Soy-sauce braised pork smells of straw fragrance
Straw-wrapped pork
Straws collected from the autumnal rice harvest can be used to wrap fatty pork and make soy-sauce braised pork that sends out wafts of straw fragrance, a classic dish in Songjiang District.
One or two dried strips of straw are dipped in warm water to soften. Cut some pork belly meat into squares, then use straw to wrap the pork. Cut off extra straw ends. The wrapped pork is cooked in boiling water, and wine is added to eliminate the unpleasant odor. Boil some oil in a wok and add ginger slices and green onions. Then add these ingredients to cook 5 kilograms of fatty pork: 200 grams of spare rib sauce, 150 grams of seafood sauce, 150 grams of dark soy sauce, 150 grams of light soy sauce and 400 grams of rock candies.
After the ingredients boil, add the straw-wrapped pork and some water and braise them for three hours. Use a chopstick to test whether the meat is soft enough. Continue braising the meat until the sauce turns sticky. The meat can be eaten after removing the straws or wrapped with a pancake. It is very fragrant and tastes like sea eel.
