
Lu Ruo Fan
Servings 4 pint jars
Ingredients
- 4 pint jars sanitized, with lids and rings
- 1.5 lb pork belly
- 1 Tbsp peanut oil or vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup rock sugar or brown sugar
- 1/4 cup deep fried shallots or minced shallots
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1 (2-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger
- 8 shiitake mushrooms fresh or rehydrated
- 3 star anize
- 3 cloves
- 2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
- 1/2 tsp five spice powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup diced daikon
- 1/4 cup Shaoxing wine or mirin, dry sherry, sake, or Hennessy
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp mushroom oyster sauce optional
- 1 Tbsp black vinegar optional
- 2 Tbsp Clearjel see notes below
- 1 cup boiling water
- 4 bay leaves
Instructions
Cut the pork belly
- Cut the pork belly, skin down, into roughly half-inch strips
- Chill the pork in the freezer beforehand for 10-20 minutes for easier cutting
Toast and grind the whole spices
- Separately for each portion of star anise, cloves, fennel, and Sichuan peppercorns, toast the spices over a medium flame until fragrant
- Grind the spices to a medium to fine coarseness in a food processor
- Set spices aside for later
Combine the aromatics into a paste
- In the food processor, add the ginger, garlic, and mushrooms
- Process to a paste in the food processor
Brown the pork belly
- Heat the peanut oil in a medium stock pot over medium heat
- Add the pork belly and cook for ~5 minutes
- Drain any excess fat
- Add sugar and caramelize the pork belly (another ~5 minutes)
Bringing it all together
- Stir in shallots and aromatics paste
- Add in the liquids and sauces
- Deglaze the bottom of the pot
- Mix Clearjel with water and add to the pot
- Stir together well
Canning the Lu Ruo Fan
- Set up the four pint jars near the cooking area with their lids and rings handy
- Place a bay leaf at the bottom of each jar
- Distribute the Lu Ruo Fan evenly among the pint jars up to 1 inch headspace
- Wipe the rims of the jars clean as necessary
- Apply lids and screw the bands to finger tightness on the jars
- Using the jar lifter, lower the jars in to the instant pot
- Secure the lid of the instant pot and make sure the pressure valve is set
- Program the instant pot to cook under high pressure for 1 hour and 15 minutes, and make sure to disable the Keep Warm setting
Wrapping up the process
- After the instant pot has finished cooking, be sure to let it come down to ambient pressure using the natural release cycle, do not try to do the quick release cycle as this can cause liquid to be forced out of the jars and potentially break the seals
- Once the instant pot is safe to open, open it and use the jar lifter to pull the jars out and place on a towel too dry and cool down
- If the rings on the jars are loose, they can be finger tightened again, carefully
- Leave the jars to cool, you should hear the lids popping as the pressure creates a seal on the jars
- Shake the jars to mix everything together in the jars (this will help the Clearjel to set)
- After the jars have cooled, the rings can be removed and the jars are now shelf-stable and safe to store in a pantry to be eaten later
- If any jar failed to seal, it is safe to either eat immediately or reprocess in the instant pot, though you may need to replace the lid since it did not seal properly
Notes
Clearjel and canning safety:
Normally, flour is used as a thickening agent in recipes, however when canning, thickeners such as flour can prevent heat from penetrating to the center of the jar, interfering with safe processing to destroy the bacterial spores that cause botulism. Clearjel is a modified cornstarch that is safe for canning, so we use it instead of flour in this recipe. Make sure you purchase regular Clearjel and not instant Clearjel, as only the former is safe for canning.