Braised Pork Belly in Root Beer
Braised Pork Belly in Soy Sauce and Root Beer (豆油肉)
Braised pork belly or what I know as Tau Yu Bak is my family favourite dish. It is easy to cook with few ingredients and I always cook a large pot with plans for leftovers as it keep well. Recently, I came across recipes which use root beer which I thought is a great idea. I have used coca-cola for my chicken wings, so I know it works by caramelising and tenderising the meat while sweetening the stew. Try this if you like a sweeter tau yu bak stew. I use my mum’s base braised pork belly in soy sauce recipe, added a can of root beer and omitted the rock sugar. Though I have only tried with root beer, I am sure it will work with other sweet drinks like Coke too. If you like to know what the spices such as star anise, cloves and cinnamon look like, check out the photo (with additional cooking tips) on page 2. This is a deliciously savoury dish that goes well with rice or steamed buns (for kong bak bao 扣肉包).
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Braised Pork Belly in Root Beer Recipe
- Serves: 4
- Prep: 10 mins
- Cook: 60 mins
The root beer not only help to tenderise and caramelise the pork, it also sweetens the stew. You may substitute with coca-cola.
Constantly check that the braising sauce is not dried out during the simmering. You will need to add water (a little at a time) when the stew is drying out. Get more cooking tips on page 2 of the recipe.
Ingredients
- 8 dried Chinese mushrooms
- 4 eggs
- 1-2 tbsp cooking oil
- 500 grams pork belly
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 can (330 ml) root beer
- 750 ml water
- 1 cinnamon stick (桂皮)
- 1 star anise (八角)
- 4 cloves (丁香)
- 1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder (五香粉)
- 1.5 bulbs garlic separated into individual cloves (no need to peel)
- dashes of white pepper powder to taste
- 1-2 piece tau kwa (fried beancurd/豆干) quartered
- spring onions or coriander garnishing
Instructions
- Soak dry mushrooms in small bowl of hot water until puffy, then drain water. Squeeze out the water from mushrooms and trim away stems. Set aside the mushroom caps.
- Prepare 80% cooked hard boiled eggs. To do that, place eggs in saucepan of cold water (enough water to cover eggs one layer). Bring to a boil for about 2 minutes, turn off the stove and cover with lid for about 7 minutes (for 100% hard boiled eggs, it’s about 10 minutes). Rinse the eggs with cold water until eggs are cooled. Peel when cool enough to handle. Set aside.
- Heat oil in casserole (wok, claypot or deep pot). Brown pork belly on both sides on medium heat. Add 1 tbsp dark soy sauce on both sides of browned pork belly.
- Add the rest of the ingredients except eggs, tau kwa and spring onions/coriander. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer (with lid partially closed) for an hour, or until the meat is tender.
- During the last 10 minutes of simmering, add eggs and tau kwa. To serve, slice pork belly to smaller, bite-sized pieces. Serve with rice or steamed buns. Garnish with spring onions or coriander.
Get more photos and cooking notes for Braised Pork Belly (Tau Yu Bak) in Root Beer on page 2.
Pages: 1 2
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{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
I love lor bak to go with steam bun but never try using root beer, wish can taste it now lol.
This is really a simple yet interesting way of adding excitement to a traditional braised pork dish.
Love all kinds of braised pork, but haven’t tried to cook with root beer. Your dish looks so attractive. Want to give it a go.
Tis is a very nice and mangeable recipe, thanks for sharing. I have never tried adding coke or root beer to my stew, perhaps its time now :). My family and i love tau yu bak, must try this soon.
Looks great especially with the sambal chili on the side.
Who would have thought of another use for soft drink- i do not like soft drinks in general but this is intriguing.
I am more interested in the chilli sauce next to your tau yu ba. haha.
Any recipe for it or if store bought can show the bottle. thank you:}
Hi jonie, I bought the bottled chilli at Pu Tien restaurant :)
I have tried coke chicken wings but not root-beer Tau Yu Bak…:) Good one!
I loves pork belly but the thought of using root beer in the braising is something really new to me. Just wonder what is the taste but I got to try it to find out. I’m bookmarking this and hopefully my family would loves this dish.
high five for using soda! YEAHHHHH
Hi
i wonder if can subsitute pork with duck or chicken?
I tried braising with coke not too long ago and we love it. Now you are giving a second option. Wonderful!
Oh wow….with root beer. I have heard of cola. I guess it’s almost the same. I need more rice to eat with this dish…mmm.
My mom makes similar dish, but I don’t think that she uses root beer…we all love this and it is so good on rice…moreover, the eggs taste delicious with the flavors of the meat in it…YUM!
Beautiful and very tempting pictures Wiffy :)
Love your website!
Tried making this over the weekend but I found that 2 tablespoon of dark soy sauce wasnt quite enough (esp when it was a bit watery with a whole can of sarsi), so it was a lot of trial-and-error tasting during the whole 1 hour. Also I had to balanced it with light soy sauce (although the reason might be because my dark soy sauce was the sweet type and the saltiness had to come from the light soy sauce). You’re right on the spices though, any clove/cinnamon stick/spice powder more and it’ll be too much.
:D
Dear wiffy,
I think this is an awesome dish especially when the pork is cooked until it is so tender and melting. I have never tried cooking it with any sweet drinks because I prefer it to be more savoury.
My dad makes this all the time, and I love it. It makes boring staples like meat and eggs taste so good. Can’t get enough of it! Thanks for the recipe!!
I’ve made roasted sweet potatoes with Coke, and it caramelizes so well. Your stew with Root Beer must have been great!
I’ve tried today, it taste really sweet and not salty at all. Am i getting the right taste?
It’s supposed to be salty as well. How much water did you add? Adjust to taste with soy sauces and more water.
I followed the instruction, only that the tau kwa i use 2 pcs. I’m so afraid if i use too much water the taste will turn light. You mean use dark soy sauce to adjust the taste?
“You will need to add water (a little at a time) when the stew is drying out.” Feel free to top up with water, as the recipe is just a general guide. Yes, you can use dark or light soy sauce to adjust the taste.
Thanks, i’ll try again next time. :)
hi! You did not mention the rootbeer in the instructions.. when do we add in the rootbeer during the cooking process?
Thanks!
Hi, “Step 4: Add the rest of the ingredients except eggs, tau kwa and spring onions/coriander”. That includes the root beer :)
Hi Wiffy,
I absolutely love your website and have been following you on Facebook as well as here on your blog for sometime now only because I am a Singaporean living in HK so I miss all the local SG food and find that if I want something specifically Singaporean, I have to cook it on my own. There are Singaporean restaurants here in HK but I have not found one that I would really recommend so my solution is to try and cook it myself. Thats why your website has been great – your pics are great and the instructions that you give are clear.
I decided to try this recipe this evening but am afraid I was really disappointed especially as I followed it to your exact specifications. Here’s what I noticed ..
1. The coke (could not find rootbeer at the supermarket near me in HK), whilst an interesting ingredient – made the soup too sweet and not salty enough. I had to add at least another tea spoon of salt or as some recommended in their comments on your site – to add soya sauce. Thats missing from the ingredient list and I think vital in bringing out the flavour.
2. 1 can of coke plus 750 ml of water is also alot of soup and makes the broth too watery rather than slightly thick the way I prefer it. What I got was a soupy result rather than the “gravy-ish” consistency which I associate with Tau Yew Bak. I think if there was less water – you would be able to get a better flavour from the dish especially when the overall simmering is done with and the broth is suitably reduced.
3. Also I had to boil for about 1 hour 20 mins on low heat for the pork to become tender. So maybe 1 hour was abit ambitious as per your recipe.
Still, it was an interesting evening experimenting and I hope my feedback is useful for anyone else wanting to cook this.
Hi Elaine,
Thanks for sharing your detailed experience and feedback, I appreciate it! The timing (1 hour), water and soy sauces stated in the recipe are indicative amounts. I mentioned about adding more water, adjusting to taste and simmering until the meat is tender in my recipe. I did simmer for longer than 1 hour too, along the way adding more water and reducing the sauce etc. Please feel free to adapt the recipe accordingly.
This is a very interesting recipe! I have never used root beer in cooking before.
A&W is my favorite pop outside of Ginger ale. How interesting this dish is.
This looks a wonderful recipe. I have all my Australian friends for dinner tonightI have all my ingredients and pork belly ready.I’m excited. thank you