
Braised Pork Belly
2 lb skin-on pork belly
¼ cup black bean soy sauce²
2 tbsp black bean soy paste
¼ cup shao hsing wine
1 tbsp black vinegar
5 medium to large shallots, peeled and sliced, about ¾ cup fried shallots
3 garlic cloves, sliced
30g rock sugar⁴
½ tsp white pepper
2½ cups unflavored chicken bone broth
neutral-flavored oil, for frying shallots
Spice Packet
2 cinnamon stick
8 cloves
3 bay leaves
3 to 4 slices fresh ginger
For Serving
1 green onion, sliced thinly
a few pieces of cilantro
4 cups of steamed white rice
4 to 6 soft or medium boiled tea eggs
(Optional) takuwan
Directions
The day before, make soft or medium-boiled tea eggs. If you’re pinched for time, you can cook and marinate the eggs while braising the meat, but that will result in hard-boiled eggs instead. Alternatively, if braising the meat a day or two ahead, marinate the soft or medium-boiled eggs in the sauce after cooling for storage.
Begin by preparing the spice packet with star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves, bay leaves, and ginger. Wrap everything in cheese cloth and tie with a string. Set aside.
Bring a medium pot of water to boil, and blanch the pork belly for a few minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to clean off the meat scum, and set aside. When it has cooled, cube the pork belly into ¼-inch size pieces. For some kong rou (large slices of braised pork belly), rather than cubing all the meat, cut a few 3 to 4 inch slabs of pork belly.
Heat a generous amount of oil in a small pan over medium heat, making sure there is enough oil to submerge the shallots. When the oil begins to shimmer, test the oil to see if it is ready by dropping a piece of shallot in. If it starts bubbling immediately, then the oil is ready. If not, wait another minute or so and test again. When ready, add the shallots and stir occasionally so that they fry evenly. As the shallots approach a golden brown, stir continuously to prevent burning. The process should take about 10 to 12 minutes, depending on how large your pan is. When the shallots turn a light golden color, remove from heat and strain the oil into a glass storage container for later use. Take care not to burn, as they will continue to darken after you remove the them from the oil. Transfer the fried shallots to a separate bowl. When they have cooled, crush or cut them up.
In a dutch oven or pot over medium heat, pour a couple tablespoons of the shallot oil and transfer the cubed pork belly, along with the slabs of pork belly. Add in the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 to 2 minutes. Then, add the shao hsing wine, black bean soy sauce, black bean soy paste, white pepper, rock sugar, the spice packet, and enough chicken broth so that the pork belly is submerged. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer.
After about 15 minutes, add in the fried shallots, mixing it into the sauce. Then, cover the pot and simmer for at least 2½ hours and up to 5 hours on the lowest heat setting. As it cooks, check on it every 1 to 2 hours and give it a good stir. Toward the end of the braise, when you can see a thick layer of oil floating on top, try to skim as much of it off as possible; using a large spoon or ladle, take off the top layer of the sauce and put into a separate bowl to wait for the fat to form a hard skin before scooping off. Alternatively, a metal ladle filled with ice can be used by touching the bottom of the the cold ladle to the sauce; the fat will congeal more quickly and stick to the ladle. With either method, pour the sauce sans the oil back into the pot. Another option is waiting until the next day when the fat solidifies to remove the layer of fat off the top, but if planning to eat it that day, it’s best to skim off while the meat is braising.
By the end, the pork belly should be incredibly soft and melty; be very gentle with the kong rou (large slices of braised pork belly) or they may break apart. To finish up the braise, turn the heat to medium-high to thicken the sauce a bit, about 10 minutes. Slip in the refrigerated tea eggs to warm them up, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Ladle the pork belly and sauce over a bowl of rice, and garnish with green onion, cilantro, takuwan if using, and a tea egg sliced in half. Serve with sides such as stir-fried veggies with shallots, Taiwanese you dou fu (fried tofu braised in meat sauce), cucumber salad, and more. I personally lack the patience, but if you’re willing to wait, the taste is even better the next day, and by day three, the flavor is perfect.
Notes
1. There are thousands of recipes out there, and I am continuously tinkering with this recipe to get it as close as I can to my favorite 滷肉飯 spot in Taiwan: Huang Ji.
2. The key to this recipe is the fried shallots and the black bean soy sauce. Traditional Taiwanese soy sauce is naturally gluten-free and is made only with native Taiwanese black soybeans, salt, water, and sugar, resulting in a a mellower, sweeter, and nostalgically Taiwanese flavor. My favorite is the Lo Bao Condensed Soy Sauce from Wuan Chuang. Made in Taiwan and very difficult to track down in the States, I’ve only been able to locate this sauce at one asian grocery store. If unable to find this particular brand, bigger asian grocery stores sell other black bean soy sauces made in Taiwan that should work as well.
3. To make this dish gluten-free, substitute the Shao Hsing V.O. Rice Wine with a wheat-free rice wine, such as Japanese mirin, which is made only with rice. Other alternatives include dry sherry or sake.
4. Rock sugar can be found at all asian grocery stores and is used help create a shiny appearance for the meat and impart a more delicate flavor. 1½ to 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar can be substituted for the rock sugar in this recipe, but note that the flavor and sweetness of the dish will change a bit.
5. I usually use avocado or rice bran oil for any kind of frying. Avocado oil is my favorite with regards to both taste and health, and rice bran oil has given me the best results for deep frying.
6. I usually use two spice packets, one I make myself with the ingredients above, and one that I buy from the store that contains spices such as orange peel, fennel, and others.
