Pork Braised in Vinegar

I've heard some different terms for this dish... Pork trotters braised in black vinegar, Ginger Vinegar (direct translation from Cantonese) but the outcome of these are all the same with 3 main ingredients - pork, ginger and black vinegar.

This is a 'famous' dish for confinement ladies. If I'm not mistaken, the Chinese believed that eating more ginger will 'heat' up the lady's body so that she does not catch a cold. At the same time, the ginger also 'removes' wind within our system as well. It's like some herbal remedy for confinement; you must eat ginger for 1 month! : )

But we're not here to talk about confinement. For me, this dish can be considered as comfort food. I like vinegar and whenever I have the braised seafood soup in the 2nd course, I would pour in a spoonful of black vinegar. Yum yum yum... As far as I can remember, I always perceived that this dish is a difficult dish to prepare and cook. So I thought of giving it a try...

Cut pork into cutlets. The proper part used in traditional cooking is the trotters but it's kinda difficult to buy it from supermarkets here. Furthermore, it's quite fat : P So we mixed ours with pork belly and pork chops for some 'pork fat' but not too much of it. Then, smash ginger (lots and lots of it). Fry the ginger with some oil in a pot until it is fragrant. Add in pork and stir fry until the outer layer is cooked. Then, pour in the vinegar and some water if you wish to dilute the sourness / sweetness. Let it simmer for an hour and a half and served it warm.

As you can see, my sauce is very black because I didn't use black vinegar. Instead, I used sweetened vinegar. I also added in water because the vinegar was very sweet but not sour. Hence, I've added some vinegar into the dish to make it sharper. Another thing to note is this dish should be braised in a claypot, if possible. I'm not sure how true is this, the reason this dish is braised in a claypot is to avoid 'metal' taste in it. This is due to the nature of the vinegar and may corrode some 'metal' from the pot. 

Well, although I've braised mine in a stainless steel pot, the outcome was still good. The pork was soft and tasty. We enjoyed it very much with our rice.

TheLoyalFan says: ' Anyone can enjoy this even if you're not pregnant... ho ho ho!'

One more dish checked in my list and I'm surprised that this dish is not difficult to prepare. You don't need to hire a professional in order to eat this. All you need is time to braise it : )