Braised Pork Belly with Meigan Cai (梅干菜焖肉)

Braised Pork Belly with Meigan Cai (梅干菜焖肉) is a much simpler version of Mei Cai Kou Rou (梅菜扣肉). Both are well-known dishes from Shaoxing, China, and they are equally scrumptious. 

I grew up only aware of this braised version, as it was a common home-cooked dish, and we never ate out in restaurants. Mei Cai Kou Rou, on the other hand, has been more “elevated,” so to speak. I think that due to its more delicate presentation, it’s more often seen on restaurant menus. 

Nevertheless, both of these dishes are very festive and equally crowd-pleasing, especially around this time of year—with Chinese New Year celebrations on the horizon. 

A Dish With Roots in Shaoxing

If you’re a longtime TWOL reader, you’ve come to know and love Shaoxing wine, which we use in many of our recipes. 

Indeed, this recipe does feature the region’s famous cooking wine—1/4 cup of it. But it also features Shaoxing’s other favorite ingredient—méigān cài (梅干菜), sometimes shortened to simply, méi cài (梅菜). 

Bill and I visited Shaoxing a few years ago, and made a point of visiting the Shaoxing Wine Museum. While the museum itself was a little underwhelming, we really got a sense for not just how much Shaoxing wine is integral to the cooking of the area, but also how important méigān cài is! 

Every family seemed to make their own version, and trays and trays of the vegetables were sun drying outside—on sidewalks, lower rooftops, and windowsills. People from Shaoxing can’t live without méigān cài, just as people from Sichuan can’t live without chilies. 

Like tea, méigān cài comes in different grades, with a wide range of price points. Some are made with mustard greens (芥菜), which is the ideal and the most aromatic version. Others are made with choy sum/yu choy (油菜) or even bok choy (白菜), which are more flat-tasting. 

The more expensive the mei cai, the cleaner it is likely to be as well. Cheaper versions may have more grit or small pebbles in it, because less care was taken during processing). That said, when cooking with mei cai, you have to pre-soak it, and should wash it multiple times. 

I like to buy the brand in the box shown in the photo below. Not only have I found it to be widely available here in NY/NJ, it also includes a (very) small amount of another Shaoxing treasure, dried bamboo shoots. 

Braised bamboo shoots and pork belly is just as popular as this braised pork belly with meigan cai. Having a bit of both in the same dish is a real treat. 

I always have a box or two in my pantry, and in my experience, it doesn’t really go bad. I would say you can store it for up to 2 years without issue or flavor loss. 

The other key flavor agents in this recipe are rock sugar, star anise, and ginger. Pretty simple!

Let’s talk about how to cook this beloved dish. 

Recipe Instructions

Soak the meigan cai in cold water for 30 minutes.

Pull the dried vegetables out into a colander, and drain any sandy water. Rinse the bowl clean, and soak the meigan cai once again, washing a couple more times until there is no sand or grit at the bottom of the bowl.

(Tip: with every wash, let the vegetables sit in the bowl of water undisturbed for 5 minutes, so any grit has a chance to settle to the bottom.)

Once clean, squeeze out as much water as possible from the reconstituted vegetables, and set aside.

Remove any stray bristles from the pork skin, and cut the pork belly into 1” thick pieces. Add them to a pot with enough water to cover the pork belly.

Bring to a boil, and boil for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat, rinse, drain, and set the pork aside. This step removes impurities, ensuring you get a clean flavor in the final dish.

Over low heat, add the oil and rock sugar to your wok.

Heat until the sugar melts into an amber liquid.

Add the star anise, ginger, and the pork belly.

Raise the heat to medium, and cook until the pork is lightly browned.

Add the meigan cai…

And stir-fry everything together for 1 minute.

Turn the heat down to low while you add the Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and water. Make a point to melt any sugar sticking to your spatula into the sauce. Bring the liquid to a boil, cover, and turn the heat down to medium low. 

Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until pork is fork tender, stirring every 10 minutes to prevent burning. If the mixture begins to dry out before the pork is tender, add more water. 

If there is still a lot of liquid in the pot by the time the pork is fork tender, uncover the wok, turn up the heat to medium high, and stir continuously until the sauce has reduced to about ¼ cup.  Make a point not to dry out the sauce completely. 

Serve with steamed jasmine rice and a stir-fried vegetable, or as part of a Chinese New Year feast!