There's a lot going on in this soy sauce, sauce. I love what the
addition of cinnamon, garlic and star anise do to a soy sauce.

Step by step on blog if interested
http://www.kokoscornerblog.com/mycor...soy-sauce.html

or
http://tinyurl.com/qe4agck

I got the recipe from the House of Annie. I included all her personal
comments.

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Tau Yu Bak (Pork Braised In Soy Sauce)

Asian, pork

2 lbs belly pork
1 or other fat-marbled cuts of pork
2 tbs thick soy sauce
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1 small piece (about thumb size) rock sugar
1 head garlic, skin on; broken into cloves
1/8 1/4 cup water
1 stick Cinnamon; optional
2 star anise; optional
2-3 whole cloves; optional
6 hard boiled eggs

1. Cut belly pork into larger bite-sized pieces. Put pork into clay
pot (if you have one. Otherwise, use regular pot.)
2. Add the garlic.
3. Add the thick soy sauce and the light soy sauce (because I do
eyeball, I would ask that you make sure that your sauce at this point
should not be more than a third way up the meat).
4. Turn heat on to high and as soon as the pot is hot, turn to medium
and simmer, stirring occasionally to coat pork with soy sauce. When
pork is half done, maybe about 20 mins in, add a bit of water if sauce
is getting too dry. Don't overdo the water.
5. Add a piece of rock sugar (not too much at first and more to taste
if still not sweet enough) and also the eggs. Cover and simmer for
another 20 mins or until pork is tender and eggs take on dark color of
soy sauce.

Optional:
1. You can also add some dried chilies in this dish to give it a spicy
kick.
2. My mom also used to add some sea cucumber to the dish. Give it a
try if you want. It’s harder to find sea cucumber here and expensive
to boot so I never bother to add (plus I don't even know how to prep a
sea cucumber much less choose one).
3. Sometimes I add firm tofu (taukwa) to the dish. The tofu soaks up
all the wonderful flavors from the sauce.

Serve and enjoy over rice. Lots of rice

Tau Yu Bak (Pork Braised in Soy Sauce)
The secret really is that you have to use belly pork (or at least
country-style ribs-I use these more now but it's nowhere as good as
using belly pork). The fat in this cut makes this dish sing! That and
the garlic is key. Well, ok, the soy sauce is also quite crucial. But
truly, that's about it.

I want to say that when I make this dish, I tend to eyeball the
seasonings.
The main flavor component is the saltiness of the soy sauce, but there
should be just enough sweetness to play a nice contrast to that
saltiness.
The garlic also adds a depth of flavor that marries well with the
pork.

Some people add cloves, star anise and cinnamon to the sauce but I
find that keeping it simple actually accentuates the
garlic-porky-salty-sweet flavors in tau yu bak. I leave that option
open for those who'd like more fragrance.

Also, we've always kept the skins on the garlic in this braise. I
wasn't sure why until this last time I made it when I did not keep the
skin on.
When you don't keep the skin on the garlic what happens is the garlic
melts into the sauce and the soy flavor is muddied a little. It's
still delicious but you really do want to just have the garlic infuse
the soy sauce and not overwhelm the whole dish. Also, keeping it whole
in the skin lets you suck up a whole melted garlic clove that has been
braised in soy sauce-just delicious!

Cheers, Annie


** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.91 **

koko

--

Food is our common ground, a universal experience
James Beard