Pork Shoulder Stew

Pork Shoulder Stew (东坡肘子)

Ingredients

• 2 lb pork shoulder meat with skin
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 tablespoon soy sauce
• 3 tablespoon sugar.
• 1 green onion
• A few slices ginger

Total Time: 2 hours
Servings: 4

Prepare the Pork Shoulder

1. Boil a pot of water.
2. Cut 2 lb pork shoulder into 3 inch chunks, add them to the boiling water for 5-10 minutes to get rid of the blood. Get the meat chunk out and submerge to cold water, wash any foam off from the meat.

Cooking Steps

3. Heat a wok with 1 table spoon cooking vegetable oil, turn heat to medium, add the pork chunk evenly to the wok with no overlaps, cover the wok, cook for 5-10 minutes or until the side turns golden color, flip to cook other sides, cover the wok to cook for 5-10 minutes until most sides turn golden color.
4. Push the meat chunk to one side of the wok to give space for green onion and ginger.
5. Add 1 chopped green onion, a few slices ginger to the wok, stir fry for 1-2 minutes to let the fragrance out, add 4 table spoon soy sauce, 3 table spoon sugar, stir all ingredients evenly with the meat chunk.

6. Add 4 cups of water to the wok to let the 2/3 of the meat chunk submerge in the water, boil and cover the wok, cook with medium low heat for 1 hour.
7. Open the cover, use high heat to cook for another 20-30 minutes, this will let almost all the water evaporate and the juice concentrate. Watch closely not to burn the meat, there should be some thick juice left before the meat is served.

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Secret of Success
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Pan frying the meat chunk before stewing it gives the dish a special fragrance.
Also the last step to concentrate the final juice makes the entire dish very tasty.