Red Braised [Anything], Home-style

Red braised... pretty much anything! In this video, we'll show you how to approach (1) red braised ribs (2) red braised tofu and (3) red braised potatoes.

0:00 - What is 'red braising'?
0:55 - Choice 1 - Fry Caramel or use Dark Soy
1:52 - Choice 2 - Whole Spices or Five Spice Powder
2:28 - How to Red Braise Anything
3:18 - Where's the Red Braised Pork Belly?
3:41 - Red Braised Pork Ribs
5:54 - Red Braised Tofu
7:20 - Red Braised Potatoes
8:35 - Making a Full Meal with a Red Braise

INGREDIENTS, RED BRAISED [ANYTHING]

Main ingredient, ~350-500g. In the video we had 500g of ribs, 350g of firm tofu, and 400g of peeled potatoes

Aromatics: 2 cloves garlic, whole; 1/2 inch ginger, cut into slices; white portion of ~2 scallions, cut into ~2 inch sections

Liaojiu, a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 1 tbsp

Hot water: 2 cups for meat; 1 cup for anything else (meat will need longer to cook, so more will evaporate away during that 45 minute cooking process)

Seasoning for the braise: 2 tbsp soy sauce (生抽), 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce (老抽), 2 tsp sugar

Spices: 1/2 tsp five spice powder (五香粉) or your choice of whole spices (below)

Salt and MSG to taste (about ~1/4 tsp and ~1/16 tsp respectively), added after reducing

Slurry of 1 tsp cornstarch (生粉) mixed with an equal amount water - only add in a third at first & eyeball the thickness

Toasted sesame oil (麻油), 1 tsp

Scallion greens for garnish.

Note that if you like, you can swap the water and Shaoxing for beer.

SPICES TO CHOOSE

Any combination of the below are incredibly common to see in a red braise. Note that it would not be advised to use all of the below spices, else the red braise will taste sort of... medicinal in a TCM sort of way? If using whole spices, we would suggest using the cinnamon, star anise, and let's say... no more than three more additional spices.

Cinnamon (桂皮), 1/4 stick; Star Anise (八角), 1; Clove (丁香), 2; Dried Bay Leaf (香叶), 1; Whole Sichuan Peppercorns (花椒), 1/4 tsp; Fennel Seed (小茴香), 1/4 tsp; Tsaoko a.k.a. Chinese Black Cardamom (草果), 1; Licorice Root (甘草), 1 pcs; Dried Chili, 1

PROCESS, RED BRAISED [ANYTHING]

1. Pre-cook your main ingredient. If using meat (pork, beef, chicken, etc), blanch: add to cool water, bring up to a boil, boil for three minutes, then rinse. For anything else (tofu, potato, eggplant, fish, hard boiled eggs, etc), pre-fry it until 'done'. For tofu: five minutes each side. For Potatoes: ~10 minutes over a medium flame.

2. Fry the base. Medium flame. Fry the aromatics for ~15 seconds. If using five spice powder, add it in here and fry for another ~30 seconds, til fragrant. Then, add your main ingredient - if using meat, you can fry it for a bit longer here to get some browning, 3-5 minutes. Then, swirl in the Shaoxing wine.

3. Add the hot water, soy sauces, sugar, and - if using the whole spices - the whole spices.

4. Cover. Simmer on low until your ingredient is tender. For us, this was 45 minutes for meat and 10 minutes for anything else.

5. Uncover. Swap your flame to high and let everything rapidly reduce. You're looking for the liquid to get to ~1/3 of the original volume.

6. Taste, then season with salt and MSG. Thicken by adding the slurry in - one third of it at first so as to not overthicken. You're looking for the consistency of a thin sauce.

Drizzle with the sesame oil, sprinkle over the scallion greens.

ON THE CARAMEL

I'm sure there's a subset of people that're angrily commenting about how could we not include the caramel. And certainly, if you take some rock sugar and fry it in your oil beforehand, it'll add a subtle complexity to the dish. This was just a simple home-style red braise - do fry the caramel if you like.

Chef Wang Gang has a great video on the topic here:
   • 厨师长教你：“糖的质变”，糖色，挂霜，拔丝，冰糖葫芦，琉璃糖衣的专业做法，...  

ROB'S RED BRAISED PORK BELLY

I know that I promised a recipe in this description box, but I'm approaching the 5000 character limit. I'll put that recipe under the uncut video, over here:

   • Rob's Hongshaorou, Redux  

RED BRAISED PORK MUSIC VIDEO

As promised, Andong's red braised pork music video:    • Chinese Braised Pork: Hong Shao Rou  

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Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel):    • Live Stream: Favourite B-Side Tracks