ScientificFoodie

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Introduction

Pork is probably the most common kind of meat. Thanks to its high fat content and its relatively thin and evenly distributed muscle fibers, porks give very delicious taste and scent. Normally, 100g of half-lean-half-fat pork contains:
16.5g protein(27.5% NRV),
10g saturated fat (>50% NRV, a lot!),
9mg calcium (1% NRV),
178mg phosphorus(25.4% NRV),
1.5mg iron (10.0% NRV),
1.91mg zinc (12.7% NRV),
285mg potassium (14.3% NRV)
55mg sodium (2.75% NRV)
10μg vitamin A (1.25% NRV)
The nutritional content of pork may vary due to different fat-lean ratio or the quality of pork, so I choose the half-fat-half-lean pork as the reference. Like most animal husbandry products, pork contains fairly high amount of saturate fat. Therefore, it's good not to take in too much of it, but 100-200 grams of it won't be any problem.

*Porks部分下文的两个learn more都放在正文后面，是并列关系，不是一个套着一个*
Learn more: different portions of pork: which part is the best and why?
First, I'd like to clarify that there's no best part of pork. Instead, different parts will have different fat content and texture, suiting different cooking method. Still, generally, the "tenderloin" or "fillet" part--the very soft and thin part inside loin--has a better taste and texture, and it's obviously also the most expensive part. Below lists the characteristics of each part of the pork.

1. SHOULDER
The meat from the hard-working shoulder is a super-versatile cut. It can either be minced or diced for cooking slowly in stews, or kept on the bone and slow-roasted until tender and falling apart. The fillet from the top of the shoulder is just tender enough to be cut into steaks for grilling or barbecuing. As one of the most forgiving parts of the pig, it’s a great choice for a simple but impressive dinner party showstopper. The best way to cook a shoulder is slow and low – simply wrap it in a double layer of tin foil (to lock in the moisture) and pop it in the oven at 150ºC/300ºF/gas 2. Cook for 4 to 5 hours, or until you melt-in-your-mouth, beautifully tender meat. If you’re cooking for a crowd, get on with your sides while it’s ticking away in the oven.
2. LOIN
Pork loin is a classic roasting joint, delicious as part of a traditional Sunday roast with apple sauce. The loin can either be cooked in one piece with the bone, or deboned, stuffed and rolled up to make a fantastically juicy roast, like this pork loin with a great herby stuffing or pear roasted pork loin joint. You can keep the skin on and crisp it up to get lovely crackling, or remove the skin and marinate the whole loin. For best results, be sure to rest the meat before carving. Chops that are cut from the loin are ideal for pan-roasting and grilling. If the fillet is left inside the pig when the chops are cut, you’ll get T-bone loin chops.
3. FILLET
The fillet or tenderloin is a long thin muscle, found on the inside of the ribcage and is a part of the loin cut. It can be cooked whole, cut into small round medallions and pan-fried, or cut into 1cm slices and bashed into thin escalopes. Pork fillet is the leanest of all cuts, so it’s the healthiest choice. Marinate or tenderise the fillet, then cook it quickly at a high temperature until slightly blushing pink in the middle for extra-juicy results. Cooking it for too long will dry the meat out – and always remember to rest the fillet after cooking to seal in the moisture.
4. RIB CHOP
Chops from the ribs are often grilled or barbecued. When a few chops are kept together in one piece, they make a brilliant rib roast. Rib chops work particularly well with sage and apple as well as many spices – marinate your chops for extra flavour or try a dry rub. They are best cooked in a pan, on a grill or on the barbecue – use a high heat and turn the meat regularly so it builds up a beautiful gnarly crust and the fat renders down for juicy, succulent results
5. CHUMP CHOP
A really meaty chop, cut from the rump of the pig, it can be bought either on or off the bone. Chump is a cheap cut with delicious flavour and texture. It’s versatile and easy to cook, either fried, grilled or barbecued. Serve with a tangy chutney or dressing to cut through the fattiness of the chop
6. LEG
Pork legs are low in fat and can be quite dry if cooked improperly. This is because that pork legs have relatively lower water content and they're rich in strong, sturdy muscle fibers. Many are cured to make ham, one of the most famous one is the Spanish Jamon Iberico. Cooking the meat on the bone will help to keep it moist and produce lovely juices that you can use for gravy. Pork escalopes should be flash-fried or grilled quickly to prevent them from drying out. Try marinating or bashing the meat out with a rolling pin to tenderise it.
7. BELLY
A fatty, but incredibly tender cut of meat, the belly is delicious when slow-roasted. It’s also used to make streaky bacon. Pork belly is very high in fat, which makes it a delicious and versatile cut. It can be cooked slowly at a low temperature for soft meat that melts in the mouth, or it can be sliced and crisped up in a hot pan. It can also be roasted or stewed, but make sure you skim away some of the fat. As a robust cut, it works well paired with aromatic flavours and Asian spices.
8. CHEEK
The cheek is a fatty, full-flavoured muscle with a great gelatinous texture, ideal for mincing or slow-cooking. Pork cheek is such an underrated cut and is really cheap to buy. Chop and cook it slowly in a stew or ragù, or keep it whole and braise in a rich and sticky sauce.

Learn more: try one of the most famous Chinese pork dishes--stewed pork/红烧肉(pronunciation: hong shao row)

First, let me introduce a short history of this "红烧肉"/hong shao rou.
Hong shao rou, or "red-stewed" pork, is an extremely appealing dish originating in the Song Dynasty of China. ccording to historical records, the poet Su Dongpo in the earlier Song Dynasty was a big fan of pork. He once received lots of pork and thought that the pork should be evenly divided into cubes. In this way, he could share it with the workers. After slicing the pork into cubes, he used his specific way to cook the pork and brought them to others. Since Su Dongpo's pork is extremely delicious, people gave it the name "Dongpo Pork" also known as 红烧肉/hong shao row. Since then, the recipe "hong shao row" or "Dongpo Pork" became one of the most representative recipes in Zhejiang, China.

Now here are the procedures of cooking a nice hong shao row.
Ingredients: a piece of streaky pork (also known as marbled pork, it's fine to use anywhere of the pork, as long as it has fat on the top and half-fat-half-lean on the bottom. Make sure to select those cube or square ones); anise; myrcia; greeen chinese onion (if not available, leek is also fine); ginger; salt; sugar; soysauce; yellow wine (a special kind of cooking wine in China, if not available then use normal cooking wine); oil.

Procedures:
Slice the pork into 2.5cm*2.5cm*2.5cm cubes
Put the pork into the pot, add cold water and turn on the gas
When water boils, start timing and boil it for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, remember to get rid of the floating foams on the top. Those foams are impurities and will affect the taste of pork
After 5 minutes, take the pork out and drain the water.
Add oil into the pan, put star anise in and stir-fry for about 20 seconds until you can smell the scent
Add sugar (if you can use crystallized sugar that's better, but normal sugar should also work) into the pan and keep stir-frying until the sugar melts and turns yellow. This step is called preparing “糖色” (pronunciation: tang sai), which directly translates into "sugar color". The function of preparing "tang sai" is to make use of caramelization to give pork a nice color and a sweet, unique scent.
Add pork cubes into the pan and stir-fry them together with the "tang sai". Make sure you mix them well until the pork turns into caramelized color.
Add cooking wine and soy sauce together into the pot, stir-fry them to make sure soy sauce covers most part of the pork. The function of soy sauce is to give it a darker color while also providing salts.
When the cooking wine evaporizes, add boiled water, ginger, leek/ chinese onion, myrcia and crystallized sugar together into the pan. Stew under soft fire for 40 minutes.
After 40 minutes, pick out the ginger, leek/ chinese onion and myrcia, add some salt. Turn the fire up and reduce the soup until there's nearly no soup.
Done!
If you are very interested in the preparation of Hong shao row, you can also take a look at this video. This video was created by a famous Chinese food cooker, Wang Gang. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxRM-coyIA8