Tiger-Skin Comb Pork

Name: Tiger-Skin Comb Pork
Ingredients: 500g pork belly rib pork; 250g green leafy vegetables; 15g fine white sugar; 2g refined salt (original text is 2g, in steps is 20g, suspected to be an error); 40g soy sauce; 2g MSG; 10g Shaoxing wine; 1 slice ginger; 15g tea leaves (for smoking); 1 stalk scallion sections; 10 grains Sichuan peppercorns; 20g rendered lard; 500g (about 25g consumed) peanut oil (for deep-frying); 10g wet starch (for thickening); 5g sugar coloring (spread on the pork skin)

A traditional famous dish from Jiangsu featuring pork belly prepared to create a distinctive tiger-skin texture. The meat is incredibly tender, melting in the mouth while being rich but never greasy.

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As a celebrated classic of Jiangsu province, this dish is beloved for its melt-in-your-mouth texture and perfectly balanced flavors. The intricate cooking process yields a beautifully textured pork belly that is wonderfully rich without ever feeling overly greasy, showcasing the elegance of traditional regional culinary artistry.

Ingredients

pork belly rib pork 500g

green leafy vegetables 250g

fine white sugar 15g

refined salt (original text is 2g, in steps is 20g, suspected to be an error) 2g

soy sauce 40g

MSG 2g

Shaoxing wine 10g

ginger 1 slice

tea leaves (for smoking) 15g

scallion sections 1 stalk

Sichuan peppercorns 10 grains

rendered lard 20g

peanut oil (for deep-frying) 500g (about 25g consumed)

wet starch (for thickening) 10g

sugar coloring (spread on the pork skin) 5g

Instructions

Boil, color, and deep-fry

Scrape the hair and oil residue from the skin of the pork belly rib meat, boil in a pot until 60% cooked, and remove. While hot, rub a layer of caramel coloring onto the pork skin. Heat a wok, add peanut oil and heat until 80% hot, add the rib meat (skin-side down), cover the wok, deep-fry until the skin wrinkles and resembles tiger skin, then remove with a slotted spoon. After it has completely cooled, use a knife to cut into meat slices 10 cm long and 1 cm thick.

Steam

Place Sichuan peppercorns on a cutting board, cover the peppercorns with ginger slices, and lightly tap with a knife so that the peppercorns are embedded in the ginger slices. Place the Sichuan peppercorns, ginger slices, and scallion segments into a bowl, arrange the meat slices on top in a comb shape, add 25 g soy sauce, 10 g sugar, and 10 g Shaoxing wine, then steam in a steamer until cooked through and remove.

Stir-fry vegetables as a base

Heat a wok, add 10 g rendered lard, toss in the green leafy vegetables, add fine salt, sugar, and MSG, stir-fry until cooked, and place them on top of the bowl of meat.

Reduce sauce and pour over meat

Pour the original steaming liquid into a wok, invert the meat slices together with the vegetables into the center of a serving dish, remove the ginger, scallions, and Sichuan peppercorns, return the wok to heat, add 50 g chicken broth, 15 g soy sauce, and 2.5 g sugar, thicken with wet starch, and pour over the meat to finish.