Sweet & Sour Pork
An Americanized version of a traditional Cantonese recipe, this is wok prepared and meant to be served over fluffy steamed white rice.
Sweet and Sour Pork as the Americans know it was probably inspired by a Cantonese recipe called "Gu Lu Rou" which is a fried pork dish served with a sweet and sour sauce that used pineapple and was more balanced rather than the tangy, syrupy sauce we associate with the American style. The Americanized version of Sweet and Sour Pork was likely developed by Chinese-American chefs in the mid-20th Century trying to cater to the American palate. The dish was widely popular in the post WWII era when Chinese food began to become a mainstream part of American cuisine.
This is a great dish if you happen to have some leftover pork tenderloin or pork loin roast, although using fresh pork is presented in the recipe. This is an amalgamation of many recipes I researched on the Internet and not quite what you might consider "authentic" to the popular conception of this dish.
Sweet & Sour Pork
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 malt vinegar
- 1 tbsp table sugar
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 dashes Tabasco
- 1- 1/2 lbs pork loin or pork tenderloin, cut into one-inch cubes
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 large yellow or sweet onion (like, Vidalia or Texas-1015)
- 3 medium ripe tomatoes
- 1 8-oz can pineapple chunks, drained (like, Dole)
- 1 11-oz can mandarin oranges, drained (like, Dole)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup paprika
- 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
- 2 tsp corn starch dissolved in 1/2 cup water (a slurry)
- 1/2 cup peanut oil
Instructions
- Combine everything for the sauce in a mixing bowl and set aside.
- Cut the bell peppers and onion into 1" x 1" squares.
- Cut the tomato into eighths
- Place the flour, paprika and five spice powder in a large zip-lock plastic bag and combine well. Then, toss in the pork and coat all the pieces.
- Heat the wok over high heat until slightly smoking, then introduce the peanut oil. When the oil begins to slightly smoke, toss in the pork.
- Stir-fry for a couple of minutes as the pieces brown, 2-3 minutes, then remove to a platter.
- Add more oil to the wok if necessary, then toss in the onion and bell peppers. Stir-fry for 5-6 minutes until the onion starts to caramelize.
- Add the pork back to the wok and pour in the sauce, tomatoes, pineapple and oranges. Stir-fry until the tomatoes collapse, 2-3 minutes.
- Add the corn starch mixture a little at a time until the sauce thickens to coat the back of a spoon.
- Serve immediately over steamed white rice.
Notes
- For an interesting twist, instead of Ketchup in the sauce recipe, use Kikkoman Katsu Sauce. Its tangy and sweet, like ketchup, but has a deeper, fruitier, Asian flavor profile.
- Like any good wok chef, prepare all your ingredients ahead of time so they are at the ready and within arms reach before you begin, known in French cooking terminology as Mis en Place.
