Pork with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Pork Belly with 40 Cloves of Garlic recipe

5 from 8 votes

Pork with 40 Cloves of Garlic

This recipe for braised pork belly with 40 cloves of garlic is a Chinese-inspired riff on the classic French dish—and just as delicious!

Prep Time15

Cook Time45

Total Time1

Course: Pork

Cuisine: Chinese

Servings:

Calories: 498kcal

Author: Bill

Ingredients

1¼ pounds skin-on pork belly (cut into 1½-inch/4 cm pieces)
2 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 ½ teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
¼ teaspoon white pepper
40 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons neutral oil
2 slices ginger (1/4-inch/6mm thick and smashed with a knife)
1 star anise
¼ cup Shaoxing wine (or dry cooking sherry)
½ teaspoon sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot (or red onion)
1 scallion (chopped)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the pork belly pieces for 2 minutes. Drain, rinse the pork belly pieces, and set aside.
In a large measuring cup or medium bowl, combine the chicken stock, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper.
To peel the garlic, grab a relatively large but lightweight metal pot with a lid. Place all of the individual garlic cloves (they should be separated) into the pot, and close the lid. Holding the pot tightly closed, vigorously shake the garlic in the pot for 30 seconds. This will shake the garlic skins loose and make peeling much easier. You can also do this in a closed mason jar. Just shake the garlic in 3 smaller batches. Another method is to pour boiling water over the top of the garlic in a heatproof bowl. After 1 minute, the skins should come right off.
Heat a wok or deep pot over medium-low heat. Add the neutral oil, ginger slices, star anise, and all of the peeled garlic cloves. Cook, stirring often, until the garlic is lightly browned.
At this point, you can remove half or all of the garlic cloves with a slotted spoon and set them aside. Leaving the garlic in the pot creates a deeper garlic flavor in the dish. Removing them now and adding them back later gives you whole garlic cloves to enjoy with the chunks of pork belly. Removing half gives you the best of both worlds, half of the garlic cooked down into the sauce and the other half in whole soft tender cloves.
Next, add the pork belly and fry in the garlic infused oil for 6-7 minutes, or until lightly browned. Stir in the wine and ½ teaspoon of sugar.
Add the chicken stock mixture to the pot, along with the shallot. Bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, and continue to cook for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If you decided to remove any garlic after you infused the oil, now is the time to add them back. Continue to cook for another 15 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. The liquid should gradually reduce, but should never dry out during the 30 minutes of cooking.
After 30 minutes, uncover and continue to cook for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and coats the pork belly. If needed, turn up the heat to reduce the sauce. Garnish with the chopped scallion, and serve.

Nutrition

Pork with 40 Cloves of Garlic by The Woks of Life. 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