Shredded Pork

Photo: flickr user J Wynia

Ingredients

tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in

2 tablespoons cold water

Good pinch of salt

10 ounces lean pork cut 2 ½" long

julienne

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

3 lrgs garlic cloves minced

1 scallion (spring onion) minced

2 teaspoons sugar

teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon vinegar

cup Family Chicken Broth (see recipe)

1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in

1 tablespoon cold water

cup groundnut/peanut oil

2 dried chili peppers left whole

3 ounces wood ear fungus (wun yee) soaked 20 minutes in

warm water, rinsed and shredded

2 ounces bamboo shoots shredded to match

the pork

1 leek washed well,

and shredded to match the pork

Preparation

Add the marinade to the pork, working it in well with the fingers. Set aside.

Combine all of the yuxiang sauce ingredients and set aside.

Heat the groundnut oil in a wok over very high heat until it is smoking. Stir-fry the pork until the color changes (about 1 minute). Add the dried chili peppers and fry for about 10 seconds, until the chili peppers have darkened.

Add the wood ear fungus, bamboo shoots, and leek and stir-fry for 1 minute. Stir in the yuxiang sauce, and toss all of the ingredients thoroughly together very quickly over a very high heat for 1 minute.

Transfer to a warm serving plate and serve.

This recipe yields 4 servings.

Comments: Yuxiang translates literally as "the flavor of fish." The term is a little puzzling as the dish does not taste like fish, nor is the sauce made from fish. However, the spices and seasonings in yuxiang sauce were used originally to flavor fish dishes, hence the meaning.

A dish bearing the term yuxiang will be an attractive bronze color and will have a sauce that exemplifies the Sichuanese (Szechwanese) love of combined flavors, salt, sweet, sour, hot and pungent. Yuxiang shredded pork is another classic from the West of China.