Fish-flavor pork shreds

Fish-flavor pork shreds [Yuxiang rousi]: 250 grams of pork tenderloin (or other lean pork meat); a handful of shredded bamboo shoots (tinned); 2 to 3 soaked wood-ear mushrooms (the black slippery kind, for sale in Chinese stores); 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, MSG, 1 tablespoon of sugar, a pinch of salt. cornstarch and water mixture, finely chopped ginger/ garlic [one tablespoon each]; chicken stock; Shaoxing rice wine; 2 tablespoons of vinegar; 2 tablespoons of finely chopped salted chiles.

Start by shredding the pork really finely, watch the video on how to do this. Then marinate with Shaoxing rice wine, salt, corn starch batter: mix. It should be quite sticky but not too dry. Fry the pork strips in hot oil and make sure they don't stick together. As soon as they lose their raw flavor, add two tablespoons of chopped salted chiles and the garlic, ginger and spring onions. When the oil turns red, add bamboo shoots, Shaoxing wine, wood-ear mushrooms, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, sugar, chicken stock and MSG to your liking. Stir-fry in the wok until very fragrant.

Finally, add two tablespoons of cornstarch-and-water mixture to thicken the sauce, then pour on a plate and serve. Chef: Wang Dan from the Sichuan Restaurant (in Beijing?).

Twice-cooked pork

This classic Chinese dish, lovely pork slices in spicy sauce never fails to please. It is called twice-cooked (actually it is called 'back to the pan-meat') because it is first cooked, then stir-fried with seasonings. For this recipe you will need: 400 grams of hind shoulder of pork - with fat layer - I don't know if there is a western equivalent cut for this... ; two or three white leeks; some Shaoxing rice wine (left) -10 grams, 50 grams of vegetable oil (about one cup), 4 grams of salt; 5 grams of sugar, 4 grams of MSG; 10 grams of ginger, 10 grams of spring onion; 75 grams of Pixian chili bean sauce from (the most famous chili bean paste from Sichuan), 30 grams of sweet bean paste (the kind you have with Peking duck).

Now watch the video, the cooking starts at 1:25: Put the slab of meat in a pan of boiling water, cover with lid and boil for about 15 minutes (until "70% tender", you figure it out...). Take the meat out, cool slightly, and cut into thin square slices (you can prepare this beforehand). As you can see, each slice is part meat, part fat. Heat oil in a wok and stir-fry the slices in hot oil until slightly browned. Add ginger and spring onion and keep stirring.

When it starts to smell delicious, add rice wine and sweet bean paste. Put in chili bean paste, salt, MSG, soy sauce, leeks. After just a short mixing of ingredients, put on a plate and serve. The plate looks a bit on the small side, but as you can see, the sauce is very delicious and coveres most of the plate. Enjoy!

Steamed pork slices with mustard greens

This dish is a special party dish which always looks very beautiful. The pork is very soft and utterly delicious. You won't find this too much in Western Chinese restaurants as this is a lot of work! You will need: 1 kilo of pork and 150 grams of meicai (dried salted mustard greens, available at Chinese stores); 5 grams of salt, 5 grams of ginger, 5 grams of crushed ginger and 40 grams of sugar; 20 grams of MSG, 10 grams of oyster sauce, 10 grams of wet cornstarch mixture, 25 grams of dark soy sauce.

How to make this dish: boil the whole slab of pork and let it cool, cut into squarish slices of one centimetre thick and 5 cemtimers width and height. Cut the ginger into strips, then into very small dice. Put a couple of tablespoons of oil in a wok and fry garlic and ginger until fragrant, then add some chicken stock, then the oyster sauce, salt, sugar, MSG and soy sauce. Then put the meicai in the wok, after you have cleaned it with water. Then simmer on a slow fire. Then, take a small bowl and arrange the slices of pork in a special way (starts at 3.00), cover all the sides. Then add the cooked meicai with the sauce on top of it.

Put the small bowl in a steamer and cover it with a lid. Steam for 40 minutes. Carefully remove from the steamer and drain the juices in a new bowl without disturbing the meat slices. Turn over in a serving bowl and reduce the juices in the wok, with sugar, MSG, oyster sauce and thicken with cornstarch mixture, add chicken stock and soy sauce. The sauce shouldn't be too thick, so adapt until just right. Please note, you need to wash the meicai before use (otherwise it will be too salty). Sprinkle some cilantro on top.