Red Braised Pork

Slow-braised pork belly in soy sauce, rock sugar, Shaoxing wine. Shanghai comfort food, Mao Zedong's favorite.

Hong shao rou (red braised pork) is Shanghai's ultimate comfort food — tender cubes of pork belly braised for hours in a dark, sweet-savory sauce until the fat melts in your mouth and the meat falls apart. The "red" comes from the dark soy sauce and the caramelized sugar that gives the dish its rich color and flavor.

The technique is simple but requires patience: cut the pork belly into cubes, sear them, then braise slowly in a mixture of soy sauce, rock sugar, Shaoxing wine, ginger, and sometimes star anise or scallions. The long, slow cooking breaks down the collagen in the pork, transforming tough meat into something ethereally tender.

This dish is a point of pride for Shanghai chefs — everyone claims their family's recipe is the best. Some make it sweeter, some more savory, some add rice wine while others don't. But all agree on one thing: the fat should melt, not be chewy. That's how you know it's been braised long enough.