Twice-Cooked Pork Belly Stir-fry with Shiitakes and Shishito Peppers
Focus your mind on the pork belly, and you will find happiness within your stomach. [Photo credit: Alex Paternostro]
by Seth Paternostro
November 11, 2021
In the lush hinterlands of Sichuan province, a young maiden toils away at the domestic chores of a timeless peasant. Clearing the fields of unusual abundance, sewing the shoes of her remaining forebear, and cooking up hearty fare for glorious stooped labor, Li Ziqi emerges tranquil as ever. While the social media sensation offers us a magical world removed from the vertical heights and horizontal lows of city-life, the recipe below presents my own imaginings of a dish rooted in place, yet allowed to wander.
Serves 4
Total time
45 minutes
Equipment:
cutting boards, chef’s knife or cleaver, small mixing bowls, large mixing bowl, chopsticks, spoon, wok shovel, medium-sized pot, colander, clean towels or paper towels, measuring spoons, large well-seasoned carbon steel wok, wok stand (if needed), “grease gutter” (small pan to pour off used oil), squirt bottle (for fresh oil)
Tableware:
warm serving plate and utensils
Ingredients
1 lb pork belly, skin-off
4 cloves garlic
1-inch ginger
4 scallions
1 thai bird chile
2 very large shiitake mushrooms
6 shishito peppers
1 tbsp light soy sauce
½ tsp dark soy sauce
2 tsps oyster sauce
2 tbsps Shaoxing wine
¼ tsp sugar
Rice wine vinegar, as needed
Water, as needed
Peanut oil, as needed
Salt, as needed
Instructions
Set out all equipment, tableware, and ingredients. Wash the vegetables.
Heat the pot over medium. Peel, and smash 1 clove garlic and ½-inch ginger. Cut off 1 scallion white, and smash it, too.
Add a thin layer of oil to the pot, toss in the crushed aromatics, and stir briefly. Drizzle in 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine, and let the alcohol evaporate. Pour over about 4 inches of water, add 2 tsps kosher salt, then bring to a light boil.
Cut the pork belly along the grain into strips about 2-inch by 2-inch by however long the piece is. Add to the water, and cook for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, slice the rest of the garlic, mince the ginger, de-seed and slice the chile pepper, thinly cut the scallion whites, and divide the scallion greens into 2-inch lengths on a slight bias.
Slice the mushrooms ½-inch thick, de-seed the shishito peppers, and also cut ½-inch pieces.
Combine the soy sauces, oyster sauce, 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine, and sugar in a small bowl. Taste, and adjust with more light soy sauce or sugar to your liking.
Half-fill a large mixing bowl with cold water, and add 1 tsp salt. Remove the pork from the pot, and place in the cold water. When cool enough to handle, dry thoroughly with a towel, and cut ⅛-inch thick slices against the grain. The pieces should be roughly square and will not be fully cooked through.
Save the blanching liquid to form the base of a tasty soup if desired.
Preheat wok over high heat until smoking, swirl in a small amount of oil to coat, and pour out excess in the “grease-gutter,” which can be placed at the center-back region of the stove.
When beginning to smoke again, place the pork into the wok, immediately spreading it out in approximately a single layer.
Once the pork has browned slightly, stir-fry until quite a bit of fat has rendered, and the pieces are fully cooked.
Toss the mushrooms with the rendered fat and a small pinch of salt until softened, add the ginger, garlic, thai bird chile, and scallion whites, then toss until fragrant.
Pour the sauce around the edges of the wok, and stir to coat evenly.
Quickly toss in the shishito peppers, sprinkle over the scallion greens, and take off the heat.
Taste, adjust with salt and vinegar if needed, then scoop on to the serving plate, including as little or as much of the rendered fat as you desire.
Enjoy this hearty meal before chopping lumber or typing the night away at your computer.
NUTRITION FACTS:
Calories 684 Total Fat 63.7g (82%) Saturated Fat 22.5g (113%) Cholesterol 80mg (27%) Sodium 587mg (26%) Total Carbohydrate 14.9g (5%) Dietary Fiber 4.3g (15%) Total Sugars 7.1g Protein 13.4g Vitamin D 0mcg (0%) Calcium 18mg (1%) Iron 2mg (10%) Potassium 103mg (2%) - Note: Please read our Nutrition Disclaimer.
Seth Paternostro is a writer and recipe developer based in Chicago. He is a co-founder of Our American Cuisine and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with an A.B. in East Asian Studies. You can learn more about him here.
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