Lu rou fan — braised pork rice
A bowl of steaming white rice crowned with minced pork slowly braised in soy sauce, rice wine, and rock sugar until the meat melts and the sauce coats every grain. The simplest and most beloved dish in Taiwan.
A bowl of steaming white rice crowned with minced pork slowly braised in soy sauce, rice wine, and rock sugar until the meat melts and the sauce coats every grain. The simplest and most beloved dish in Taiwan.
You know, when I was filming far from home, this was the bowl I missed most. My mother used to say that a good lu sauce is recognized by the smell of shallots browning — you have to wait, don't rush the heat, like for a scene: patience gives depth. You don't serve this to impress, you serve it because you love someone. Pour the sauce over the steaming rice, mix, and you are home, wherever you are.
- •Pork belly — a good piece, fatty and lean (melting meat)
- •Asian shallots — a generous handful (fried aroma (you cong su))
- •Light and dark soy sauce — to taste (salt and color)
- •Rock sugar — a little (roundness)
- •Shaoxing rice wine — a splash (depth)
- •Five-spice and star anise — a pinch (lu spices)
- •White rice — according to guests (base)
Lu rou fan — braised pork rice
A bowl of steaming white rice crowned with minced pork slowly braised in soy sauce, rice wine, and rock sugar until the meat melts and the sauce coats every grain. The simplest and most beloved dish in Taiwan.
Why this dish? This is the comfort dish of Ang Lee's childhood in Taiwan, the bowl you find on every street corner from Pingtung to Taipei. He, who searches everywhere in the world for 'the flavors of his childhood,' always returns to this warm rice topped with melt-in-the-mouth pork — food as a concrete link to his origins.
You know, when I was filming far from home, this was the bowl I missed most. My mother used to say that a good lu sauce is recognized by the smell of shallots browning — you have to wait, don't rush the heat, like for a scene: patience gives depth. You don't serve this to impress, you serve it because you love someone. Pour the sauce over the steaming rice, mix, and you are home, wherever you are.
Ingredients (period version)
- Pork belly — a good piece, fatty and lean (melting meat)
- Asian shallots — a generous handful (fried aroma (you cong su))
- Light and dark soy sauce — to taste (salt and color)
- Rock sugar — a little (roundness)
- Shaoxing rice wine — a splash (depth)
- Five-spice and star anise — a pinch (lu spices)
- White rice — according to guests (base)
Ingredients
- Pork belly (half-fat) — 500 g, hand-chopped into small dice (melting meat)
- Shallots — 8, finely sliced (fried shallots)
- Neutral oil — 4 tbsp (frying shallots)
- Soy sauce — 4 tbsp (salt and color)
- Dark soy sauce — 1 tbsp (brown color)
- Rock sugar (or brown sugar) — 1 tbsp (roundness)
- Shaoxing wine — 3 tbsp (depth)
- Star anise — 1 (spice)
- Five-spice powder — 1/2 tsp (spice)
- Water — 400 ml (braising liquid)
- Hard-boiled eggs — 4 (optional) (to braise in the sauce)
- Cooked white rice — 4 bowls (base)
Method
- Fry the sliced shallots in oil over medium heat until brown and crispy; set aside half, keep the flavored oil.
- Brown the minced pork in the shallot oil until colored.
- Add rock sugar, soy sauces, Shaoxing wine, star anise, five-spice, and half the fried shallots.
- Add water, add peeled hard-boiled eggs, bring to a simmer.
- Braise covered over low heat for 45 min to 1 hour, until the sauce is syrupy and the meat is tender.
- Serve over steaming rice, sprinkle with remaining fried shallots.
How it was made : Lu rou fan was born from domestic economy: leftover fatty trimmings of pork were slowly braised in a soy sauce reused day after day (the 'old sauce' lu). A dish of workers and modest families, it became a national emblem of Taiwan.
The contemporary twist : A half soft-boiled braised egg placed on top of the rice dome, and a few stalks of pickled mustard greens to cut the fat — exactly the kind of careful framing Ang Lee would appreciate.
Ang Lee · Charactorium