Tiger-Skin Braised Pork Knuckle

Ingredients

• Front pork knuckle
• Vegetable oil
• Rock sugar
• Salt
• Dark soy sauce
• Light soy sauce
• White vinegar
• Bay leaves
• Cinnamon bark
• Cardamom
• Sichuan peppercorns
• Star anise
• Starch
• Scallion
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Water
• Cooking wine

Steps

Pre-treatment

1. After thawing, soak the pork knuckle in water for 1 hour to draw out the blood.
2. If you have a blowtorch, scorch the surface of the knuckle skin until it turns brownish-black to remove hair and destroy the sweat glands. Don't torch the same spot for too long or it will burn; stop when the skin is almost completely brownish-black.
3. If you have no blowtorch, heat an iron wok to above 200 °C, put the knuckle straight into the wok, and use a spatula or chopsticks to press the skin fully against the wok surface. When the skin in contact with the wok turns brown, move to another spot and keep searing until the whole knuckle has been seared. Watch the wok temperature during this process and don't let it get red-hot.
4. Scrub the knuckle in water with a scouring pad to remove the scorched parts. When you're done, the knuckle should look as it did before scorching.
5. Put the knuckle in the wok and add as much cold water as possible, depending on the depth of the wok and size of the knuckle. Ideally the water covers more than 3/4 of the knuckle while you can still lift the wok and its contents.

Removing odors

6. Take the white part of 1 scallion, cut it into 3 pieces, and add to the wok.
7. Take 3 garlic cloves, smash each with the flat of a knife, and add to the wok.
8. Take 3 g of ginger and add to the wok.
9. Add 2 tablespoons of cooking wine to the wok.
10. Once the water boils, wait five minutes, then take out the knuckle, pick out all the aromatics, and keep all the broth in another container for later.

Deep-frying

11. Add cold oil to the wok; using the earlier water level as a reference, it should ideally cover more than 3/5 of the knuckle. Heat over medium heat.
12. When the oil temperature reaches about 50% heat, turn to low heat and put in the knuckle to fry.
13. Pay attention to your personal safety while deep-frying.
14. While frying, use a spatula or another heat-resistant utensil to ladle oil evenly over the parts of the knuckle not submerged. If possible, turn the knuckle every 3 minutes so it fries evenly.
15. Frying takes about 20 minutes. When the skin has turned light brown all over and the lean meat is slightly charred, remove and set aside.
16. The used frying oil can be reused for other fried foods, but don't reuse it too many times.

Caramel color

17. Make 200 ml of caramel color (see the caramel color tutorial) and set aside.

Braising

18. Put the knuckle in a pressure cooker and add all the broth, caramel color, bay leaves, cinnamon bark, cardamom, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and white vinegar. If you like it sweet, add another 2-3 g of rock sugar.
19. Take the white part of 1 scallion, cut it into 3 pieces, and add to the pot.
20. Take 3 garlic cloves, smash each with the flat of a knife, and add to the pot.
21. Take 3 g of ginger and add to the pot.
22. Close the lid and pressure-cook for 40 minutes.

Reducing the sauce

23. While it braises, make the starch slurry: in a bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of starch with 100 ml of water until it becomes a white suspension.
24. When braising is done, open the pressure cooker and pick out all the aromatics, keeping only the knuckle.
25. Transfer the remaining broth from the pressure cooker to the iron wok, and move the knuckle to a plate or bowl.
26. Put the wok on the stove over high heat. While reducing, dip a chopstick tip into the sauce to taste the saltiness and add salt to taste. Note that the sauce tastes milder when there's more of it than when it's reduced, so take that into account when salting.
27. When the broth boils, keep an eye on how much is left.
28. When less than 1/2 of the original volume remains, stir the starch slurry again and add half of it.
29. Wait for the broth to boil, then add the other half.
30. Wait for it to boil again; after 1-2 minutes of boiling, turn off the heat. The sauce in the wok should now be reddish-brown and thick.
31. Spoon the sauce evenly over the knuckle, trying to cover every part. If the sauce runs out before the knuckle is fully covered, serve it as is; otherwise there's no need to pour on the remaining sauce—just serve.