來碗台南肉燥

台南肉燥(braised pork belly meat sauce)  is synonymous with the City of Tainan.  It's like sourdough bread to SF or beignets to New Orleans.  It's a dish that make you homesick.

In Tainan, you can eat 肉燥 anytime and anywhere.  I remember the little eateries that sell nothing but 肉燥 noodles.  They are inexpensive and served in small portions.  Whenever people feel like, they would just stop, order, finish in two gulps and move on to their next place to be.  It's a staple, a street food and it's part of life in Tainan.

Not here in the US though.  You have to search high and low for a place that makes it.  You will drive far for a bowl of 台南肉燥米粉 or 肉燥麵.  But most of the time, you are disappointed because it just doesn't have the right taste.

台南肉燥 is special not because of the ingredients but of its authentic no-other-place-but-here flavor.  It's made of simple ingredients: pork belly, mushrooms, dried shallot, garlic, soy sauce, salt, sugar, white pepper, five-spice powder and a little bit of licorice powder.  The hard part is how you combine the stuff in the right proportions.

Mom's 肉燥 is legendary.  She has mastered this delicatessen (along with other Taiwanese foods) thanks to her growing up in Tainan and the cooking tips she picked up from Grandma.  Mom has not been able to make any of the special dishes that everyone longs for since her stroke.  Never fear though, enter Suts, who is determined to pick up where mom left off.

Mom is happy that I want to cook all the special Taiwanese foods and she is passing on all her cooking knowledge.  It's amazing that she remembers all the ingredients and the little details.

What do we need to do first in making 台南肉燥??  Slicing and Dicing.  The pork belly needs to be diced into 1-2cm cubes.  Can't grind it because you don't want to break up the meat tissue.  You can't use ground meat because it does not have the consistency of chopped meat, and it does not have the belly fat. You see, one of the attractive flavor of this sauce is the pork fat.  Each little dice should have some fat and lean meat.  So, a two-pound pork belly will take about 2 hours to dice.  Warning: YOU WILL NEED A SHARP KNIFE!!   cutting through the layers of the pork belly is not an easy task, especially when you get to the pork skin.  But, someone has to do it.

Next, you must have dried red shallots.  Not the deep fried ones, not the fresh ones.  Without this ingredient, you can't even make anything that has the word "braising" in Tainan cuisine.  Mom always has a stash on the bottom of the freeze but our stash is getting low because we have not had it replenished since her stroke. I've put an urgent request to cousins back in Taiwan to send some.  Can't imagine cooking without it.  Ugh!

Then, you need lots and lots of chopped garlic.  I used about a whole head of garlic for two pounds of pork.  Oh, can't forget the mushrooms.  Dried mushrooms have more flavors than the fresh ones so soak them and dice them too.  Ideally, the mushrooms and the meat dices should be equal in size.

Other ingredients include soy sauce, sugar, salt, five-spice powder and mom's secrete ingredient: licorice powder.  You need to have good powders, don't get cheap ones because they don't have the pungent flavors.  Mom got hers from Chinese medicinal shops.

We saute the mushroom first.  Flavor it with soy sauce and sugar.  Add the shallots and the garlic next.  Remember to turn down the heat because the shallots and garlic burn easily.  Next, add pork.  Stir fry and add soy sauce for color.  Next, add salt, sugar and the spice powders.  Add water then more soy sauce.  Adjust taste.  Bring to a boil then turn down heat and let it slow cook for 1-2 hours.  About an hour into braising, add hard boiled eggs.
In an hour's time, the kitchen and the entire house will smell wonderful and everyone's stomach will start making noises.  Ahhhhh.... so good!!!

One last important thing to add to the dish: more minced garlic on top of the noodle.  Yes, if you're from Tainan, you will know this is is a must.

There.  That's our awesome 台南肉燥.  My ultimate comfort food.  it's also part of my childhood and it connects me to my family back home.

Have a good eat, peeps!