Crispy Fried Sichuan Pepper Pork (Su Rou)
Chinese New Year Part 2
Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐！We normally celebrate on New Year’s Eve, which is tomorrow (Feb 9), and back home, the celebration lasts until the fifth day of the lunar calendar, during which tons of good food will be consumed and in my extended family, a lot of mahjong played.
When I tried to brainstorm some content for New Year, I turned to my mom to inquire about her peak New Year food. She didn’t hesitate before giving me a few: cured meat and sausages, steamed sticky rice, and deep-fried crispy pork (su rou). With the realization that New Year's Eve was just a few weeks away after travelling back to Berlin, I hurried to prepare some cured meat and sausages while also experimenting with making su rou for the first time. After 8 years living abroad, it is the first CNY I devoted myself to the traditional Sichuan food instead of only wrapping dumplings (which was fun, too! for example, my kale pork dumpling and pumpkin dumpling recipes).
Su rou (酥肉), sometimes referred to as xiao su rou, is deep-fried crispy pork strips, seasoned with loads of Sichuan pepper. This is an off-record Sichuan dish commonly found at traditional rural banquets and home tables. You'll rarely encounter it in Chinese restaurants in the West, maybe occasionally at hot pot restaurants like Xiaolongkan, nor find English-written recipes (except for this one at the great Mala Market). Along with bing fen (a cold jelly dessert) and pounded rice cake (ci ba 糍粑), su rou forms what's known as the trinity of hot pot snacks. While you waiting for your food to cook, these snacks keep your mouth busy and help balance the heat.
Today, almost every hot pot restaurant features this on the menu in Sichuan or Chongqing. However, in the past when my parents were growing up in the 70s, it was considered a precious delicacy reserved for special occasions due to the scarcity of meat. This tradition may also stem from the rural practice of sha nian zhu, where an annual pig is slaughtered for a big feast (as shared by Dianxi Xiaoge in the Yunnan version). In Sichuan rural banquets for weddings or funerals, larger chunks of crispy fried pork are steamed in broth and served in small bowls. On New Year’s Eve, children would snack on the fried pork while the adults prepared for the big meal. A large batch of su rou would be prepared and saved for days during the New Year celebration, often repurposed into soups and stews. My mom recalls that her favorite was made into soup with pea shoots and kelp strips.
I grow up loving su rou. However, I always consider it to be a daunting project, largely because I’m not used to deep fry at home. However, with just a handful of ingredients, it's not as challenging as it seems once you step out of your comfort zone. My tip is to use a food thermometer, fry in batches to save frying oil, and consider reusing the frying oil after filtering out the fat, which helps alleviate some of the fear associated with dealing with a pot of hot oil.
Watch me make this dish here!
The recipe
Servings: 4
For the pork:
250 g pork belly or loin
2 tsp whole Sichuan pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp five-spice powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 scallion
4 slices of ginger
For the batter:
2 eggs (approximately 100g)
80 g corn starch (or tapioca starch)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
Remaining Sichuan pepper
frying oil
serve with seasoned chili flakes
Instructions:
Toast the whole Sichuan peppercorns in a pan until fragrant over medium-low heat, then grind them into a coarse powder using a mortar or spice grinder.
Prepare scallion ginger water: Chop scallion and add it to a small bowl with 2 slices of ginger, then cover with water to infuse. Finely mince the remaining ginger.
Cut pork belly into strips approximately 1 cm wide, 5 cm long, and 0.5 cm thick. Add minced ginger, half of the coarse Sichuan pepper, white pepper, five spice powder, salt, and 1 tbsp of ginger scallion water. Mix with your hands until the pork absorbs the seasoning. Let it marinate for 10 minutes.
To make the batter, add eggs, starch, remaining Sichuan pepper, baking soda, and salt to a bowl. Whisk until a smooth wet batter forms. Mix the meat strips with the batter to evenly coat them.
For the first fry, heat frying oil until it reaches 160ºC/320ºF. Add pork strips in batches, leaving space in between to prevent them from sticking together. Fry for about 5 minutes, turning in between, until both sides are golden. Remove and let them sit on a tray lined with paper towel.
For the second fry, heat the oil until it reaches 180ºC/360ºF. Fry the pork strips for about 3-4 minutes, until they're golden brown on all sides. Remove and let the excess oil drain on the paper towel. Serve with chili flakes, salt, and five spice powder. Enjoy warm!
Notes on preparation
Using whole Sichuan pepper and grinding them into a coarse (not too fine) powder is crucial for a strong Sichuan pepper flavor. Store-bought ground Sichuan pepper is often bland and may become bitter after frying.
For the starch, traditionally sweet potato starch is used, but corn starch and tapioca starch both work well. Corn starch produces a crunchier batter, while tapioca starch yields a lighter, fluffier texture.
Starch: traditionally sweet potato starch is used, which I couldn’t get hold of so I tried both corn starch and tapioca starch (as it works for Taiwanese popcorn chicken), both work great: corn starch batter turned out to be crunchier and tapioca starch lighter and fluffier.
left with tapioca starch and right with corn starch, I’d say the different is not that big Pork: I prefer a lean pork belly without the skin for su rou, as it provides a juicy fat part. You can use other cuts as well.
The double-fry method: Similar to fries or fried chicken, deep-frying twice yields better results. I follow the temperature suggestions by Wang Gang, frying at 160ºC to set the shape of the meat and 180ºC to make them crunchier.
Seasoned chili flakes: I normally get these liu po chili flakes to season barbecue and use as a hot pot dip, but you can mix normal chili flakes with MSG, five spice powder, cumin and sugar.
Leftovers: You can freeze the leftover pork and reheat it at 200ºC in the oven for about 10 minutes. Alternatively, like many Sichuan families, you can make them into a stew with glass noodles, tofu, wood ear mushrooms, and veggies of your choice.
