Pork Leg with Sweet Vinegar 猪脚醋

This Pork Leg with Sweet Vinegar, or zhu1 jiao3 cu1 （猪脚醋）is one of the Chinese traditional dishes for confinement (if you cook with the right ingredients). This dish is delicious, you can easily prepare it to serve a large numbers of people (big family gathering can have more than 50 persons, which is not unusual for some of the Malaysian/Singaporean chinese), and this dish can last few days (trust me, it ages well just like cheese.) For all the reasons mentioned above, this dish is no. 1 must have dish for family gathering and special events, such as family reunion dinner in Chinese New Year, for some of the Chinese families.

For those who never try pork legs before, I challenge you for this. Beware, do not try the pork legs dish that are selling in any food courts or restaurant (unles highly recommended by your Chinese friends). The reason is, most of the chefs/cooks will not prepare this dish well as they have taken shortcuts that will actually ruin the tastes, which will cause the dish sucks (and smelly).

Ingredients:

1. Pork Legs (Ask the butcher to cut them for you)

2. Old ginger (smashed in large pieces)

3. Sesame oil

4. Few hard-boiled eggs (Optional)

5. Sweet vinegar (You can get it from Chinese market) - Use half bottle or full bottle, depends how much of pork legs you're cooking. Read the instruction on the label of sweet vinegar bottle.

6. Garlic (smashed)

7. Dried red chilli (Optional) - Only add some if you want it hot and spicy.

Instructions:

1. Heat the pot. Add in pork legs pieces. Heat it and cover it, until the oil of the legs come out and turns brown on the surface. Then add in hot water to get rid of the pork smell, heat them for few minutes. Then take out and set aside. (The sequence of this step is important.)

2. Heat another pot, then add in smashed old ginger and fry it until it's dry. Afterthat, add in sesame oil. Fry until it's brown and ready. (Should be very fragrant)

3. Add in pork legs pieces and fry them together.

4. Then add in sweet vinegar, smashed garlic, dried red chilli (optional). Cover them and heat until boil. Then turn to medium heat to simmer for 1-1.5 hours until it's soft and tender.

4. (Optional) If you have hard-boiled eggs, then add them in for about 5-10 minutes.

Note: Since this is a dish for your beloved family, remember to clean the pork legs properly. Pluck the pig hair as thorough as possible.

Reference:

1. 【达人料理】原味的感动(5)猪脚醋