Instructions
- Add sugar and 2 tbsp water in wok, stir until sugar melts.
- Add pork and mix it with the syrup.
- Add Chinese cooking wine and simmer for 2 minutes, on low heat.
- Add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil.
- Add ginger, cinnamon, pepper and mix.
- Simmer for 1 hour on low heat.
- If there's still water in the wok, turn the heat to high until the water evaporates.
- Add soy sauce immediately and mix it. Do not prolong the meat under high heat when the water has evaporated to avoid burning. (Note: Sugar burns quickly and will give a bitter aftertaste.)
- Serve with mashed potato or rice.
This is a slow-braised pork dish built around a proper caramel base, sugar melted down first until it turns into a rich syrup that the pork gets coated in before anything else goes into the pot. That early step is what gives the finished dish its deep, almost burnished sweetness rather than a dish that’s just seasoned with sugar on the side.
Chinese cooking wine goes in early too, and it does real work here, adding a savory depth and a bit of aromatic lift that plain water and soy sauce alone wouldn’t bring. From there it’s a long, slow simmer with ginger, cinnamon, and pepper, giving the pork shoulder plenty of time to break down until it turns tender and almost falls apart, while those warm spices seep into the meat rather than just sitting on the surface. The trickiest part comes right at the end, when the liquid is reduced down and the heat gets bumped up to evaporate what’s left. That window matters a lot, since the same sugar that built the rich caramel flavor can just as easily scorch and turn bitter if it’s left on high heat a moment too long, so the soy sauce goes in fast the second the liquid’s gone to lock in that savory-sweet balance. What comes out is a glossy, deeply caramelized pork, sweet and savory at once, meant to be spooned over rice or mashed potatoes so the syrupy sauce has something to soak into.
