Tau Yu Bak (Braised Pork Belly in Soy Sauce)
I grew up eating this homely dish of braised pork belly in soy sauce (or locally known as “tau yu bak”/豆油肉) so this is true taste of home-cooked food to me. Deliciously savoury, this dish goes very well with rice or steamed buns (kong bak bao). Every family has a different way of cooking this dish.
See Also:
- Braised Pork Belly in Root Beer Recipe
- Braised Chicken Drumsticks Recipe
- Mum’s Homely Chinese Recipes
My family’s version is no fuss – just one type of soy sauce (dark) and no need to grind the spices. The recipe is also very forgiving and flexible so you can always “rescue” it if something goes wrong. Do not overdose on the spices (like star anise, cinnamon) because a little goes a long way.
Browning the pork belly (optional but highly recommended) adds additional flavour to the stew.
Aromatics for cooking tau yu bak – garlic, 5-spice powder, cinnamon, cloves, star anise and rock sugar.
I re-created the dish from memory of the taste and I let my mum taste test the dish. Her verdict – my tau yu bak was good, and she liked that the sauce is just the right amount (if too much, the stew is diluted; too little will result in insufficient gravy for the rice & meat).
my mum makes this all the time too but she doesn’t use so many spice and she uses kicap manis / thick soy sauce so the sauce is thicker.. Maybe it’s a different version of tau yu bak haha ..
That sounds good! yes I think every family has its own recipe for tau yu bak :)
I tried this, had the pork simmering for an hour an a half. But how do you get the pork meltingly soft and tender?
The longer you cook, the more tender it is. Maybe you can even transfer to a slow cooker and simmer away on low heat all day long.
I do only used 八角 without 丁香,桂皮,五香粉。I also added dry octopus(尤鱼干). The soup has a natural taste of the 海鲜。
The 海鲜 version with the 尤鱼干 sounds interesting & unique. Like the sound of it :)
Cooked the tau yu bak dish today and love it. My whole kitchen was filled with the aromatic smell during the simmering process. Thanks for sharing.
yes, my kind of aromatherapy too :)
I would love to try this Singaporean dish, nice that I have all spices ready at home.
Just curious, before serving, do you take out the garlic or do you leave as is with skin? I want to give this a try.
I’m sorry for missing this. If you don’t intend to eat the garlic cloves, you don’t have to peel them. But my mum loves to eat them, so I do peel the garlic :)
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I chanced upon your blog and tried it yesterday. It was not too difficult and the end product looked and tasted great :) I skipped most of the spices and only used the star anise. I also added in carrots (I love them and had some leftover from making soup) and it added a tinge of sweetness to the simmering goodness!
sounds good to me! thanks :)
Hello! I have tried your 豆油肉 , but it isn’t salty at all. I used Tiger Brand Dark
soy souce(Top quality). What brand of dark soy souce did you use ?
Thanks. Happy New Year.
I used Tai Hua superior dark soy sauce. Adjust the soy to your liking because everyone has different preferences. Happy New Year!
Looks very appetizing!!! I also make something similar to this only difference is I use pork leg and no cinnamon stick. Same melt in your mouth goodness! Will cook this with pork belly for CNY. =)
Hi,
This is a great recipe! One of my favourites! Just wondering though about the dark soya sauce. Do you use Sweet Dark Soya Sauce (super thick kind) or just Dark Soya Sauce (one i have isn;t really salty, just creates dark colour, which i use when i;m making bah kut teh! lol) ???
Thanks!