Mei cai kou rou pork belly slices over preserved mustard greens

Mei Cai Kou Rou: Pork Belly, Greens and Steaming

Mei cai kou rou pork belly slices over preserved mustard greens
Make mei cai kou rou with pork belly and preserved mustard greens. Learn to wash the greens, build the sauce, steam until tender and invert the serving bowl.

目次

Quick Answer: What Is Mei Cai Kou Rou?

Mei cai kou rou (梅菜扣肉, méi cài kòu ròu) pairs sliced pork belly (五花肉, wǔhuāròu) with preserved mustard greens, steamed in a bowl and inverted for serving.[7]

  • The finished pork should be tender, with moist skin rather than crisp crackling.[7]
  • Preserved greens need thorough washing; brands differ in saltiness and soaking requirements.[2]
  • Seasoning and skin preparation vary among recipes.[3]

The recipe below uses shallow browning, followed by steaming.

Mei cai kou rou ingredients steaming and bowl inversion guide
Wash the preserved greens, steam the pork until tender, then drain the hot liquid before inversion.

Prepare the greens before starting the pork, and check that your steaming bowl fits both the steamer and the serving plate.

Hakka Roots and the Preserved Greens

In Hakka cuisine (客家菜, kèjiā cài), salted and dried vegetables belong to a wider food preservation tradition. Mei gan cai (梅干菜, méi gān cài) means preserved dried greens; despite the character for plum in its name, it contains no plums.[4]

The bowl presentation differs from cubed red-braised pork belly: slices line the bowl, greens cover them, and inversion reveals the meat on top.[7]

Seasoning and skin preparation differ among cooks:

  • Shallow-browned version: Ginger, star anise, soy sauces and sugar; the complete recipe follows.[1]
  • Fermented-curd version: Red fermented bean curd (红腐乳, hóng fǔrǔ), a fermented soy product used to flavour meat; deep-fried skin develops wrinkles before steaming.[2]
  • Sweet-and-salted-greens version: A mixture of two preserved mustard products, with garlic, ginger and a long steam.[3]

These examples describe actual recipe choices rather than rigid regional rules.

Choosing and Washing the Greens

Buy preserved mustard greens, also sold as mui choy, rather than fresh mustard leaves. Check the package: sweetened and salted products need different seasoning adjustments. The preserved vegetables guide explains the wider category.[2]

Open the leaves and stems in a basin, wash repeatedly, and lift the greens out so sediment stays behind. Repeat with clean water until no grit remains. Soaking softens the product and reduces salt; follow its instructions rather than treating one time as universal. Drain, squeeze and chop before frying.[2]

Ingredients for One Steaming Bowl

Serves six.[1]

  • Main ingredients: 680 g boneless, skin-on pork belly; 170 g dried preserved mustard greens; water; 2 ginger slices; 2 star anise.[1]
  • Seasoning: 2 tbsp neutral oil; 4 tsp dark soy sauce (老抽, lǎochōu); 1½ tbsp sugar; 1 tsp minced ginger; 2 tbsp light soy sauce (生抽, shēngchōu); 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine (绍兴酒, Shàoxīng jiǔ); 240 ml chicken stock.[1]
  • Slurry: 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water.[1]

Use the two soy sauce types as specified; adjust seasoning to the washed greens’ remaining saltiness.[2]

How to Cook, Steam and Invert the Pork

  1. Prepare the dried greens. Soak 5–6 hours; rinse through 6–7 basin-water changes. Drain.[1]
  2. Simmer and brown. Cover pork with water, sliced ginger and star anise; simmer 35 minutes. Blot; brown skin-first, then sides, in 1 tbsp oil over medium heat. Off heat, coat with 1 tsp dark soy and 1 tbsp water.[1]
  3. Cook the greens. Slice pork 1.25 cm thick. Caramelise sugar in remaining oil; stir minced ginger 30 seconds, then greens 2 minutes. Boil with remaining dark soy, light soy, wine and stock.[1]
  4. Fill and steam. Line a heatproof bowl with pork skin-down; cover with greens and liquid. Steam, covered, about 75 minutes until tender.[1]
  5. Finish and invert. Drain liquid; simmer with slurry. Secure a larger plate over bowl; invert, lift bowl and spoon sauce over.[1]

Keep the long greens soak refrigerated. Continue the pork’s cooking sequence without storing it partly cooked. Blotting before browning reduces splashing; add the small water-and-soy mixture cautiously with heat off. Let pork become just manageable for slicing, rather than leaving it to cool completely.

Keep the steaming water below the bowl and replenish with boiling water before it runs dry.

Drain hot liquid first; use dry oven mitts, grip plate and bowl firmly together, and lift the bowl away from your face.[2]

Continue cooking if a fork still meets resistance. Whole pork must reach at least 145°F/63°C, with a three-minute rest; reaching that minimum alone does not establish tenderness.[5]

FAQs About Mei Cai Kou Rou

Must I deep-fry the pork?

No. Use shallow browning. Steamed skin stays soft, unlike the crackling on siu yuk roast pork.[2]

Why is my pork belly still firm?

It needs more steaming. Thickness and the cut affect tenderness; maintain steam and check the water supply rather than serving solely because the timer rang.[2]

Can I use fresh mustard greens?

Fresh leaves do not reproduce the concentrated preserved flavour. Use the specified preserved product for this recipe; changing to fresh greens makes a different dish.[4]

Can I make this ahead?

Finish cooking first. Refrigerate shallow portions within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F/32°C. Keep at 40°F/4°C or colder for 3–4 days; reheat to 165°F/74°C.[6]

出典

[1] Judy Leung. Mei Cai Kou Rou – Steamed Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables

[2] Jeannette. Mei Cai Kou Rou

[3] KP Kwan. Mei Cai Kou Rou: Hakka Pork Belly with Preserved Mustard Greens

[4] Hakka Affairs Council. Stewed Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables

[5] U.S. Department of Agriculture. Safe Internal Temperatures for Meat and Poultry

[6] U.S. Department of Agriculture. How Do I Handle Leftovers Safely?

[7] Guangdong Quality Inspection Association. Mei Cai Kou Rou Processing Technical Specification: Consultation Draft

関連記事