Side by side

Red-braised pork: three ways

Taking Shanghai Red-braised Pork, Chairman Mao’s Red-braised Pork and Dongpo Pork apart side by side. The differences below are worked out item by item from the three recipes, with amounts scaled to 500 g of skin-on pork belly.

Drag any one and all three turn togetherIngredients, amounts and steps follow each recipe’s source; nobody has checked them line by line yet

Shanghai Red-braised Pork

Shanghai · about 3 h 41 min total

Source · Government · Shanghai government portal

Sear
Sugar goes in last

Shanghai Red-braised Pork, finished (shown until the 3D model loads)

Preparing 3D

Pork belly
Braising glaze
Rock sugar
Soy sauces & salt
Wine & rice vinegarRice vinegar · only
Cooking oil

Open recipe →

Chairman Mao’s Red-braised Pork

Hunan · about 1 h 14 min total

Source · Published book · Fuchsia Dunlop’s cookbook

Caramel color

Chairman Mao’s Red-braised Pork, finished (shown until the 3D model loads)

Preparing 3D

Scallion greens
Dried red chilliesonly
Star aniseonly
Cassia barkonly
Ginger
Pork belly
Braising sauce
Peanut oil & sugar
Shaoxing wine
Soy, salt & sugar

Open recipe →

Dongpo Pork

Hangzhou · about 3 h 25 min total

Source · Local standard · Hangzhou municipal standard DB3301/T 0477.2—2024

In a clay or iron pot
Steam
Line the pot first

Dongpo Pork, finished (shown until the 3D model loads)

Preparing 3D

Pork belly
Braising liquid
Shaoxing wineUses the most
Soy sauce
White sugar

Open recipe →

What’s different

Worked out item by item from the recipe data

The sugar goes in at different times: Shanghai Red-braised Pork adds it only at the end, to reduce; Chairman Mao’s Red-braised Pork melts it into a caramel first; Dongpo Pork adds it with the soy sauce.
Only Shanghai Red-braised Pork uses rice vinegar.
Only Chairman Mao’s Red-braised Pork uses star anise, cassia bark and dried red chillies.
Chairman Mao’s Red-braised Pork skips the rinse step.
Dongpo Pork uses no salt or oil.
Only Shanghai Red-braised Pork has to sear and rest.
Only Dongpo Pork has to line the pot first and steam.
Dongpo Pork uses the most wine: 140 ml; Shanghai Red-braised Pork 10 ml, Chairman Mao’s Red-braised Pork 17 ml.

Method side by side

Drawn to scale in real time (steps with a time range use the midpoint)

Prep
Fry
Caramel
Boil
Braise
Steam
Reduce
Plate
Hover a segment for the step and its time

Ingredients side by side

Scaled to 500 g of skin-on pork belly · One row per kind of ingredient; “only” marks what just one version uses, “most” marks a clearly bigger amount

Item	Shanghai Red-braised Pork	Chairman Mao’s Red-braised Pork	Dongpo Pork
Color from	Dark soy	Caramel	Soy sauce
Salt from	Soy and salt	Soy and salt	Soy sauce
Braising liquid	Hot water, as needed	Water, as needed	Water 375 ml
Sugar goes in	At the end, to reduce	First, as a caramel	With the soy sauce
Cooked in	Wok	Wok	Clay or iron pot
Total time	~3 h 41 min (some estimated)	~1 h 14 min (some estimated)	~3 h 25 min (some estimated)
Braising	2 h	45 min	2 h, then steamed 30 min
Main	Skin-on pork belly 500 g	Pork belly 500 g	Pork belly 500 g
Soy sauce	Light soy sauce 25 mlDark soy sauce 10 ml	Light soy sauce as needed	Soy sauce 38 ml
Salt	Salt 2 g	Salt as needed	None
Sugar	Rock sugar 25 g	White sugar 28 gSugar, to taste as needed	White sugar 50 g
Wine	Shaoxing wine 10 ml	Shaoxing wine 17 ml	Shaoxing wine 140 mlmost
Water	Hot water as needed	Water as needed	Water 375 ml
Vinegar	Rice vinegar 5 mlonly	—	—
Oil	Cooking oil as needed	Peanut oil 33 ml	None
Aromatics	Ginger 3 slicesScallion knot ×1	Ginger 1 pieceScallion greens as needed	Ginger 23 gScallions 38 g
Spices	—	Star anise 1 podCassia bark 1 pieceonly	—
Chili	—	Dried red chillies ×2only	—

Each recipe here follows its own cited source: Shanghai Red-braised Pork: Shanghai government portal; Chairman Mao’s Red-braised Pork: Fuchsia Dunlop’s cookbook; Dongpo Pork: Hangzhou municipal standard DB3301/T 0477.2—2024. Regional and family versions vary a lot; each one here is a single sourced version. The differences are computed from the recipe data; durations marked “est.” are our estimates.