Hey, I want to show you how to make a traditional pork knuckle dish that is very popular during Chinese New Year because it symbolizes prosperity and good luck.
You might have tried my Cantonese-style pork knuckle recipe, which I published last Chinese New Year. Today, I would do something different with other ingredients and seasonings. This recipe will include some Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers, and a different set of spices.
Let’s get started.
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Recipe:
(Please download the recipe and read the full details at: https://tasteasianfood.com/braised-pork-knuckle/ )
Ingredients A (blanch and fry the pork knuckle)
1 pork knuckle (about 1.2kg)
5 slices ginger
2 stalks spring onions, cut into 3-inch sections
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp vegetable oil
Ingredients B (aromatics)
5 slices ginger
2 stalks spring onions
5 cloves garlic
Ingredients C (Spices in bouquet garni)
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
10 cloves
1 tsp Szechuan peppercorns
1 tsp fennel seeds
5 green cardamom pods
1 piece dried orange peel
1/4 tsp white peppercorns
1 dried chili
Ingredients D (seasonings)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine
2 tbsp rock sugar
Ingredients E
Cornstarch slurry to thicken the gravy
1 Chinese lettuce
Sufficient oil to fry
Sufficient water to braise the pork
Method
- Blanch the pork knuckle
- Clean the pork knuckle with plenty of water.
- Remove any hair you spot with a tweezer or burn it with a blowtorch.
- Put the knuckle in a large pot and fill it with enough water to submerge it.
- Add the ginger, spring onion, and rice wine to the water.
- Bring the water to a boil. Then blanch the pork knuckles for about 5-7 minutes and turn it over occasionally.
- Remove it from the water and clean it again with running water.
Fry the pork knuckle before braising it
- Add a large tablespoon of dark soy sauce and rub it all over the surface.
- Fry the pork in hot oil. Close the lid to avoid splattering.
- Fry the pork knuckle on both sides until it is golden.
- Finally, remove it and drain away the oil.
Braise the pork knuckle
- Saute the sliced ginger, sections of the spring onions, and a few cloves of garlic with oil over low heat until they turn aromatic.
- Transfer the aromatics into a stock pot.
- Place the pork knuckle into the pot. Then add enough hot water to the pot to submerge the pork knuckle.
- Add the bouquet garni of spices, rock sugar, choosing wine, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce.
- Once it is boiling, reduce the heat to keep the braising liquids at a bare simmering temperature for two hours.
- Make gravy for the pork knuckle
- Remove the pork from the braising liquid.
- Pour the braising liquid through a wire mesh strainer to catch all the herbs and spices.
- Bring it to a boil again to reduce the amount until it becomes a thick gravy. Thicken it with cornstarch slurry.
- Now, the pork knuckle is ready to serve.
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