What's up everyone? Today we're making gú lóuh yuhk! Sweet and sour pork! My name is Randy And we are the Laus We're on a mission to celebrate And pass down our Chinese heritage One meal at a time After 50 amazing years as a Chinese chef My dad's finally retired And he's here to teach you all of his secrets To make the perfect Sweet and Sour Pork A dish he's made thousands of times Watch through to the end of the video to get All of my dad’s tips on mastering this dish. Hello, friends! Nice to meet you again Today we are going to introduce you to sweet and sour pork Sweet and sour pork sits among Some of the most well-known Chinese dishes outside of China It's widely believed to be a Cantonese dish Known colloquially as gú lóuh yuhk Which roughly translates to "ancient pork" Some tales say the name comes from the sound people make As they gulp down the delicious bites of pork Here's 10 oz of pork shoulder It's okay if you want to add more pork First, we'll clean the meat with water It's a beautiful piece of meat Wash it well Next, we'll dry it off with a paper towel Then, we'll cut the pork The grain of this piece of meat is straight We'll cut the meat parallel to the grain into 4 pieces See, the muscles are all lined up Next, we'll cut across the grain How thick should it be cut? A little over 1/4 inch will do This piece is thick, we'll cut here first Thick ones will take longer to cook That's fine The same here, cut across the grain Look at these muscle lines - cut horizontally What is the best cut of pork to use? Use pork belly for the best taste But it'll be fatty, greasy Most restaurants don't use pork belly, but pork shoulder Is pork shoulder cheaper? One thing is that it's cheaper Another thing is that pork shoulder is not as fatty and oily But in terms of taste, pork belly is the best Some people had asked about doing it with ribs？ The steps to make it are the same Actually, frying ribs will definitely turn out tender and juicy Why? The texture of the meat around the bone won't be hard Okay, we've cut the meat Next, we'll marinate the meat For our pork marinade, scoot the pork to the side of the bowl And add 1 tsp garlic salt, 1 tbsp light soy sauce Mix and massage the pork together for about 1 minute To help the pork absorb the sauce more quickly Then, we'll crack and beat an egg And pour about half of the egg into the bowl Mix and massage the pork for another 30 seconds We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com Along with step-by-step instructions and video clips To guide you as you make the recipe at home Okay, let's set the meat aside We'll cut the vegetables first Here, we have yellow bell pepper Just prepare as you like, a small amount is enough Here's red bell pepper, green bell pepper, red onion, and white onion Actually, if you don't want it to be so complicated It's okay if you use fewer ingredients Today, I'm using this much to make the dish more beautiful First, cut it into small triangular pieces That'll look better, right? What if it's not cooked with meat? Vegetarian? Use vegetables that don't have as much water content So that it'll be easier to deep fry You can also use tofu -Oh! Tofu? -Oh! Really? Use hard tofu, cut into small pieces Do you coat it in cornstarch, flour for deep-frying? Yes, coat the tofu with the cornstarch and flour before deep-frying For the onions, we'll cut them into small triangles too For pineapple, you can purchase them from any market Cut it into smaller pieces How many pineapples should we use? Around 4 oz of pineapples If you like, you can also add more pineapples Okay, we're done cutting all the ingredients Now, we're going to prepare the sauce for the dish If you're like me, you might be thinking Why is ketchup being used in a traditional Chinese recipe? So, I went down a rabbit hole and Emerged with an appreciation for ketchup and sweet and sour pork As symbols of the many ways in which Eastern and Western culture have influenced one another Even though ketchup is known as a tomato sauce That we throw onto burgers or French fries We can trace ketchup back to 300 BCE as a Chinese fermented fish sauce Somewhere along the way, fish sauce fell out of favor in China But it remained a staple of Southeast Asian cuisine About 2000 years later, in the 1600-1700s Fish sauce was revived in China by traders traveling along the coast Between Guangdong and Fujian and Vietnam and Cambodia In Hokkien, it was called kê-chiap, A name that stuck throughout Southeast Asia Around the same era, British traders and settlers in Southeast Asia Became obsessed with their newly discovered "catchup" And it quickly took storm as they brought it back to Britain Initially, British traders made a ton of profit Selling imported fish ketchup back at home Soon after, Westerners started developing their own homegrown recipes For ketchup in order to avoid paying for imported sauce As ketchup adapted to Western tastes It gradually morphed into a mushroom-based sauce And then a sweeter tomato-based sauce Popularized by companies like Heinz As China began importing tomato ketchup in the 1900s Many Chinese chefs started experimenting and incorporating ketchup Into traditional sweet and sour dishes as an easier alternative To making the sauce base from scratch And coming full-circle As Chinese immigrants made their way to America and other countries They brought dishes like sweet and sour pork with them The sweet and sour flavor profile became so popular that, in 1983 McDonald's introduced the McNugget along with four sauces Including the sweet and sour sauce that we all know and love And now, back to the recipe! To make our sauce, we'll be combining 4 tbsp ketchup 4 tbsp brown sugar, 3 tbsp vinegar 1 tsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp salt, and 2 tbsp water Mix it thoroughly for about 45 to 60 seconds After mixing, we'll taste the mixture to see if it's enough flavor To see if it'll suit our tastes Okay! After mixing the sauce, we'll coat the meat with flour This needs to be done twice The first time, we'll use 2 tbsp all-purpose flour Mix it first We'll want to mix and massage the pork really thoroughly For about 1-2 minutes You might need to add dashes of water if the flour gets stuck After mixing with flour, we'll then mix it with cornstarch Prepare 3 tbsp of cornstarch Next, we'll coat each piece of meat with cornstarch If this dish is made in a restaurant, it's fried with batter Because restaurants have to deep-fry a lot of meat at once They'll use a batter for deep-fry For home cooking, this method is sufficient What else? We'll squeeze the meat so the cornstarch sticks firmly to the meat If not, the cornstarch will fall into the wok later Okay, we're done coating the meat So we'll start deep-frying the meat now We'll use corn oil for deep-frying We'll need enough oil to fully cover the meat when deep-frying Here, we'll use around half a pound of oil We’re not supposed to use olive oil? No! We can't use olive oil If it involves high temperature, like with stir-frying or deep-frying We can't use olive oil It's okay to use vegetable oils like corn, peanut, or rapeseed oil You should generally avoid olive oil For anything that involves higher heat. This is because olive oil has what's called a lower smoke point Which is the temperature at which the oil stops shimmering or rippling And starts smoking or burning Smoking oil isn't always a problem And sometimes even desired for getting that perfect “Wok Hei” in your stir fry But it's a sign that the oil is breaking down Which can release burnt or bitter flavors Or even harmful free radicals Here's a chart that highlights the smoke points Of a few of the most common cooking oils There are a few other factors that go into selecting oils Like whether they're neutral or flavored Or refined or unrefined Most cooking oil is created by extracting and compressing seeds and nuts And oils that are “unrefined”, “raw”, or “virgin” Are usually bottled almost immediately They generally have more nutrients But a lower smoke point and shorter shelf life. Refined oils go through more processing For a higher smoke point, longer shelf life, And a more neutral flavor. It's not totally true that you should avoid olive oil, Since you can buy either refined or unrefined varieties. But for simplicity's sake, for frying, You generally want to use neutral, refined oils Like vegetable oil, refined olive oil, or corn oil. We'll heat the oil to 300-350°F (149-176°C) To test whether the oil is hot enough, we can use anything wet Like vegetables, or chopsticks Just wet the tip of the chopstick and put it into the wok If it's bubbling, then it's hot enough It's not quite ready yet Let's put this (vegetable) in See, it's hot enough now Basically, if it starts bubbling immediately, then the oil is hot enough If you want to be more precise You can also use an instant-read thermometer To monitor the oil temperature throughout the frying process We'll put the meat in piece by piece Before that, squeeze the meat with your hand So the cornstarch sticks to the meat more firmly That'll make the fried meat look more tasty Okay, time to put the meat into the wok Here's the important thing that you need to know After putting all the meat into the wok Don't stir it immediately If you do that, it'll cause the cornstarch to shed off from the meat Understand? Don't stir it, let it fry for a while Leave the pork alone for about 1 to 2 minutes Now, we can start to stir the meat around Whenever we are frying food, we need to fry it twice For the first time, we'll fry it at low heat to cook the food Next, we'll scoop it out and reheat the oil to high heat And then fry it for a second time That'll make the outer layer to be harder and more crispy Let it fry for a while longer As a quick overview, for the first fry We'll be frying the pork at 300-350°F (149-176°C) for about 7-8 minutes Depending on your stove and the amount of pork you're cooking For the second fry, we'll be frying the pork at 400°F (204°C) for about 1 minute I also wanted to make a special shoutout to thank all of our Wonderful Patreon supporters to help bring this video to life. If you enjoy our videos and are interested in supporting us directly, Head on over to patreon.com/madewithlau to learn more! We'll scoop the pork out when they turn golden brown Now, we'll reheat the oil to the highest temperature Then, fry the pork again Heat the oil to around 400°F Now, we'll fry the pork for the second time For the second time, the oil needs to be heated to a higher temperature Wow, can you see? We'll fry it for 1-2 minutes See, they've turned golden brown The skin has hardened After 1-2 minutes, transfer the pork out of the oil with a ladle And pour out the oil into a container for future use Okay, let's stir-fry the vegetables next With the stove still set to high heat, we'll cook and stir our veggies For about 30 seconds before adding our pineapple slices Cook and stir everything for another 30 seconds And transfer it onto a plate Now, we'll cook the sweet and sour sauce Pour a little oil into the wok This way, the sauce will become more glossy We'll reduce our sauce and let it thicken for about 2 to 3 minutes Stirring occasionally Cook until the sauce has thickened and becomes paste-like It's almost done If you don't thicken the sauce, then it's just like water And it won't be able to coat the meat, right? Let's have a taste It's thickened enough, it's ready We'll pour all the meat and vegetables into the wok And mix them all well Mix everything around in the sauce for about 1 to 2 minutes Great, we’ve cooked our sweet and sour pork! It's ready to be served See? First time cooking sweet and sour pork at home, right son? Yeah (laugh) Pour on all the sauce! Can I try one? Of course, I'll get a toothpick for you Oh my god! Be careful, it's hot How is it? Is it sweet? Is it good? Friends, there we go! Sweet and sour pork! Hong Doy, let's eat! Okay! Beautiful wife and daughter! Hello, hello Yeah Our special guest Jenn Lau She's my adopted sibling No, you're adopted (laughs) ♪Laughter♪ You're adopted! No, you're adopted You're both adopted, I'm the only daughter here ♪Laughter♪ Oh, Mother's day! Happy Mother's Day! Did you say Happy Mother's Day to your mom? Oh my gosh Cheers! Happy Mother's Day! Cheers! Let's eat! Mmm, it's very good That's really good Have some sweet and sour pork -Really really good -That's really good Okay, we have a lot of questions A Patreon member and a few other people asked What are good substitutes for pork? Chicken, it's best to substitute with chicken There's a dish called Sweet and Sour Chicken Every restaurant has sweet & sour chicken and sweet & sour pork The same method? It's the same, cut and deep fry 8? 8 people asked this How do you keep it crispy? Eat it immediately after frying and mixing it with the sauce Then, it'll be crispy Once it's out for too long, the skin will absorb the sauce and turn soft It'll be crispy when you eat it right after cooking If it's out for too long, there's no chef out there who can keep it crispy What happens if you don't double fry it? Let grandpa hold you Grandma will hold you, come! ♪Laughter♪ Come, let mommy hold you! ♪Laughter♪ Nice, everyone is eager to hug you! If you don't do that, then you won't get that crispness The outer layer will be soft After the first fry, the skin will absorb the juice from the meat If you just eat it like that, the skin will not be crispy So the second fry helps dry the water in the skin to make it crispy If you keep making this dish and it feels like the meat is too tough What do you need to do to make it more tender? Generally, just don't fry it for a long time The texture depends on the cut of the pork you're using The taste isn't affected by the one who did the frying But the cut of the pork used for frying So don't buy pork chop Yeah, you don't want pork chops No Okay, how do you keep the meat tender? For this dish, we can't aim to make the meat tender and juicy We can only make the fried pork flavorful and crispy Normally when we cook this dish at home We'll mix the meat with egg and flour to make it crispy after frying It's not our main goal to make it tender and juicy We can only make it flavorful and crispy For this dish, I don't care if it's crispy It's the sauce that matters I feel that the most important thing for me is not the crispness So, if you don't eat it as soon as you can Then, it'll be soggy But I don't really care about crispy Yeah Even for this, we didn't eat it right away And it's still pretty crispy Yeah, we eat it in like an hour later ♪Laughter♪ Yeah, it's still crispy, it has a crisp to it 2 Patreon members and 3 other people asked Is there a way to make this without deep frying, or make it a little healthier It's okay if you don't deep fry it Just that it'll lack the crispness after deep frying The other way is to… Cook in an oven Yeah, you can cook it in an oven It's healthier that way Cut all the ingredients into smaller pieces And cook them in an oven But in any case, the taste is different from frying Can we just stir-fry it? For stir-frying Just cut the meat into small pieces like a pork chop Stir-fry it first, pour in the sauce, and stir-fry everything together Chinese pork chops are also made this way, with this sauce Pan fry the unbattered pork chop first Then, add the sauce and veggies, and stir-fry them It's fine, you can stir-fry it too But with stir-fry, you won't cut it into such small pieces If you want to make it more sweet or more sour, What's the main ingredient you want to change? If you want it sweeter, just add more sugar To make it more sour, you can add more vinegar For people who love spicy food, you can also add chili sauce It's all fine, you don't have to follow my method There are many different ways to cook this dish You guys use brown sugar for this recipe? What's the difference if you use brown vs white sugar? And can you substitute it with honey? Yeah, both brown and white sugar can be used If you like to use honey, that's okay too But I don't think honey is suitable for cooking at a high temperature Daddy says honey shouldn't be a problem But I think the sweetness of honey and sugar is totally different What are other ways to get this red color? Like some are really red, how do you make it really red? Most restaurants make it very red, they add food coloring to it If you want to make it really, really red, one drop of red is enough When? When we're mixing everything together with the sauce Jenn, do you have any questions? Oh, when do I get to be on the show next time? ♪Laughter♪ Whenever you come home Hello, all our friends and audience Nice to see you all today
