Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (2024)

Home Recipes Pork Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops

Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (1)

by: Bill

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Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (2)

Salt and Pepper Pork Chops are a must-order for us at Cantonese restaurants. This is the blog version of our recipe, but we also have a wonderful version in our cookbook!

Chinatown Reminiscenses

Chinese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops are the best! I remember this dish from when I was a chubby kid growing up in the small resort town of Liberty, NY. Every month, my family would make the two hour Saturdaymorning pilgrimage in our white Chevroletstation wagon to Manhattan’s Chinatown.

Kind ofreminiscent of Little House on the Prairie…heading into town on awagon to buycoffee and a sack of flour from Mr. Whipple at the General Store. Only with moreChinese people.

We’d first have dim sum, and then pay avisit to my grandparents’ tiny apartment, where we would all converge with our aunts, uncles and crazy younger cousins. Sunday morning would be a mad rush to the butcher, Chinese bakery, and fresh vegetable stands.

We’d then head to a tiny mom and pop general store for miscellaneous sundries, where everything was packed wall to wall—cartons and boxes stacked in the narrow aisles, and a good amount of merchandise hanging from the ceiling above our heads.

With the next month’s provisions purchased, it was off to Sunday dinner with extended family before the long ride back to Liberty. At that dinner, we would inevitably have this Cantonese salt and pepper pork chops dish.

Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (3)

We still love Salt and Pepper Pork Chops, and we order it whenever we go to a good Cantonese restaurant (like the one mentioned in ourStir-Fried Shrimp and Eggspost).This Salt and Pepper Pork Chop version isprobably the mostcommonof several variations.

Personally, we like the Cantonese version the best. It’s all about expectations my friends–kinda like you’re expecting a Big Mac, but in a drunken stupor, you end up walking into a Burger King and getting a Whopper. It’s good, but it’s just not what you were expecting, and certainly not the same.

Generally, restaurants serve the pork chops with the bone in, but they have the butcher cut them very thin. At home, we suggest you use thin cutletsof boneless pork, to make things easier. We also suggest a fattier cut of pork like the shoulder. This dish is nothing without a bit of fat.

So here we go with the recipe.

Salt and Pepper Pork Chops: Recipe Instructions

Combine the pork, 3 tablespoons water, Shaoxing wine, salt, sesame oil, and five spice powder (if using) in a large bowl. Use your hands to mix and coat the pork evenly. Let sit at least 15 minutes.

Move the pork to one side of the bowl, add the ingredients for the coating (flour, cornstarch, white pepper, oil, and water). Mix until you get a loose batter. Next, combine the pork and the batter until everything is well-coated, and set aside.

Heat the oil in a small sauce pot to about 250 degrees, or until you put in a piece of garlic and it bubbles a little. Toss in the garlic and cook until it just starts to turn color (30 seconds). Scoop it out onto a paper towel to drain. Be careful not to brown the garlic, or it will be bitter.

Heat the oil to 380 degrees using a thermometer, fry the pork in batches until golden brown, and place on a paper towel to drain.

Once all pieces are done, drain the oil leaving 1 tablespoon in the wok and heat your wok over very high heat until just smoking. Add the long hot green peppers and long hot red pepper, salt, and white pepper to the wok and toss for about 15-30 seconds until fragrant. Turn off the heat, and add the pork chops and the fried garlic.

Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (4)

You can now practice your pow wok skills to toss everything together.

Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (5)

Serve your salt and pepper pork chops immediately with white rice, and maybe a little extra salt and white pepper.

Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (6)

Enjoy this Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops recipe!

Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (7)
Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (8)

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4.71 from 17 votes

Salt and Pepper Pork Chops

Salt and Pepper Pork Chops is a favorite favorite Cantonese dish and always a hit with the kids. Salt and Pepper pork chops is an easy-to-make dish at home!

by: Bill

Course:Pork

Cuisine:Chinese

Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (9)

serves: 4 to 6 servings

Prep: 25 minutes minutes

Cook: 25 minutes minutes

Total: 50 minutes minutes

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Ingredients

For the pork and marinade:

  • 1 pound pork shoulder (sliced about 1/3 inch thick into pieces about 4 to 5 inches across)
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 1 ½ tablespoons Shaoxing wine
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1/8 teaspoon five spice powder (optional)

For the coating:

  • ¼ cup all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons oil
  • 3 tablespoons water

And everything else:

  • 3 cups peanut oil (for frying)
  • 3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
  • 3 long hot green peppers (sliced crosswise into thin rounds)
  • 1 long hot red pepper (sliced crosswise into thin rounds)
  • ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground white pepper

Instructions

  • Combine the pork and marinade ingredients in a large bowl and use your hands to mix and coat the pork evenly. Let sit at least 15 minutes.

  • Move the pork to one side of the bowl, add the ingredients for the coating, and mix until you get a loose batter. Next, combine the pork and the batter until everything is well-coated, and set aside.

  • Heat the oil in a small sauce pot to about 250 degrees, or until you put in a piece of garlic and it bubbles a little. Toss in the garlic and cook until it just starts to turn color (30 seconds). Scoop it out onto a paper towel to drain. Be careful not to brown the garlic, or it will be bitter.

  • Heat the oil to 380 degrees, fry the pork in batches until golden brown, and place on a paper towel to drain.

  • Once all pieces are done, drain the oil leaving 1 tablespoon in the wok and heat your wok over very high heat until just smoking. Add the green and red peppers, salt, and white pepper to the wok and toss for about 15-30 seconds until fragrant. Turn off the heat, and add the pork chops and the fried garlic. You can now practice your pow wok skills to toss everything together. Serve immediately with white rice!

nutrition facts

Calories: 465kcal (23%) Carbohydrates: 14g (5%) Protein: 15g (30%) Fat: 38g (58%) Saturated Fat: 7g (35%) Cholesterol: 46mg (15%) Sodium: 750mg (31%) Potassium: 281mg (8%) Fiber: 1g (4%) Sugar: 2g (2%) Vitamin A: 105IU (2%) Vitamin C: 21.5mg (26%) Calcium: 14mg (1%) Iron: 1.4mg (8%)

nutritional info disclaimer

TheWoksofLife.com is written and produced for informational purposes only. While we do our best to provide nutritional information as a general guideline to our readers, we are not certified nutritionists, and the values provided should be considered estimates. Factors such as brands purchased, natural variations in fresh ingredients, etc. will change the nutritional information in any recipe. Various online calculators also provide different results, depending on their sources. To obtain accurate nutritional information for a recipe, use your preferred nutrition calculator to determine nutritional information with the actual ingredients and quantities used.

Did You Make This?Tag us on Instagram @thewoksoflife, subscribe to our email list, and be sure to follow us on social for more recipes!

@thewoksoflife

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Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (14)

About Bill

Bill is the dad of The Woks of Life family. He grew up in upstate New York, working through high school and college in restaurants with his father, a chef. Rose from modest beginnings as a Burger King sandwich assembler to Holiday Inn busboy and line cook, to cooking at the family's Chinese restaurant, while also learning the finer points of Cantonese cooking from his immigrant parents. Specializes in all things traditional Cantonese and American Chinese takeout.

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Cantonese Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (2024)

FAQs

How do you say salt and pepper pork chops in Cantonese? ›

Salt and Pepper Pork Chops or 椒鹽豬扒 is a well-known dish that accompanies Chinese restaurants' casual dinners. It's the dish that families order for takeout when they have family gatherings at home and is the real MVP of protein dishes to go.

What is the secret to moist pork chops? ›

Fat is key to keeping pork chops moist

Basting them with fat, such as butter. Add in aromatics while basting for more flavor — similar to how you might cook a steak — and then you have the added bonus of browned butter and crispy garlic and/or herbs to serve with the meat.

Where did salt and pepper pork chops come from? ›

Cantonese salt and pepper pork spare ribs or pork chops is a widely available and popular dish. At a Chinese restaurant and particularly Cantonese restaurants. The origin of salt and pepper dishes has its roots in Cantonese cuisines.

What is pork chops in Cantonese slang? ›

Paa fong (steak house): derived from the Cantonese for pork chops, which means unattractive women.

What is Chinese salt and pepper called? ›

Hua jiao yan (simplified Chinese: 花椒盐; traditional Chinese: 花椒鹽; pinyin: huājiāoyán) is a mixture of salt and Sichuan pepper, toasted and browned in a wok, and served as a condiment to accompany chicken, duck, and pork dishes. The leaves of the sichuan pepper tree are also used in soups and fried foods.

Does soaking pork chops in salt water make them tender? ›

A brine is essentially just salt and water. It helps prevent moisture loss during cooking, and the salt also helps tenderize the meat from the inside out. If you want an extra juicy piece of pork, brine it before cooking. You can make an effective brine just with salt and water, but additional seasonings do help.

What to eat with salt and pepper pork chops? ›

Winner, winner, pork chop supper! This super quick-cooking meat is a weeknight lifesaver, ready in a jiffy and on the table before you know it. Serve with sautéed vegetables and mashed potatoes or slice 'em up to add to pasta, a burrito bowl, or stir-fry.

Do you have to soak salt pork before cooking? ›

Nowadays, salt pork doesn't have to be as salty because it's refrigerated, but if you're using a large piece, it's a good idea to soak it in water for an hour or parboil it so it. You can leave salt pork in a large piece, cut it in cubes, slice it or dice it depending on the recipe you're following.

Is it better to bake or pan fry pork chops? ›

While there are a number of ways to cook pork chops for dinner, baking is arguably the easiest path to perfection. The hands-off cooking method cooks pork chops gently and evenly without the need for extra fat, resulting in juicy, healthier pork chops that pair well with practically any side dish.

What tenderizes pork chops? ›

Acid from the balsamic vinegar tenderizes the pork. Salt from the soy sauce flavors the pork. Sweetness from the honey balances out the acid and salt. Worcestershire sauce adds a wonderful layer of unami flavor.

Do pork chops get more tender the longer you cook them? ›

Because pork chops are such a lean cut, they are relatively quick-cooking and prone to overcooking. When they're cooked for even a few minutes too long, whether it's in the oven or on the stovetop or grill, they're quick to dry out, and — you guessed it — become tough, chewy, and less than appealing.

What country eats the most pork chops? ›

Top Pork-Consuming Countries
  • Hong Kong: Leading the world with a per capita consumption of 55.24 kg/year. ...
  • Mainland China and Macau: Not specified in quantitative terms, but these regions are highlighted as major consumers, which aligns with the extensive use of pork in Chinese cuisine and its role in traditional dishes.

How long to soak pork chops in baking soda? ›

Step 2: Soak meat in solution for at least 15 minutes

Note: Some cuts of meat may take longer to soak in the baking soda to fully tenderize. You'll want to refrigerate the brine for longer soak times.

Why are pork chops so cheap? ›

Pork is also more cost-effective due to processing which is primarily automated as opposed to beef, which is a more manual process, requiring more labour to carry and handle. In addition, pigs' lower transportation costs contribute to the lower price.

How do you say salt in Cantonese? ›

鹽 (jim4) salt (noun)

How do you say chop in Cantonese? ›

斬 (zaam2 | zhan3) : chop; cut - CantoDict.

How do you say pork in Cantonese Chinese? ›

豬肉 (zyu1 juk6 | zhu1 rou4) : pork - CantoDict. This term is used in both Cantonese and Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.

What is the name of Cantonese pork? ›

Char siu (Chinese: 叉燒; Cantonese Yale: chāsīu) is a Cantonese-style of barbecued pork. Originating in Guangdong, it is eaten with rice, used as an ingredient for noodle dishes or in stir fries, and as a filling for chasiu baau or pineapple buns.

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