Master Stock Braised Meat
Traditional sauce-braised pork and beef, slow-simmered in an aged broth seasoned with a blend of spices.
Ingredients
Star anise
50g
Fennel seeds
100g
Red cardamom (hongkou)
50g
White cardamom (baikou)
50g
Nutmeg
50g
Cloves
50g
Dahurian angelica
50g
Galangal
50g
Sand ginger (mountain ginger)
50g
Bibo (uncertain, possibly another spice name)
50g
Thousand-mile fragrance (litsea cubeba)
50g
Unknown spice (type unclear)
2-3
Yellow wax (for hair removal)
5-8500 g
Pig hair or human hair (mixed with yellow wax for hair removal)
150-250g
Vegetable oil (mixed with yellow wax and pig hair)
100-150g
Pork skin (for making the master broth)
8500 g (based on 50500 g of meat)
Cooking wine
to taste
Salt
to taste
Sugar
to taste
Caramel color (prepare in advance)
1 small spoonful
MSG (sprinkle in the middle of the meat before serving)
a pinch
White sugar (preferably Guangxi cane sugar)
3500 g (for making caramel color)
Instructions
1
Hair Removal
Buy the meat, pork knuckles, or leg joints. Once home, first remove the hair. Heat and melt the yellow wax, then add pig hair or human hair along with the vegetable oil and stir well. After everything is fully melted, begin the hair removal. Place the meat into the wax pot so the skin is fully coated with the wax, then immediately transfer it to a separate basin of water, peel off the wax, then dip it back into the wax pot and continue heating until all the hair is gone.
2
Washing and Tying
Once the hair is fully removed, soak and wash the meat in a basin. After cleaning, tie it tightly with string and set aside.
3
Making the Master Broth
Based on the amount of meat, gauge how much water to use; ideally the meat should be fully submerged. Place the pork skin in the pot and simmer until melted to make the master broth. Once the broth is ready, add the spices and bring it to a boil.
4
Braising the Meat
Once boiling, put the meat in the pot and add cooking wine, salt, sugar, caramel color, and water as needed. When it boils again, start the timer. Generally seal the heat after about 1 hour, then let it rest for about another half hour.
5
Serving
Use a meat hook to grab the string on the meat and lift it out. Place it in a basin, sprinkle a small pinch of MSG in the middle of the meat, then pour 1000-1500 g of the braising broth over it to dissolve the MSG.
6
Preparing Caramel Color
Place 1500 g of white sugar in a pot and heat until melted and foaming stops. Quickly add small amounts of water at a time until the mixture is thin and moist with a reddish color. Let it cool and set aside.
