Twice Cooked Pork or Hui Guo Rou Pork is a classic Sichuan dish prepared by boiling pork meat and then stir-frying it in a sauce made with black beans, rice wine, soy sauce, chili bean sauce, and sesame oil.
Origin of Twice Cooked Pork
The exact history of the dish is not known but Sichuan locals have a very interesting tale about the dish. According to legend, the dish is named after Chinese scholar/poet Su Shi or Su Dong Bo who lived during the Song Dynasty. He accidentally created the dish one day when he was cooking his favorite pork dish for his friend. He reduced the heat on the cooking pot and subsequently forgot all about it. When he returned to the kitchen, he found that the pork had simmered away in its boiling juices to form fat. The meat had also sizzled in the fat resulting in a tender, super-soft cut of meat. Another popular legend states that Sichuan people had a tradition of enjoying a feast on the 1st and the 15th of every lunar month. To simplify the cooking process for pork, the meat was boiled or simmered in hot water, cut into shreds and tossed into a stir fry with vegetables to make a filling dish. This dish formed an integral part of the menu for lunar month festivals. Modern day recipes have not changed much though and the same ingredients and cooking process are used to make the dish
Twice Cooked Pork Preparation Overview
Pork belly is simmered in hot water to blanch the meat and soften it. The meat is then removed and sliced. The shreds are then stir fried with hot sauce, honey, wine, chicken stock, garlic, garlic shoots, cooking wine, etc. The meat may also be steamed or braised after the initial boiling process to produce a moister cut of meat.
Serving and Eating
Twice cooked pork is usually served as a main dish along with warm noodles or steamed rice, hot sauce, shaoxing vinegar and scallions as accompaniments.
Nutritional Facts of Twice Cooked Pork
A single serving of twice cooked pork contains 188.5 calories. The total fat content of the dish is 5.2g, the total cholesterol content of the dish is 60.1mg, the total sodium content is 435.4 mg, the total potassium content is 506.2 mg and the total carbohydrate content is 12.3 g.
Trivia
Hui Guo Rou literally means “meat that has been returned to the pot."