Twice-cooked pork (Hui guo rou)

Twice cooked pork is a Sichuan specialty prepared by cooking fatty pork leg or belly (with the skin intact) in two different ways. Pork is first simmered in a pot and cooled in the refrigerator in order for the meat and fat to firm up. After that, the meat is sliced and stir-fried with vegetables such as cabbage, bell peppers, leeks, and mushrooms until it develops a brown color and the skin gets crispy on the edges.

Ingredients may vary from one cook to another, but most of them add a sauce made with rice wine, soy sauce and various other condiments to the wok along with meat and vegetables. It is believed that the dish was invented during the Song Dynasty period by a poet who was preparing a pork dish for his friend.

He cooked the meat in a pot and forgot about it, and when he returned, he saw that the liquids had evaporated, and the meat was sizzling in its own fat, thus a new dish was created. Today, the people of Sichuan traditionally have a feast on every 1st and 15th lunar month, where twice cooked pork is prepared as the main star of the festivities.