Savory and aromatic with a rich sauce fragrance, the meat slices are tender with a slight crispiness.
Salt-Fried Pork and Twice-Cooked Pork are known as "sister dishes" because their preparation and texture are very similar. The key difference is that Twice-Cooked Pork is first boiled then stir-fried, resulting in a softer, more tender texture, while Salt-Fried Pork is stir-fried directly, giving the meat slices a chewier bite. Although Twice-Cooked Pork is more famous, both dishes have their own merits and are worth trying.
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
300 g (about 10 oz) pork hind leg meat
Pork hind leg meat, though not as tender as tenderloin, has a bit of fat that makes it very flavorful. Pork belly and front shoulder meat, which also have some fat, work well too—just make sure it's not too lean.
Additional Ingredients
1 green bell pepper
In Sichuan, "green pepper" typically refers to spicy pointed peppers, but this dish uses mild bell peppers instead. Besides green peppers, the most traditional version of Salt-Fried Pork includes garlic sprouts, but since they are seasonal, you can substitute with cabbage, pointed peppers, onions, or other crisp, flavorful vegetables when they are unavailable.
Seasonings
20 pieces of Yongchuan fermented black beans
30 g Sichuan Pixian broad bean paste
3 g ginger
10 g (about 2 teaspoons) yellow rice wine
5 g soy sauce
Yongchuan has been a major producer of fermented black beans since the Ming Dynasty, and their flavor is distinct from regular fermented black beans—definitely worth trying.
Instructions
Instructions
Preparation
Step 1: Remove the skin from the pork hind leg and slice into large pieces, approximately 6 cm long, 3 cm wide, and 0.3 cm thick (about 2.4 x 1.2 x 0.1 inches) (see Figure 2).
For this dish, you should remove the pork skin because it is tough and has a very different texture from the meat when stir-fried, which can create an unpleasant contrast in the mouth.
*The meat slices should not be cut too small, because not only will the moisture from the lean meat seep out, but the fat from the fatty meat will also render out, and the slices will shrink significantly after dry-frying. If the slices are too small, they may end up looking like a plate of "fingernails," which is neither visually appealing nor satisfying to eat.
Finely chop the broad bean paste, crumble the fermented black beans, mince the ginger, and cut the green peppers into pieces (Image 3).
*The broad bean paste must be finely chopped to fully release its aroma when stir-fried; chopping the fermented black beans is optional; breaking the green peppers by hand is also a good method.
Stir-fry over high heat until the meat is cooked through and slightly crispy on the edges.
Heat a wok over high heat, add enough oil to coat the bottom. When the oil reaches about 60% hot (just starting to shimmer), add the pork slices and stir-fry over medium heat for about half a minute (Image 4). Add the fermented black beans and continue stir-frying for another half minute (Image 5).
Before stir-frying the meat, it's best to heat the wok first and coat the surface with a thin layer of oil, as raw meat tends to stick to the pan.
When stir-frying the meat slices, do not use high heat or excessively high temperature, as the fat from the pork belly must be slowly rendered out through gentle stir-frying; this ensures the salt-fried pork is not greasy and develops its full aroma.
④ Reduce the heat to low, push the meat to the side of the wok, add the Pixian broad bean paste, and stir-fry gently in the warm oil until fragrant and red oil is released (Figure 6).
The aroma of the broad bean paste is essential to this dish, and it can only release its fragrance and red oil when fully dry-fried. The sign that it's been fried enough is when the sour smell disappears and the moisture has mostly evaporated.
⑤ Turn the heat to medium-high, add the minced ginger, then pour in the Shaoxing wine and soy sauce, stir-frying with the pork slices until fragrant, about 30 seconds (Image 7). Finally, add the green bell peppers to the wok and stir-fry for about 15 seconds until just done (Image 8).
*After adding the green peppers, do not stir-fry for too long—the key is to enjoy their crisp texture. Green peppers can be eaten raw, so simply stir-fry them over medium-high heat just until the raw taste is gone.
Cooking Notes
Salt-Fried Pork lives up to its name, as the seasonings include many salty ingredients such as fermented black beans, broad bean paste, and soy sauce. Therefore, when making this dish, be careful to avoid making it too salty.
Fermented black beans and Pixian broad bean paste are essential, so to reduce saltiness, you can omit the salt. However, sometimes it's still too salty, in which case you can skip the soy sauce in the seasonings and just add a drop of dark soy sauce for color. If it's still too salty, use less broad bean paste. In short, you need to find a balance of saltiness among these seasonings.