Shanxi Cuisine · FFET10312
Guo you rou (oil-passed pork)
Shanxi stir-fry: starch-coated pork passed through oil, then fried with wood ear, bamboo or garlic shoots, and a touch of vinegar.
A round white porcelain plate holds golden yolk-coated pork loin slices, with glossy brown sauce over pork, white onion, green garlic shoots, ginger slices and black wood ear, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
The regional cooking of Shanxi, with a great variety of flour foods and a marked vinegar aroma.
Guo you rou is a Shanxi stir-fry of lean pork slices coated in starch or egg white, passed quickly through hot oil, then stir-fried with wood ear and bamboo shoots or garlic shoots with a touch of vinegar. Accounts dated June 14, 2022, and February 2025 describe this preparation. On June 12, 2022, it was chosen as one of the top ten Shanxi dishes at a Shanxi dining-promotion event. Tradition places its origins in the Ming dynasty, but these accounts provide no evidence and no dated text confirming its origins was found, so no year is established.
What
Guo you rou is a Shanxi stir-fry of lean pork slices coated in starch (or egg white), passed quickly through hot oil, then stir-fried with wood ear and bamboo shoots or garlic shoots in a savory sauce with a touch of vinegar.1,3,5,6,8
When
Tradition traces guo you rou to an official household in the Ming dynasty before it spread to ordinary households in Taiyuan; another account places its Ming origins in Pingding. Neither account provides evidence, and no dated text confirming its origins was found, so no year is established.2,5
Where
Central Shanxi. Guo you rou is a representative dish of central Shanxi cuisine and is also listed among Taiyuan dishes, with another account placing its origins in Pingding (Yangquan). No single place of origin is established.2,5,7
How
The pork is sliced and coated in starch (or egg white), passed quickly through hot oil and drained. Wood ear and garlic shoots or similar vegetables are stir-fried, the pork goes back in with soy sauce and vinegar, and a light starch thickening finishes the sauce. The finished gravy is thin and clear with a touch of vinegar.1,3,5,6,8
Why
The available material does not explain why the dish is made this way. The meat is golden and soft outside and tender inside, and the gravy is thin and clear with a touch of vinegar.1,3
Impact and influence
On June 12, 2022, guo you rou was chosen as one of the top ten Shanxi dishes at a Shanxi dining-promotion event. In February 2025, it was also listed among Shanxi's ten top dishes. An August 2026 account records slight variations among Taiyuan restaurants.1,3,4
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the guo you rou I make at home, and the amounts, the oil temperature and the frying time largely follow one signed recipe, a California noodle house's method written up by a food writer, which uses black vinegar and no tomato. A second recipe comes from a food blog whose author writes under a pen name, not a real name: it coats pork shoulder in egg and corn flour, fries it, and stir-fries it with garlic shoots, wood ear and tomato, with no vinegar. That is a different home variation, which I did not follow and mention just in the tips. The conversions from US units to grams and milliliters are my estimates, and the pork must be cooked through, with no pink left.
Ingredients
- Pork loin 450 g, cut into strips (the recipe says 1 lb; the conversion is my estimate)
- Salt (for the marinade) 1 tablespoon
- Shaoxing wine (for the marinade) 4 tablespoons, about 60 ml
- Egg yolk (for the marinade) 1
- Sweet potato starch (for the marinade) 3 tablespoons
- Oil for frying the pork about 480 ml (the recipe says 2 cups)
- Onion 1/4 cup
- Garlic shoots 1/4 cup
- Ginger a piece about 1.3 cm (1/2 inch)
- Soaked wood ear 1/2 cup
- Black vinegar 5 tablespoons in all, about 75 ml: 4 while stir-frying and 1 off the heat
- Light soy sauce 2 tablespoons
- Dark soy sauce 2 teaspoons
- Starch slurry 1/2 tablespoon sweet potato starch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
- Water 1/4 cup, about 60 ml
- Oil for stir-frying 1 tablespoon
Steps
- Cut the pork loin into strips and work in the salt, Shaoxing wine, egg yolk and sweet potato starch until evenly coated; let it marinate a while.
- Soak the wood ear beforehand, and prepare the onion, garlic shoots and ginger.
- Pour about 480 ml of oil into the pan and heat it to about 175 °C (the recipe says 350 °F); this step follows the recipe.
- Fry the pork strips for a minute or two and drain them; the timing follows the recipe, which gives one to two minutes.
- Pour off the oil and keep just 1 tablespoon in the pan, over medium heat.
- Stir-fry the onion, garlic shoots and ginger until fragrant.
- Return the pork, add the wood ear, 4 tablespoons of black vinegar, the light and dark soy sauce, and toss to combine.
- Add the starch slurry and about 60 ml of water and cook until the sauce thickens. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the last tablespoon of black vinegar. Cut into the thickest piece of pork: there must be no pink inside, and if there is, cook it a little longer.
Tips
- To try the tomato version, look at the pen-name blog recipe: pork shoulder coated in egg and corn flour, fried until browned, then stir-fried with garlic shoots, wood ear and tomato, with no vinegar. Mine stays with the black vinegar.
- The fried pork goes back into the pan for a second cooking, and each time I cut open the thickest piece to check for pink before serving; this is my own habit.
Allergens: egg, soy, wheat