Sichuan Cuisine · FFET10087
Yuxiang Shredded Pork (Fish-Fragrant Pork)
Fish-fragrant is a Sichuan flavor profile built from pickled chili, ginger, garlic, sugar and vinegar, and the dish uses no fish.
A long oval white porcelain plate holds pale beige shredded pork tossed with black wood-ear, orange carrot and pale green bamboo-shoot strips in a glossy red-brown sauce, with wooden chopsticks beside it.
The regional cooking of Sichuan and Chongqing, known for its wide range of flavour types.
Yuxiang shredded pork is shredded pork stir-fried with wood ear, bamboo shoot and other vegetables, in a sauce that is sweet, sour and mildly hot. The yuxiang in the name is a way of seasoning, built from pickled chili, ginger, garlic, sugar and vinegar, and the dish contains no fish. It belongs to the Shanghe school of the Chengdu area in Sichuan and is said to originate in Sichuan cuisine.
What
Yuxiang shredded pork is shredded pork stir-fried with wood ear, strips of bamboo shoot and other vegetables, in a sweet, sour and mildly hot fish-fragrant sauce. Fish-fragrant here is a way of seasoning and uses no fish.1,2,5
When
The Chengdu Tonglan of 1909 lists over 1000 Sichuan dishes and none with fish-fragrant seasoning, suggesting an origin among Sichuan cooks of the early Republic. This is an inference: no dated record was found, and the book itself was not checked.1
Where
Sichuan. It belongs to the Shanghe school centered on Chengdu and is said to originate in Sichuan cuisine, but no specific city of origin is identified.1,2
How
The pork shreds are marinated and then stir-fried. Chopped pickled chili is fried in oil with ginger and garlic until the oil turns red and fragrant, and a sauce of sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and starch is added so that it clings to the shreds. The dish should show oil but no pooled liquid.1,3,4,5
Why
Fish-fragrant is a flavor profile of Sichuan cooking, built on pickled chili, ginger, garlic and other aromatics. These seasonings were originally used for cooking fish in Sichuan, which gave the flavor its name. The listed materials give no other reason.1,2
Impact and influence
Yuxiang shredded pork is a common Sichuan dish. No intangible heritage or time-honored-brand listing was found for the dish.1
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is how I make yuxiang pork at home: the shreds are tossed in a light marinade, cooked with wood ear, carrot and bamboo shoot, and the oil is reddened with pickled chili, ginger and garlic before a sweet-sour soy sauce goes in. The name says fish, but there is no fish in it. The amounts and timings below are my own choices at home, informed by three published recipes. Pickled chili may be hard to find at home, so chopped chili sauce can stand in, and you set the heat to your own taste.
Ingredients
- Pork loin 200 g, cut into shreds about 5 cm long
- Salt, for the marinade a small pinch
- Cornstarch, for the marinade 1 teaspoon (about 3 g)
- Cooking oil, for the marinade 1 teaspoon (5 ml)
- Dried wood ear 8 g, soaked in warm water until soft, then shredded
- Carrot 80 g, shredded
- Cooked bamboo shoot 80 g, shredded
- Pickled chili 15 g, finely chopped
- Ginger 10 g, minced
- Garlic 10 g, minced
- Scallion 2, chopped
- Cooking oil, for stir-frying 30 ml (2 tablespoons)
- Sugar, for the sauce 12 g
- Rice vinegar, for the sauce 12 ml
- Light soy sauce, for the sauce 5 ml
- Dark soy sauce, for the sauce 3 ml
- Salt, for the sauce 1 g
- Water, for the sauce 20 ml
- Cornstarch, for the sauce 1 teaspoon (about 3 g)
Steps
- Toss the pork with a small pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1 teaspoon oil, and leave it for 10 minutes.
- Soak and shred the wood ear, shred the carrot and bamboo shoot, and stir the sugar, vinegar, both soy sauces, salt, water and 1 teaspoon cornstarch together in a small bowl.
- Heat the wok, add 15 ml oil, and stir-fry the pork over medium-high heat until it loosens and turns white. Take it out.
- Add the other 15 ml of oil, turn the heat low, and fry the pickled chili, ginger and garlic for about half a minute, until the oil turns red and smells fragrant.
- Add the carrot, bamboo shoot and wood ear and toss for about a minute and a half, then return the pork and turn the heat to high. Stir the sauce again and pour it in, and toss until it thickens and coats the shreds. Add the scallion. Pick out a thick shred and check that it is no longer pink inside before you serve.
Tips
- Pickled chili is both salty and hot, so I start with a little and add more after tasting; this is my own way.
- I take the pork out as soon as it loosens and put it back at the end, which keeps it from getting tough; this is my habit at home.
Allergens: soy, wheat