Twice-cooked pork


Twice-cooked pork or double-cooked pork is a Sichuan-style Chinese dish. The dish's ingredients include pork, which is simmered, sliced, and stir-fried; commonly stir-fried vegetables such as cabbage, bell peppers, onions, or scallions; and a sauce that may include Shaoxing rice wine, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sugar, ginger, chili bean paste, and tianmianjiang bean paste.
This dish is commonly associated with yan jian rou, which tastes quite similar to twice cooked pork, but with a different process of cooking.

Preparation

The process of cooking twice-cooked pork involves first simmering pork belly steaks in water with spices, such as ginger, cloves, star anise, jujubes, or salt. After refrigeration to firm the meat, it is cut into thin slices. The pork is then returned to a wok and shallow fried in oil, usually along with some vegetables. The most commonly used vegetables are garlic leaves, napa cabbage, bell peppers, and scallions.
Another simple way of preparing this dish is to cook the meat by itself until it is done, then fry it along with the other ingredients. An alternative method involves frying the meat by itself until cooked, frying the vegetables separately, then frying everything together. This approach of frying the pork twice led to the name "twice-cooked pork".
Premade twice-cooked pork sauces are also available from food manufacturers.

History

The origins of twice-cooked pork are unknown.
The Sichuan people have a tradition of enjoying a feast every 1st and 15th of lunar months, with twice-cooked pork as the main course.