Ingredients:
Pork jowl 900 g
Soy sauce 300 g
Mirin 150 g
Water 1200 g
Cheng Chi fried shallots 160 g (everyone in the trade agrees: the quality of the fried shallots is what decides whether braised pork works)
Rice wine 300 g
1. Freeze the pork until about two thirds firm, then take it out and dice it. (It is much easier to cut into small cubes once it has set.)
2. Dry-fry the diced pork — this cut is high in collagen, so keep the heat low and take your time — stirring continuously to render out the fat. Once it takes on a little colour, lift it out.
3. Put the golden pork and the soy sauce into a braising pot and let it boil briefly; the soy sauce aroma deepens.
4. Add the mirin and water, bring back to the boil, then turn the heat down, add the fried shallots and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally so nothing catches on the base. That is your braised pork done.
What it is like:
The braising liquid is light rather than greasy, and the pork is rich without being heavy. Add fried tofu, boiled eggs and meatballs and you have a whole pot of it, aromatic all the way through.