Essential Dishes for Rural Banquets: Crispy Meat and Braised Pork Combined

During this Lunar New Year, adults no longer rush to prepare 'bama xi', and finally had some free time.

Taking this opportunity, I learned several traditional rustic dishes, and the one that was both delicious and easy to learn, and essential for rural banquets, was 'Suo Kuo' (Crispy Meat Bowl).

This dish is formally known as 'Suo Rou Kuo Wan' (Crispy Pork Bowl), and its essence is to showcase the authentic flavor of the meat, with a rich aroma of fat and lean.

Precisely because of this, the dish requires very high quality of meat. Anyone who loves meat will be unable to resist its temptation.

Now, let's teach you how to make it specifically.

Step 1:

Delicious dishes start with selecting the meat. Usually, pork neck meat is preferred, ideally with one-third of the meat being fatty pork from a local pig.

If the meat is too fatty, too lean, or of poor quality, it will affect the texture of the crispy meat when fried.

Step 2:

Prepare the slurry for coating the pork – red sweet potato starch + eggs + an appropriate amount of water + a spoonful of salt. Let the starch fully absorb the water before mixing evenly.

Then, pass the selected meat through water to cook it briefly, then cut it into large chunks, and then coat it with the slurry.

Note: It must be cut into large blocks, not like ordinary crispy meat strips. It has to be a large chunk shape.

Step 3:

Prepare a hot pot of oil, heat it until it smokes slightly, and then put the coated meat into the hot oil for frying.

Here, it's important to emphasize that when the pork is added to the pot, you need to slow down, let the bottom part of the flour form first, then put the whole piece in, and then turn the heat to medium.

Step 4:

Fry for about 2-3 minutes, when it's formed, take it out, and then coat it with the slurry again and fry it.

This is a very important step, to make the crispy meat's skin even thicker.

Step 5:

Fry until golden brown, take it out, let the oil drain off, and then cool it before proceeding to the next step.

Step 6:

Cut the fried crispy meat into slices, cut the potatoes into chunks, and arrange them in the bowl in the order of 'crispy meat on top, potatoes underneath',

Afterwards, place it on the pot and steam it over high heat for 40 minutes.

Step 7:

The steamed 'Suo Kuo' still needs one final step – inverting it.

Use a bowl or plate to turn it over, then the potatoes will be at the bottom and the crispy meat on top, then add some greens and drizzle with a pre-prepared sauce (the sauce can include a little vinegar, chopped scallions, and ginger).

Unfortunately, when serving, I was delayed, and when I returned, the 'Suo Kuo' had been eaten up completely, without a final formed image.

But everyone can imagine its stunning final effect.

'Suo Kuo' recipes vary, and can be adjusted according to your own taste.

Because we used pork from our own local pig, so we don't usually add other spices like pepper or star anise.

I heard from an older generation that this method is difficult to achieve in the city because it requires very high-quality ingredients, and many people don't have the patience to do so.

Every time I return to my hometown and eat a bowl of authentic 'Suo Kuo', it's the happiest thing for me, a meat lover.