Plum Pork (Mei Zi Rou)

Name: Plum Pork (Mei Zi Rou)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 300 g Lean pork (finely minced); 50 g Fat pork (finely minced); 25 g Water chestnuts (blanched, crushed, and finely chopped); about 20 g (about 1) Egg white; 50 g Pork caul fat (spread flat, hard tendons pounded flat, cut into 2 strips about 8 cm wide); 15 g Sugar; 25 g Soy sauce; 25 g Shaoxing wine (10 g for marinating, 15 g for sauce); 25 g Vinegar; 3 g Salt; 5 g Ginger juice water; 5 g Scallion (one whole placed in the middle); 15 g Dry starch (for caul fat and plate); 10 g Sesame oil; 25 g Wet starch (10 g for filling, 15 g for sauce); 750 g Lard (for deep-frying); 1 g White pepper; 25 g Stock (for sauce)

Plum pork, a classic traditional Zhejiang dish, is prepared by wrapping seasoned meat filling in pork caul fat, deep-frying until the exterior is crisp and the interior remains tender, then finished with a sweet-and-sour starch glaze.

55 min

Easy

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Ingredients

Lean pork (finely minced) 300 g

Fat pork (finely minced) 50 g

Water chestnuts (blanched, crushed, and finely chopped) 25 g

Egg white about 20 g (about 1)

Pork caul fat (spread flat, hard tendons pounded flat, cut into 2 strips about 8 cm wide) 50 g

Sugar 15 g

Soy sauce 25 g

Shaoxing wine (10 g for marinating, 15 g for sauce) 25 g

Vinegar 25 g

Salt 3 g

Ginger juice water 5 g

Scallion (one whole placed in the middle) 5 g

Dry starch (for caul fat and plate) 15 g

Sesame oil 10 g

Wet starch (10 g for filling, 15 g for sauce) 25 g

Lard (for deep-frying) 750 g

White pepper 1 g

Stock (for sauce) 25 g

Instructions

Make the filling

Finely mince the lean and fat pork and place in a bowl. Add 10 g Shaoxing wine, salt, egg white, ginger juice water, and white pepper, then beat in one direction until the mixture becomes sticky. Blanch the water chestnuts briefly, crush and finely chop them, and add to the bowl. Stir in 10 g wet starch until evenly combined to form the filling. Set aside.

Wrap the filling

Spread the caul fat flat, pound the hard tendons flat, and cut into 2 strips about 8 cm wide. Dust lightly with dry starch. Lay the meat filling along one side of a caul fat strip, place a whole scallion in the middle, and roll up into a cylinder about 3 cm in diameter. Cut into 2 cm segments so that the scallion stem in the middle protrudes slightly above the surface. Arrange on a plate dusted with dry starch to hold their shape as meatballs.

Mix the sauce

In a small bowl, combine sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, 15 g Shaoxing wine, 15 g wet starch, and 25 g stock, and whisk together to make a sauce. Set aside.

First fry

Set a wok over medium heat, add the lard, and heat to about 60% hot (around 132 °C / 270 °F). Carefully add the meatballs and fry for about 1 minute, then remove and drain.

Second fry

Once the oil temperature rises again, return the meatballs to the wok and fry a second time until crisp. Remove and drain off the excess oil.

Coat with sauce and serve

Leave a little oil in the original wok, add scallion and stir-fry until fragrant, then pour in the prepared sauce. As soon as it thickens, add the fried meatballs and toss quickly to coat them evenly. Drizzle with sesame oil and serve immediately.