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椒鹽豬扒

The Salt and Pepper Pork Chops My Dad's Made 100,000 Times

Passing down my dad's (James Beard Award-winning) secrets from 50+ years of making Salt and Pepper Pork Chops.

Why should you try my dad's recipe?

Recipe main image

Because my dad's made this dish thousands of times (literally!) over his 50+ year career as a Chinese chef. And now, you get to learn all of his tips and techniques.

I know you'll love it as much as our community does - this recipe video has over 1.8M views and 30.5K likes on YouTube!

Love from our community

@BeeRye19

This recipe is soooooo good!!! I've made it 3x now and it's better every time. Even better than in some restaurants I've had it 😋 thanks for sharing the recipe and keep them coming! Love your channel.

@sasapac

Thank you for sharing your family and recipes! Can’t wait for the release of your cookbook. Much love and appreciation for your work-from Seattle ❤

@SoloQueuer69

thanks for the amazing video, seeing the family all at the table really sends this recipe home...literally! gonna try this now that eggs and chicken are riskier to eat, and beef is too pricey here in the US! i personally LOVE using my rectangular cleaver that my parents passed down to me. my mom and i use it as our cooking multi-tool (opening jars, slicing, chopping, usually the only knife i need)! this video just taught me that i can also use it to pound and tenderize meat w the backside, so clever! gonna def be using that from now on

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Meet your chef, Daddy Lau

50+ Years of Experience

50+ Years of Experience

My dad's been cooking Chinese food for over 50+ years, as a chef, restaurant owner, and loving father.

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2x James Beard Awards

2x James Beard Awards

We won TWO James Beard Awards for our endeavors in teaching and preserving Cantonese cuisine.

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Over 2.5M+ Followers

My dad is the internet's favorite Chinese chef, teaching millions of people how to cook every month.

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Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (椒鹽豬扒)

Salt and Pepper Pork Chops (椒鹽豬扒) main image

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.

Salt and pepper pork chops are just one of the wildly popular salt and pepper style dishes in Cantonese cuisine. There are countless other proteins you can cook in this style, such as squid, fish, chicken, and tofu, to name a few.

Browse through a couple of recipes online and you’ll see that the seasonings can also vary based on your particular preference, with some recipes featuring five spice and Sichuan peppercorns while others include black pepper and jalapeños.

Despite all the variety, these dishes all share in the wonderful combination of spicy, salty flavor and crispy yet tender texture of each bite.

But what's the secret to the perfect bite of Salt and Pepper Pork Chops? The trick for that crispy crust and keeping the meat juicy and tender is the combination of tenderizing, marinating, and double frying.

We cover all these techniques with this easy recipe so you can achieve these restaurant-quality Salt and Pepper Pork Chops right at home!

Ingredients

Prep

30 minutes

Total

50 minutes

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Main Ingredients

  • 1 lb pork loin sirloin chop
  • 0.20  red pepper
  • 0.20  green pepper
  • 1 stalk green onion
  • 0.50  red chili pepper
  • 2 clove garlic

Sauce

  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 0.50 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsbp cooking wine
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp water (adjustable - may need to add more if necessary.)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 0.50 tsp salt

Other Ingredients

  • 2 cup corn oil (can substitute with a high smoke point oil - more on this later)
  • 0.50  egg
  • 3 tbsp cornstarch
  • 0.50 tbsp oil

Seasoning

  • 1 tsp garlic salt
  • 0.25 tsp salt
  • 0.25 tsp white pepper

Want a deeper dive into how to craft traditional, authentic Cantonese flavors?

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Should pork chops make it to the chopping block?

My parents get asked a lot about what specific cuts are best for this dish. they usually answer that pork chops are fine.

Different parts of the pig have different kinds of pork chop. We prefer to use Pork Loin Sirloin Chop. In Chinese, it's called 里脊肉伴腰肉塊. This piece is the part of the pig's back that is close to the back legs.

My mom explains that you could cook pork chops with or without bones. But for family cooking, getting a pork chop without bones is easier, because cutting thinly is hard to do with a bone.

Oil, Yeah!

The reason we’re using corn oil here instead of something like olive oil is because olive oil has what is 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 is 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.

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. For simplicity's sake, for frying, you generally want to use neutral, refined oils, like vegetable oil, refined olive oil, or corn oil.

On White Pepper

If you've never heard of white pepper, it's a spice that's ground up from white peppercorns.

Fun fact: black and white pepper actually both come from a fruit. The same fruit, to be exact. White peppercorns, black peppercorns, green peppercorns, red peppercorns. These are all the same berry from the same pepper plant, piper nigrum.

The main difference is when and how they’re harvested and processed.

Black peppercorns are dried as soon as they’re picked and their skin becomes black and shriveled.

White peppercorns are soaked for at least a week which allows the outer skin to decompose. This leaves just the seed to be dried with its distinctive heat and concentrated spiciness.

As you’ll see in my dad’s recipe, even just a 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper in the seasoning is enough for a flavorful and spicy kick of heat.

Instructions

Prep

30 minutes

Total

50 minutes

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this recipe!

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Step 1: Prepare ingredients

Start with chopping up the vegetables. Cut red pepper into strips then rotate 90 degrees to dice. Dice the green pepper the same way.

Roughly dice the green onion (1 stalk) into medium-sized pieces. Then peel, smash, and mince the garlic (2 clove).

Cut across the red chili pepper into thin slices the shape will look like coins. If you want to make it spicier, you can use more of it.

Cut pork chops (1 lb) into palm-sized pieces and halve them horizontally to have thin slices. Make sure to cut against the grain to keep the meat intact during the cooking process. To tenderize them, use the back of the knife to pound into the pork chops on both sides.

Step 2: Mix sauce

For the pork marinade, mix cornstarch (2 tbsp), baking soda (0.50 tsp), cooking wine (1 tsbp), oyster sauce (1 tbsp), light soy sauce (1 tbsp), and water (1 tbsp). Give it a quick mix then add sugar (1 tsp) and salt (0.50 tsp).

Step 3: Marinate pork chops

Mix the pork in with the marinade by hand for about one minute.

Let the pork marinate for 30-60 minutes.

Step 4: Prepare for frying

In a pot over medium heat, add corn oil (2 cup) and bring it to 380°F/193.3°C.

While waiting for the oil to heat up, beat an egg in a small bowl and pour the egg into the marinated pork. Mix well. The egg will soak up the cornstarch, and make the overall pork crispier when fried.

Put the cornstarch (3 tbsp) onto a large plate. Once the oil has come to temperature, coat pieces of pork with cornstarch.

Step 5: Fry the pork

To fry the pork chops, put them in one at a time into the oil and fry them in batches to not overcrowd the pot.

Fry until the pork chops' crust is a light golden brown, or about a minute and a half. Take out the pork pieces and let the oil drain from the pieces back into the pot with a strainer.

Turn the heat up to 450°F/232.2°C and fry a second time for about 30 seconds. This results in an extra crispy texture.

On the first fry, the moisture is at the surface. On the second fry, the juices on the surface have dried. So the meat will fry up to be fragrant and crispy.

In order to keep track of what pieces are on the first fry versus on their second fry, look at the color of the coating. If it's on the lighter side, it's on the first fry. If it's golden brown, it has completed its second fry.

After frying, set the oil aside for the stir-frying step.

Step 6: Mix seasoning

In a small bowl, mix together garlic salt (1 tsp), salt (0.25 tsp), and white pepper (0.25 tsp).

Step 7: Cook all ingredients

Now, we'll put the dish together! Start by heating up a wok on medium heat.

When the wok is hot, we'll add about a tsp of the oil we just used. Add in the garlic, red chili pepper, and stir-fry until it starts to be aromatic.

Add the bell peppers and stir-fry everything for about 30 seconds on high.

Add the scallions followed by all of the pork.

After tossing the pork in with the aromatics for about 30 seconds, add the seasoning. Make sure to put it in gradually to evenly coat all the pork chop pieces.

After adding in the seasoning, cook for another 15-20 seconds before turning off the heat.

Continue to mix for another 20-30 seconds until the seasoning is evenly coating the pork, then you can plate it.

Step 8: Taste test & plate

Finally, taste to adjust the flavors of the pork chops to your liking! This is usually served on a large serving plate at the center of the table. Everyone can take the amount they want in smaller individual plates.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Enjoy!

We have many, many happy memories of enjoying this dish growing up.

Now, hopefully, you can create your own memories with this dish with your loved ones.

Also, I cordially invite you to eat with us and learn more about the dish, Chinese culture, and my family.

Cheers, and thanks for cooking with us!

Feel free to comment below if you have any questions about the recipe.

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We started Made With Lau to celebrate Cantonese culture and honor the legacy of our wonderful parents, Jenny and Chung Sun Lau.

Our hope is that these recipes and stories help you spread the joy, love, and nostalgia that I felt growing up.

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