My Sweet and Sour Pork recipe

Feb 27, 2011

I'm a bunch of years out so I can eat whatever by now...




I used a little over a pound of pork loin chops, cubed into 1 inch pieces. No need to trim all the fat unless you are really watching the scale. ;-) Half green bell pepper and half a red bell pepper, cubed. Four slices of canned pineapple stacked and cut four times, half a chopped onion, one egg yolk and half a cup of cornstarch. This is to marinade the pork in. You can use shrimp instead of pork, too. ;-)

You'll also need rice vinegar, ketchup (organic preferred but Heinz is perfectly acceptable, believe me), sugar (I use Splenda instead and it tastes even better), and salt.

First, mix the Sweet and Sour sauce like this:

8 Tbsp of Splenda,
2 Tbsp cornstarch,
6 Tbsp of rice vinegar (use white vinegar if you don't have that)
12 Tbsp of water
8 Tbsp Ketchup
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix in that order in a bowl. Now the marinade:


1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 Tbsp soy sauce (use Lite if possible)
1 Tbsp of Water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
and one egg yolk

Mix in a bowl, set aside while you tenderise the pork with the back of the cleaver (or chef knife, or jackhammer or whatever). Beat the meat senseless for about half a minute then cube it.

Put the pork in the marinade and mix it all up. Let it marinade for half an hour. An hour is better. Do it at room temp. Put the rest of the cornstarch on a plate and then coat the pork evenly.

While that marinades, cut the vegetables so they're fresh when you add them.

Now the fun part is coming up. You need to double fry the pork. Put 4 cups oil in a pot and heat on medium for five minutes. I use a cast iron chicken fryer by Lodge. Add the pork. After you're done adding the pork set the timer for 7 minutes. Remove the pork, no need for paper towels here because it's going back in. Raise the heat to high, wait 4 minutes and re-add the pork. After the last piece is in, count ten seconds and get the pork out.

Now the Wok part: I use a Lodge cast iron wok, it's amazing. I also use a Lodge cast iron frying pan if the batch is smaller since my wok is huge. You can use a frying pan if no wok.

Put a tablespoon of oil and heat on medium. Add the onion, stir fry it for one minute, then add the bell peppers and the sweet and sour sauce. When it boils, add the pineapple and the pork, stir till coated, stir for another 30 seconds and it's DONE!

Don't be scared of the deep frying, if you use a large pot and wait till it's really hot and add the pork slowly, the oil will sear the outside of the pork instead of soaking into the meat! This is actually the healthiest way. Just don't crowd the pan immediately because the oil temperature can go down and that's when it can get greasy. Panda Express people don't care, they overcrowd their fryers and their food has a completely inauthentic texture.

Wow that was a lot of typing, enjoy your Sweet & Sour Pork. ;-)

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