Sweet and sour pork

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sweet and Sour Pork
Sweet and sour pork
Origin Information
Alternate Names(s): See Below
Country of Origin : China
Region or State : Canton
Dish Information
Course Served : Main
Serving Temperature : Hot
Main Ingredient(s) : Pork
Sweet and Sour Sauce
Pineapple
Bell Pepper
Onion

Sweet and sour pork is a Chinese dish that is particularly popular in Cantonese cuisine and North American Chinese cuisine. It can also be found on the menu in most UK Chinese restuarants. A traditional Jiangsu dish called Pork in a sugar and vinegar sauce (; pinyin: táng cù lǐjǐ) is considered its ancestor.

Contents

[edit] Origin

The origin of sweet and sour pork was 18th century Canton or earlier. A record shows that the renowned Long Family in the prosperous neighbouring Shunde county (of the Qinghui Garden fame, and the family was active in the 18th and 19th centuries), used sweet and sour pork to test the skills of their family chefs. It spread to the United States in the early 20th century after the Chinese migrant goldminers and railroad workers turned to cookery as trades. The original meaning of the American term chop suey refers to sweet and sour pork. [1]

[edit] Preparation

The dish consists of deep frying pork in bite sized pieces, and subsequently stir-fried in a more customized version of sweet and sour sauce made of sugar, ketchup, white vinegar, and soy sauce, and additional ingredients including pineapple, bell pepper, and onion. In more elaborate preparations, the dish's tartness is controlled by requiring Chinese white rice vinegar be used sparingly and using ketchups with less vinegary tastes, while some restaurants use unripe kiwifruits and HP sauce in place of vinegar. Some of the more casual food outlets use diluted acetic acid as a substitute for white vinegar and synthesized red colouring in place of ketchup to keep the costs down, making the dish too pungent and leaving customers thirsty.[2]


Sweet and sour pork
Traditional Chinese:
Simplified Chinese:
alternative Chinese name
Chinese:

[edit] Far East version

A related Hong Kong/Cantonese-based dish is sweet and sour spare-ribs (Chinese:生炒排骨 English translation: stir-fried spare ribs) and it is identical in methods except spare-ribs are used in place of pork loins.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chan Mun-yan, The Source of Cantonese Cuisine, Food and Drink World Publications Co, Hong Kong, 1988
  2. ^ pg 27, Issue 758, Eat and Travel Weekly, Eat and Travel Weekly Company Ltd, Hong Kong, 2 August 2006

[edit] See also