Braised pork hock
November 19, 2009 • Hello. I am currently out of the country and unable to respond to comments and e-mails. Rest assured, however, that future posts have been scheduled so new recipes will go live almost everyday during my absence. I'll be back soon with lots of stories and photos. Ciao for now! ~ ConnieWhat the Chinese name for this dish is, I still have to discover. Some say it is hong ba or hong ma but it appears that hong ba or hong ma is made with cut pieces of pork belly rather than a whole pork hock. In Chinese restaurants in the Philippines, this dish is known as pata tim. Whatever its original Chinese name may be, it is a dish of pork hock braised in a sweet-salty sauce and slow cooked until the meat is literally falling off the bones. Traditionally served with steamed sweet buns (cua pao), it is also eaten with rice.
I have experimented with this dish so many times, even tried cooking it three times (boiling, roasting and steaming), to achieve that melt-in-the-mouth texture but my last attempt seems to be the best. The juices well well sealed in, the pork skin, fat, ligaments and meat were so tender and they were such a joy to eat.
Serves 6.
Ingredients:
- 1 whole pork hock, about 1.5 kg.
- 1/2 c. of cane (red) vinegar
- 3/4 c. of sugar
- 1 c. of Shao Xing rice wine
- 1/2 c. of dark soy sauce
- 2 star anise
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 cloves of garlic, bruised
- a thumb-sized piece of ginger, sliced thinly
- 2 shallots, cut in halves
- 1 tbsp. of dry roasted sichuan peppercorns
To garnish:
- a bunch of pak choi, blanched
- 1 carrot, thinly sliced and blanched
- 1 tbsp. of sesame seed oil
To sear the meat, seal in the juices and prevent the formation of scum during braising, place the pork hock in a shallow baking dish lined with non-stick paper. Roast for about 45 minutes in a preheated oven at the highest temperature that your oven allows.
About 10 minutes before the roasting time is up, start making the braising sauce. Pour the vinegar in a pot just large enough to hold the pork hock. Add the sugar. Boil until the sugar melts. Lower the heat and simmer until the mixture starts to turn syrupy. Add the soy sauce and Shao Xing rice wine. Lower the pork into the sauce. Add the bay leaves, sichuan peppers, star anise, garlic, ginger and shallots. If the sauce does not come up to 1/2 of the height of the pork hock, add water. Simmer for 2 to 2-1/2 hours, turning the pork hock over every 30 minutes. Check the liquid after an hour and add more soy sauce if necessary (or salt if you don’t want your braised pork hock to turn too dark). If too little is left, add a cup or so of water. Do not, however, add more water during the last hour of cooking to make sure that the sauce thickens and do not acquire a soupy texture.
When the pork is done, carefully transfer to a serving bowl. Arrange the blanched vegetables around it. Strain the sauce and pour over the pork. Heat the sesame seed oil until smoking and drizzle over the pork.
Tagged: Asian, bay leaves, Chinese, pak choi, Shao Xing rice wine, sichuan pepper, star anise
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[...] the generic term for folded steamed sweet buns with filling. And whether the filling is hong ma or pata tim, we call it cua [...]
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[...] reaction on his first bite was a bit discouraging. Thanks to Connie Veneracion’s braised pork hock recipe, I finally found the right mixture of ingredients this morning when I googled “hong ma [...]
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Hello Ms Connie, I will definitely try your new recipe for pata tim. I just want to ask you something, where can I buy the dry roasted sichuan peppercorns?Thanks.
I bought mine at the Little Store in Gilmore.
this dish is traditionally served with man tao, not cua pao.
Hi Connie,
Nice new site you have here! Patatim, one dish i’ve always wanted to do but found a bit daunting. Thanks for making it easier!
I wonder if Little Store in Gilmore is the same as Little Store on the Hill in Little Baguio…
Rowena, i got mine at Spices n Flavours at Market! Market!. They also have a small stall at the Megamall grocery. It’s a bit more expensive though.
The Chinese steamed buns are called cua pao in the Philippines, Ace.
Peterb, with the summer coming, all favorite recipes need simpler versions. hehehe
I think this is called Tik-ha in Amoy and is served with very, very long misua (Tikha Misua).
hi connie! i’ll definitely try this, request ng hubby at mom-in-law to matagal na.Wipee! Your talent and your site really help me to impress them.Thanks so much!
hello, ms. connie!
my oven only has 2 settings…bake and broil. the recipe calls for roasting…..which setting should I opt for? thanks!
Hi Connie—love cooking pata tim coz my friends love it!!! Only difference is that I deep fry the pork hocks until browned instead of roasting them in the oven. Takes about 10 minutes. Then I put it in a slowcooker (crockpot) with the rest of the ingredients and turn the setting to low heat and when I get home 6 hours later, the wonderful aroma just makes it all the more tastier!!!
uy, subukan ko to ha.
pati yun recipe mo sa paksiw na pata kinuha ko rin.
mukang puros baboy ang i-try ko magkasunod.
at shempre may sweet/sour flavour pa.
sarap neto sa kanin.
thanks Con.
as far as i know po ang cua pao yung parang siopao ang bun, with veggies and meat filling. favorite ko cua pao sa henlin. while yung man tao is the one they serve sa mga chinese restos partner ng pata tim! yung plain lang sya without the filling.
by the way ,, love your version of pata tim and humba! thanks for sharing!!!
Hi,
I’m in Kuwait and there’s no rice wine (or any wine) here. Can I use pineapple juice as a substitute. I might be able to get some pork from the US base. Hehehe!
tried it, tolerable but mostly didn’t work for us. It had too much vinegar and partner refused to eat it. Sigh.
what is the setting of oven? is it bake or broil? can i use apple cider vinegar instead of cane vinegar?
I have been looking all over for the perfect hong ma recipe and I am so glad I finally found it! I think any traditional Chinese household won’t be complete without this dish in their recipe box. Thanks, Ms. Connie! I did a blog post of how mine fared using your ingredients and instructions.
Broil
Ang cute-cute naman ng gravatar mo!
thanks!
daughter kong makulit yan.
Cua pao is a folded bun, actually. See humba and home cooked cua pao.
You should treat every recipe as a guide, not as a formula. The amount of every ingredient should always be in accordance with your taste. You could have adjusted the amount of each ingredient, including the vinegar, at any time during the cooking. And this dish takes such a long time to cook.