hong shao soy beans w/ pork and eggs

hong shao soy beans with pork and eggs

### hong sou soy beans w/ pork and eggs 
two different cooking methods, three different tastes.

## Ingredients
- two cups dry yellow soy beans soaked for half a day
- 2.5-3.5 lbs pork shoulder blade (anything w/ fat) cut into two-ish inch cubes w/ fat
- 3T light soy 
- 2T shao hsing wine 
- 2T dark soy (double black, mushroom black, or lucky boy soy)
- 6 steamed hardboiled eggs deshelled 
- honey
- palm sugar (or rock sugar)
- star anise (just one)
- clove (literally just one clove) 
- dried orange peel (some large segment of)
- szechuan peppercorn ground in mortar and pestle
- scallions bunch cut the green parts into three inch segments w/ the white parts chopped into 1/2in dice
- ginger peeled and smashed
- one clove garlic smashed
- chile pepper halved and seeds removed chopped into half moons
- cinnamon stick


## Prep
- soak soy beans for at least a whole work day .
- boil soy beans for an hour and skim off scum . strain and reserve some of the liquid (4c) .
- OPTIONAL bake boiled beans in 400F oven to dry them out for 20-30m . gives better texture
- boil pork w/ bones for at least 30m and skim off scum . strain and cool chunks in running water and save some of the boiling liquid (4c) .
- marinate boiled/cooled pork (include the bone if you’d like) in 3T light soy and 2T shao hsing wine


## Braising
- Heat empty heavy ass pot w/ tall sides on *HIGH* (I used a pressure cooker)
- When *REALLY* hot add oil (1/4c maybe more) *WARNING* things will smoke (2-4m to heat empty pot)
- immediately throw in ginger and soon after add scallions and chile pepper toss 30s
- add pork + marinate
- add soy beans
- add liquid : pork liquid , bean liquid + water (if you need) . you want just barely cover everything
- add star anise, clove, orange peel, cinnamon 
- bring to a heavy boil 5m
- turn down to low and simmer for 1hr
- *IF PRESSURE COOKING* pressure cook for 30m
- *IF PRESSURE COOKING* rapid release pressure and cook under normal pressure for the rest of the journey
- add ground szechuan peppercorns 
- add the sweet stuff 
- add carrots
- let it go for 30-ish minutes . the liquid should be about the thickness of milk and shiny . you may have to add liquid if you don't have enough ... liquid level should be high enough things are still liquid and not sludge .
- add eggs
- adjust seasoning w/ salt + msg + sugar

the longer this dish sits the better everything is . Except for the carrots . So while you’re waiting for eggs to finish getting ready eat the pork + carrots . and when eggs are done do the soy + eggs . serve w/ rice .

I smashed this recipe by following ideas from these three sites:
- http://hungerhunger.blogspot.com/2012/09/stewed-pork-leg-with-soybeans.html
- http://justhungry.com/cooking-whole-dried-soybeans
- http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2012/01/hard-steamed-eggs.html

i like this method if i'm not using very fatty peices of pork . otherwise i do the melted sugar-under-oil method .

—-timball