Best for: The dish Sichuan families actually eat most.
Hui guo rou means “returned-to-the-pot meat,” and the name is the recipe: a slab of pork belly is simmered until just cooked, cooled and sliced thin, then fried a second time until the slices curl and crisp, with leeks, fermented black beans, and chile bean paste. A cast-iron skillet on the grill handles the second cooking with the kind of heat the dish wants.
Cast iron: Large cast-iron skillet over direct high heat on the grill; 475°F, plus a saucepan for simmering. Equipment: 12-inch cast-iron skillet, grill, saucepan, spatula.
Ingredients
Cool: 10 minutes. Total: 1 hour 10 minutes.
Pork and simmering aromatics
- 1 1/2 lb slab pork belly, skin on or off
- 4 scallions, cut in half
- 4 slices fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
Second cooking
- 3 tablespoons chile bean paste (doubanjiang)
- 1 tablespoon fermented black beans, rinsed and lightly crushed
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 4 garlic leaves or slender leeks, cut into 2-inch pieces (or 6 scallions, cut thick)
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces (optional)
Directions
Simmer the pork belly with the scallions, ginger, and Shaoxing wine in water to cover for 30 minutes, until just cooked through and firm. Lift it out, cool for 10 minutes (the Cool time), and slice it 1/8 inch thick — warm belly slices cleanly; hot belly tears.
Heat the cast-iron skillet on the grill to 475°F. Add the neutral oil and the pork slices in a single layer.
Fry the pork for 4–5 minutes, turning once, until the slices curl into little cups and crisp at the edges, rendering their fat into the skillet.
Push the pork to the edges and fry the chile bean paste and black beans in the fat for 30 seconds, until the oil turns red and fragrant.
Add the soy sauce and sugar and toss everything together for 1 minute.
Add the garlic leaves and the bell pepper, if using, and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes, until just wilted. Serve at once with rice.
Grilling tip: Slice the belly on the thicker side of thin — paper-thin slices shatter, and you want the little curled cups that hold the sauce.
