Braised Pork Rice (Lu Rou Fan)

Braised pork rice is made by simmering minced or diced skin-on pork in soy sauce, rice wine, rock sugar, fried shallots and five-spice, then ladling it over hot white rice; a careful version balances fat and lean meat in a glossy, thick sauce, every grain of rice soaked with the braising liquid, savoury, sweet and rich.

Braised pork rice is Taiwan's most representative homely rice dish, generally thought to grow from the thrift of using scraps of meat to flavour rice in leaner times, with northern and southern versions differing—minced meat in the north, diced chunks in the south—and now regarded as the soul of Taiwanese taste, found in almost every little eatery on the streets of Taipei.

A scoop of piping-hot braised pork over a bowl of white rice is all it takes, often joined by a braised egg, pickled cucumber or blanched greens, the most everyday hearty meal in Taipei, eaten from breakfast to late-night.

The balance of fat and lean in the meat, the glossy thick sauce and the rice drunk through with braising liquid are what make braised pork rice so beloved.