Stir Fried Pork Slices in Wine Sauce

This is an old-school Chinese home-cooked pork dish that recreates wine lees paste, a fermented rice-wine byproduct used across Fujianese and Shanghainese cooking, from pantry basics. Since true hong zao (red wine lees) can be tough to track down outside Chinatown grocers, this recipe builds its own paste by activating yeast with cooked rice, soy sauce, and a pinch of sugar.

Pork loin is sliced across the grain into short strips, stir-fried in scorching peanut oil until the pink is gone, then braised gently in the wine lees paste with sherry, rice vinegar, and chicken stock. Thirty minutes of covered simmering lets the pork drink up that tangy, fermented depth.

The final cooling step matters. The pork needs to come fully down to room temperature if you’re following the traditional follow-up of deep-frying for crispness, wet meat spatters and won’t crust properly.

Chef Tips

• Slice the pork across the grain, never with it. Across-the-grain strips stay tender, with-the-grain cuts go chewy during the braise.

• Let the pork cool completely before any follow-up frying. Warm, damp meat causes dangerous oil splatters and the coating won’t adhere.

• Look for the homemade paste to smell slightly yeasty and tangy before using. If it doesn’t bubble or smell active after 30 minutes, the yeast is dead and you’ll need to start over.

Variations

• If authentic wine lees paste is available, substitute it for the homemade version for a more traditional flavor.
• Swap pork loin for pork shoulder for a richer, more forgiving braise that holds up to longer simmering.
• Finish with sliced scallions and a drizzle of sesame oil before serving over steamed jasmine rice.