Chairman Mao's red-braised pork
Cubes of pork belly braised slowly with caramelised sugar, Shaoxing wine, chilli and spices until glossy, deep red and meltingly soft.
What makes it chairman mao's red-braised pork
- Pork belly in skin-on cubes, blanched first.
- Colour from caramelised sugar rather than soy.
- Dried chilli and warm spices — star anise, cinnamon, bay — in a sauce reduced until it clings.
Where it comes from
Red-braising — slow cooking in a dark, sweet sauce — is done all over China. The Hunan version is tied to Mao Zedong, who is said to have loved it and to have asked for it often; restaurants in Shaoshan, his home village, still make much of the connection.
Hunan cooks often insist that it takes no soy sauce: the red comes from sugar caramelised in the pan, and there's usually dried chilli, which the Shanghai and Hangzhou versions leave out.
How it varies
- With soy
- Many home cooks add a little dark soy for colour, whatever the purists say.
- With eggs
- Boiled eggs braised in the pot alongside the pork.
Be the first here
Start your own chairman mao's red-braised porkNo one here has made chairman mao's red-braised pork yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.
Near it
SichuanTwice-cooked porkPork belly simmered whole, sliced thin, then stir-fried until the edges curl, with chilli bean paste and green garlic or leeks.No one here has made it yetHunanHunan smoked porkPork belly salted, then smoked for weeks over a wood fire until dark and firm, sliced thin and stir-fried with garlic shoots or leeks and chilli.No one here has made it yetZhejiangDongpo porkThick squares of pork belly, tied with string and braised slowly in Shaoxing wine, soy and sugar until the fat trembles.No one here has made it yetShanghaineseRed-braised porkCubes of pork belly braised in Shaoxing wine, dark soy and rock sugar until the sauce reduces to a sticky, mahogany glaze.No one here has made it yet