Ingredients
750 g pork front trotters, 500 g pork belly, 250 g pork skin, 250 g cilantro, 150 g fish sauce, 3 cups water.
Seasonings
3 teaspoons each of rock sugar and Zhu oil (a Chaoshan-region seasoning similar in color to dark soy sauce but sweeter), 2 teaspoons MSG, 0.5 teaspoon alum, and fresh cilantro to taste.
Instructions
1. Scrape clean the pork belly, pork trotters, and pork skin, then cut them into pieces—each piece of pork belly about 100 g (3.5 oz), each trotter piece about 200 g (7 oz), and each piece of pork skin about 50 g (1.8 oz). Blanch each separately in boiling water for about 1 minute, then remove and rinse clean.
2. Place 1500 g (about 6 1/2 cups) of water in a wok and bring to a boil. Add rock sugar, dark soy sauce, and fish sauce. Line the bottom of the wok with a bamboo grate, then place all the meat on top. First, bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to low heat and simmer for about 3 hours until the meat is very tender.
3. Remove the meat and place it skin-side down in a clay pot. Return the concentrated original broth (about 750 ml / 3 cups) to the stove and bring to a gentle simmer. Add alum, skim off any foam, then stir in MSG. Strain the broth through a clean cheesecloth and pour it into the clay pot.
4. Place the meat broth from the clay pot over the stove and bring to a gentle simmer, then remove from heat; once cooled and set, turn out onto a plate and serve with cilantro and fish sauce as a dip. This dish is savory, silky, and melts in the mouth—rich yet not greasy.