Sweet and Sour Pork
When I think of sweet and sour pork, my mind goes to classic Chinese-American restaurants that serve terrible food. Everything seemed to be drowned in gloppy, gelatinous sauces, no matter if it was pork, beef, or chicken. Fortunately, my experience at these restaurants was decades back. I’m much wiser now!
This recipe is from Gourmet Traveler, a travel and food magazine from Australia. The recipe author is chef Tony Tan.
From the website: “Tony was born on the east coast of Malaysia into a restaurant-owning family. He completed his formal training as a chef in Australia and in France at La Varenne. Since then Tony has become a prominent figure in Australian culinary circles, first on the Sydney scene and more recently in Melbourne.”
From Tony: “For many Chinese people, especially those from Guangzhou province, sweet and sour pork is a memorable part of their childhood. A dish that speaks of nostalgia and comfort, it’s universally loved by my Chinese friends and by me. So I was shocked when some of my Aussie friends said it was stodgy and unpalatable.”
Well I can relate. Fortunately, this recipe was great! It’s quite involved, but worth the effort.
Sweet and Sour Pork
1/4 of a small fresh pineapple
1 small onion
1 firm tomato
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 green bell pepper
1 spring onion
2 – 3 long red chile peppers, seeded (I could only find green)
2 garlic cloves
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
1/2 cup potato flour, plus 1 tsp extra
1/2 cup rice flour
Steamed or fried rice, to serve
Marinated pork
1 scant teaspoon five-spice powder
2 teaspoon light soy sauce
2 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
1 teaspoon ginger juice (squeezed from 2 tbsp finely grated ginger)
1 egg, beaten
1 pound pork neck (I used pork loin)
Sweet and sour sauce
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon caster sugar, or to taste
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tsp light soy
1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
For marinated pork, combine five-spice, light soy, Shaoxing wine, ginger juice, egg and a pinch of salt in a bowl.
Cut pork into 1/2” pieces, add to marinade and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate to marinate (15 minutes or overnight; if marinating overnight, mix in egg just before cooking).
For sweet and sour sauce, mix ingredients in a bowl, and season to taste with sugar and vinegar.
Cut pineapple into bite-sized pieces, cut onion and tomato into wedges, thinly slice capsicums, cut spring onion into batons, thinly slice chillies, finely chop garlic and set aside separately on a tray.
Heat oil in a wok. Combine flours in a bowl, add pork cubes and toss to coat, then deep-fry in batches until browned and crisp (2-3 minutes; be careful, hot oil will spit). Remove pork with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat if desired for a crisper texture. Reserve oil in a heatproof container.
Wipe wok with paper towels, then heat 1 tbsp frying oil. When hot, add onion, chilli and garlic, and stir-fry until onion starts to colour (30 seconds).
Add capsicum and pineapple, and stir-fry until well combined (20 seconds).
Add sweet and sour sauce, bring to the boil, then add spring onion and tomato, and stir-fry until warmed through (30-40 seconds).
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Meanwhile, combine extra potato flour with 1 tbsp cold water and stir into boiling sauce to thicken. Season to taste.
Return pork to wok to warm through (1-2 minutes).
Serve with rice.
As I wrote, this was delicious.
I will use this recipe again, but I won’t bother deep-frying the pork. This time I wanted to honor the original recipe.
About the Author: Chef Mimi
American – Chinese food was something we always crave in HK because you can’t get it. Looks so good. I agree deep frying makes such a mess so just stir fry it next time and it will still be delish.
Thanks. I should have just done that but sometimes I try to respect the recipe!
Sweet and sour hits every wonderful note!
It was definitely a good recipe!
My experience with sweet-and-sour pork/chicken/beef was very much like yours. Always at horrible restaurants but, as a student, it was cheap. I look forward to giving this a try. I love what Tony writes about it, and how it’s beloved by so many of his friends and family.
Thanks, David. It was worth making it right!
I love that you’ve used the word capsicum here! Australia seems to be the only country that uses it :) We don’t eat pork but i reckon you could use chicken instead. Funny how hubby and i were just saying the other day that it is hard to find a Chinese restaurant these days. It’s all Thai and Japanese and Korean now!
cheers
sherry
Well I do love all Asian cuisines, but interesting that Chinese restaurants are more rare.
Agree with Sherry and add Vietnamese to the list – to me that seems the most popular perchance these days :) ! Love the magazine but the chef is actually not well known here. Sweet-and-sour pork belongs to the decades past in this country I feel – our love of ‘Chinese’ (SO many totally different cuisines!) goes more to the Szechuan, Hainanese and my favourite, Shanghainese, these days. This is a lovely version of the old Cantonese dish tho’ methinks well worth enjoying :) !
Oh yes. Definitely Vietnamese. They’re all so incredible!!!
This sweet and sour pork looks terrific, and I bet it’s a healthier version of the one you can grab at the take out due to oil-portion control.
Oh goodness yes!
I can’t eat pork, but I’m guessing this would also worth with either beef or chicken? I hope so, because it really does look good!
Oh, yes of course. Shrimp would work, too! Hmmmm. That’s an idea!
I will try this without deep frying the pork. It looks so good!
I understand. I wanted to respect the recipe. The first time!
You’ve made this dish look so gorgeous! And the recipe sounds incredible, too.
I met a restaurant owner once who told me that many restaurants used a “master sauce” that came in big cans and was just varied a bit for different recipes. So sad.
mollie
Ew. That’s so awful. Well thanks! It’s nice to see you again!
A blast from the past! I used to love that ol’ gloopy mess (laugh). Of course, now, it would be a solid ‘No” But, yours a definite ‘YES’ looking forward to rediscovering this dish.
It was work. I wouldn’t bother deep frying the pork. But definitely not gloppy!!!
As soon as you said “fresh pineapple,” I knew I was going to love this. But the rest of this ingredient list just gets better and better!
Thanks, Jeff! It was a good recipe!
Hi Mimi, I rarely prepare Asian recipes at home because of my total lack of experience and ability in that delicious cuisine. We always go out to a good restaurant for anything Asian, from Thai to Sushi, etc. But with your endorsement, this recipe sounds like a good one to prepare at home! Thanks!
Of course! Honestly cooking Asian cuisine doesn’t require any different skills, just different ingredients.
I’ve never made sweet & sour pork at home, but like you my mind goes to the very subpar versions that come with Chinese American takeout. I should try the homemade version sometime!
I completely agree! Such a difference.
Totally agree with your take on the old-school gloppy versions sweet and sour pork used to be a bit of a joke dish for me too. But this version looks like the real deal! Love it!
It certainly tasted like the real deal! No gloppiness!