Looking for a Heart Attack: Dongpo Pork

This past week at work seemed very busy, albeit much less dramatic than the previous week.  Thats good on one hand, but on the other hand, all that trouble making was never resolved.  I feel for Uncle, but he needs to get a handle on things and step it up if he wants to be respected.  I don't get paid to be Uncle's keeper, but I am enjoying the entertainment aspect.

By the time this post hits the net, there will be less than 5 days of work before Fall Intersession.  Yay!!!  I need to take D1 to the doctor for a follow up visit (from her recent bout with walking pneumonia), and I was also hoping to squeeze in a facial w/Jennifer.  I have 2 brisket flats taking up space in my freezer, so I'm going to tell The Help to fire up the kamado.  I also hope to bake some Halloween-themed cookies and try out my new tart pans.  I'm thinking about all the high-fat high-flavor foods I could make, and as I'm running through the list, I realize its been a long time since I've had some good pork belly.

I really love pork belly, but I can't have it too often.  Every four months or so, I go to the doctor so she can be sure I'm being a good girl and working hard to bring down my cholesterol.  My efforts have been paying off because within the last year, I've managed to bring it down by 20 just by watching what I eat and walking on the treadmill daily.  Unfortunately, that tells my doctor that I can control my cholesterol on my own and don't need to be put on meds to bring it down.  Some of you might be thinking this is a good thing, and I guess it is, but if you are like me and love cholesterol (pork belly, chicken skin, crispy bacon, etc.), a pill that allows you to eat taboo food without repercussions doesn't sound like a bad thing at all.  Bring me a tall glass of Lipitor with my pork rinds, please.

When it comes to pork, the Chinese have got it going on.  I have a hard time going to Leung's Chop Suey House and not having kau yuk as part of my 2-choice plate.  I love how the meat just falls apart and the fat melts in your mouth.  The kau yuk at Hilo Rice Noodle is similar to the kau yuk I've had in Honolulu (I recall Hee Hing making the best), which is similar to Dongpo Pork.

Like Dongpo Pork, Honolulu kau yuk is brown (kau yuk in Hilo is almost always red).  I spend a lot of my time checking out blogs, and many Chinese food blogs somehow find a way to blog about Dongpo Pork.  Some bloggers describe almost an other-worldly experience when eating Dongpo Pork.  I hope I live long enough to try real Dongpo Pork ("real" meaning not made by me).  I will definitely need to take a day-long plane ride to accomplish this, as I have never seen Dongpo Pork on any Chinese restaurant menu anywhere in the 50th state.  I'm guessing its because real Dongpo Pork takes a long time to cook, and many Chinese restaurants in Hawaii do lots of business with "fast food" and take out service.  Since going somewhere with real Dongpo Pork is not a realistic options now, I had to make my own. 

Dongpo Pork is not hard to make, but you need to be willing to go through the trouble tying the meat in packages (see above pic).  The reason for the tying is to keep the meat intact.  Because the meat is cooked for so long, the meat and fat will eventually separate.  The string holds it all together.  And no, you don't eat the string!  Dongpo Pork is cooked for a long time at a low temperature.  While that sounds easy to do, careful monitoring to avoid burning is required.  Thats it!

The ingredients are all fairly easy to find.  If you can't find shaoxing wine, sherry can be substituted.  Rock sugar may be hard to find, but its sometimes labeled "rock candy", and most asian stores (yes, like the Chinese store) will sell it.  I've included a pic of the box and the product.  You may need a hammer to break up large chunks of the sugar.  You may also need a quadruple bypass if you eat this too often. . .just saying.

 click on recipe title for printable recipe
Dongpo Pork

     2 1/2 lbs pork belly

     1/4 c light soy sauce

     1/4 c dark soy sauce

     1/2 c shaoxing wine

     4 oz rock sugar

     1 piece ginger, sliced

     3 stalks green onions, knotted

     1 star anise

     2 c water

Slice pork into 1 1/2" wide strips.  Cook pork in boiling water for 10 minutes.  Rinse well.  Cut pork strips into 1 1/2" cubes, being careful to include a skin on each piece.  Tie each piece with string.  In a heavy pot, combine all remaining ingredients.  Add pork cubes and simmer for 2 hours, carefully turning pork periodically so all sides cook in the sauce.

Joong Practice

Today's post is in honor of the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival (June 23 or so, 5th day of the 5th lunar month).  I hope you will be fortunate enough to enjoy joong.

When I lived in Honolulu and went to Chinatown on the Saturdays to buy snacks, I would often buy a joong from the pastry shop.  It was also a frequent selection from the steam cart on occasions for dim sum.  On my last trip to Honolulu, I went to my favorite pastry shop (since resurrected in a similar storefront), Sing Cheong Yuan, to buy some macadamia nut candy to bring home for "moonyagi" (bastardized version of "omiyage", courtesy of my Portuguese-Italian friend in Kihei).  In addition to the box of macadamia nut candy blocks, and a baggie of li hing bittermelon (for Mom and Dad), I left with a longing to eat joong.  The shop had several varieties of joong sitting on the pastry case, and I was so tempted to buy the pork-egg joong.  Practicality got the better of me, and I left empty handed, but not without a cause. . .I would make my own joong.

I already had a jar full of salted eggs, so all I needed to buy was a few things and look for some help with seasoning.  Seemed simple, and the gathering of the ingredients was the easy part, especially when I opted to use ti leaves (instead of bamboo leaves) to wrap the joong.

Call me what you will, but my idea of joong uses black-eyed peas instead of mung beans.  I also added lup cheong for additional flavor.

mochi rice and black eyed peas (soaked overnight)

seasoned pork belly

raw salted egg yolks

sliced lup cheong

mise en place ingredients

joong composition:  rice, pork, yolk, lup cheong, rice.  Popo Wu in Taiwan adds a chestnut too.

wrapping joong

tying joong

boiling joong

Joong is ready!

 I tested out my joong with D1's friend Ashley, whose family hails from Taiwan.  Ashley does not say "joong" the way those of us who grew up in Hawaii say it.  In fact, her dad referred to is as "tzongshe", which sounds like something I can't even spell.  I made Ashley repeat it over and over, yet I still cannot say it.  In spite of my shortcomings in pronounciation, Ashley and her parents said they loved it.  They said it tasted very similar to what her Popo in Taiwan would make around the time of the dragon boat races (5th day of the 5th lunar month).  I took it as a compliment. 

 click on recipe title for printable recipe
Joong

     2 lbs mochi rice

     4 tbsp (scant)  rock salt, divided per recipe directions

     1/2 c black eyed peas

     10 salted duck/chicken egg yolks, raw

     1 lb pork belly

     2 lup cheong, each sliced diagonally into 5 pieces

     1 1/2 tsp 5-spice

     20 ti leaves, cleaned and de-ribbed

     string to tie

Begin the night before by washing mochi rice.  Add water to cover and add 2 tbsp rock salt to the water.  Rinse black eyed peas and add to mochi rice.  Let soak overnight.  Cut pork into 10 pieces.  Season with 5-spice and remaining 1 1/2 tbsp salt.  Chill overnight.

The next day, heat a large pot of boiling water.  Roll 2 ti leaves into a cylinder and plunge into boiling water.  Lay flat.  Repeat with remainder of ti leaves.  Drain rice/bean mixture.  Arrange all ingredients.  Take 2 ti leaves and overlap them with a 2" stagger.  Fold in half to form a corner.  Place 1/2 c rice/bean mixture into corner.  Place 1 yolk, 1 piece pork, and 1 slice lup cheong onto rice.  Cover with another 1/2 c rice/bean mixture.  Fold ti leaves to completely encase rice and filling so a 4-sided pyramid is formed (3 faces and a base).  Use string to tie bundle securely.  Place joongs in a large pot.  Cover with water.  Add 1 tsp rock salt, and bring to a boil.  Lower heat to simmer and cook for 3 hours.  Remove joong from pot and place on a rack to drain.  Serve immediately, chill, or freeze.  Leftovers may be reheated in the microwave.

I was busy last week, catching up with friends.  I had lunch with Edz on Wednesday and Brucie on Thursday.  Edz leaves on Thursday for the City of Brotherly Love, and Brucie will be on his way to the Forbidden City soon.  I wish both of them safe travels.

Brucie!

This week should be interesting...I'm lunching with the Rents today (belated Mother's/Father's Day celebration),  brunching with A tomorrow, and going into the office again on Wednesday.  I wish I could escape work.  I think I will try and make this the last day of work for a while.  I need my summer.