Make good buns!
I love this recipe - smoky, tender, juicy with bits of fat – the perfect meat in the perfect construction that’s perfect for eating: not too heavy, flavorful and .. have I mentioned that it’s perfect?
Ingredients:
For the pork:
- Pork leg (2-3lbs)
- 1 tbsp of black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 star anise
- Vegetable oil
- 8-10 Dried Chinese mushrooms
- Mushroom soy sauce
- 3 green onions
- 8 garlic cloves
- Rice wine
- Sea salt
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- Lots of water
Everything else
- Hoisin sauce
- Buns
- Sliced cucumbers
- Siracha sauce
Whew. Ok, this takes a while to cook but it’s worth it. First we have to clean the pork. Boil a large stockpot of water, dunk in the pork leg and add 1 star anise and 1 bay leaf. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer with the lid half covered for half an hour. Remove the pork and drain all the excess water.
Pat the pork down dry. Coat it with the mushroom soy and marinate it for five-ten minutes. Fill a large bowl with cold water (I put ice cubes in my water) that can fit the pork leg. Set aside.
Now we’re going to deep fry the pork. Pour in vegetable oil in a wok and heat it up – hot as you can! Now watch out for splattering oil (I hate that) – and gently lower the pork leg in. If your wok is hot enough, the skin should turn golden brown within 7-8 minutes. I turn the leg halfway through so both sides have that even tan.
Awesome! Once the pork is done frying, dunk it in the cold bowl of water and let it sit for an hour. This really tenderizes the skin.
Now for the sauce! Cut the garlic into ½ inch strips. Soak the dried mushrooms and squeeze out the excess water after they’ve hydrated. Keep the water!
Sweet - now for the fun step. Remove the pork from the cold water. Heat up the wok again with a little bit of oil. Saute the garlic and green onion really quick until they’re brown, then add about 4 tbsp of the mushroom soy sauce, 2 tbsp of the rice wine, 1 bay leaf, 1 star anise and the reserved mushroom water. Don’t forget the pork leg – throw that in the wok too!
Now, simmer everything in the wok for about 3 hours, until the meat is tender enough to fork off. Turn the meat once in a while. I like to baste the leg in its own juices and fat.
What’s next? Prepare the buns by spreading a little hoisin sauce and Siracha sauce along with your cucumber slices. Stir in the corn starch and 3 tbsp of water into the wok to thicken up the sauce. Fork the pork into bite sized pieces and fit them in the buns. That’s it! Yum.