Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are the ingredients in sweet and sour pork? ›

Mix 1 cup water, 3/4 cup sugar, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, and salt in a large saucepan; bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in cooked pork, celery mixture, and pineapple chunks with juice. Return to a boil, then mix in remaining1/4 cup water and cornstarch.

How do you tenderise pork for stir fry? Velveting is a Chinese technique that helps keep meat tender during stir frying. Adding cornstarch and bicarb to your meat during the marinating process helps to coat your meat, giving it a velvety feel that makes the meat feel extra soft.

Sweet and sour pork is a Chinese dish particularly popular in Westernised Cantonese cuisine and may be found worldwide. Several provinces in China produce various dishes that claim to be the ancestor, including a traditional Jiangsu dish called “pork in a sugar and vinegar sauce” (糖醋里脊; pinyin: táng cù lǐjǐ).

Sweet and sour pork (咕噜肉) sits among some of the most well-known Chinese dishes outside of China. It's widely believed to be a Cantonese dish, known colloquially as gú lóuh yuhk, which roughly translates to “ancient pork.”

In a medium saucepan, combine pineapple juice, rice vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in cornstarch slurry and cook until thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Cornflour/cornstarch – for thickening. Sweet and sour sauce is thicker than most stir fries so it clings to the pork pieces!

Before adding the pork to the stock, some recipes say to rid it of impurities, it should be immersed in cold water which is then brought to the boil before being drained off and discarded. Some recommend doing this twice before the meat is browned and added to the stock for slow cooking.

Then, if you want your pork to be extra tender, you can marinate it in a tenderizing marinade made with acids, like citrus juices, vinegar, or wine.

While there are several ways to velvet, a pound of meat needs about two teaspoons of cornstarch and two teaspoons of oil, says Leung. You may also include two to three tablespoons of water. For beef, add a 1/4-teaspoon of baking soda for tenderizing. Additional seasonings are optional and vary from recipe to recipe.

However, it is believed that the sweet and sour pork dish was originally made with ribs rather than sliced pork. After eating the dish, these foreigners enjoyed it but didn't like the bones, so they modified the recipe, and chefs ditched the ribs and replaced it with a well-marbled pork shoulder.

Why does pork taste different in China? ›

Firstly, the taste profile of pork in China has disimproved as changes in genetics, feeding and production strategies due to ASF have impacted and changed the flavour of pork.

Sweet and sour sauce can be used as a dip for deep-fried fish and meat. It can also be used directly in the wok or sauté pan to flavor vegetarian and meat-based dishes. Sweet and sour sauce is neither healthy nor unhealthy and can be part of a nutritious meal plan.

When I make sweet and sour sauce from scratch, there's a bit of a red colour, but that's because I use ketchup to make some of the “sour” part. It's also got tomatoes in it, which adds some red colour. Usually, my sauce is more of a brown colour from the soy sauce and brown sugar. Because they generally add tomatoes.

But one thing is for sure and that is that the dish originated in China, took a journey around the world and came back to Hong Kong stronger than ever. “It actually evolved from a dish made with spare ribs braised in sugar and vinegar. It was a Shanghainese dish that used to be served to the emperor.

There are a few sweet pork recipes out there but I've found the best one to be this near-perfect imitation of Cafe Rio's sweet pork. The key ingredients are (besides pork, of course) Coca-Cola, brown sugar, chilis, enchilada sauce, and spices. Accept no substitutions!

This sweet and sour chicken stir-fry is a version of the Asian-style favorite that includes carrots, bell pepper, garlic, and pineapple. The requisite soy sauce and vinegar add the sour to the sweet, and voila! Serve over hot cooked rice, if desired.

Sweet & Sour Pork Cantonese

ALLERGY Advice: This dish contains: Cereals Containing Gluten (wheat, rye, spelt, oats, kamut) Eggs Milk Sesame Sulphites & sulphur Dioxide (e.g. preservative food found in some dried fruit and wines) ..