Should I use light or dark soy sauce for braised pork?

Soy sauce is an indispensable condiment in the kitchen, and of course the flavor of soy sauce is indispensable in the preparation of braised pork. Both light soy sauce and dark soy sauce are made through brewing and fermentation. They have different colors and concentrations. Each has its own characteristics and its own unique flavor. Everyone has different tastes, so the choices will be different. Braised pork requires light soy sauce or dark soy sauce, depending on which one you like.

This mainly depends on personal taste. In fact, each has its own flavor. Light soy sauce is lighter in color and less salty, but tastes more delicious; dark soy sauce is heavier in color and saltier. Generally, dark soy sauce is used more often because it has a better coloring effect. Isn’t “color, aroma and taste” generally important in cooking? As for dark soy sauce, it takes care of several aspects better. If you use light soy sauce, the color may not be very red.

In order to save time, both light soy sauce and dark soy sauce should be added. The function of dark soy sauce is naturally to add color, while light soy sauce is to enhance the freshness and saltiness. But the more sophisticated braised pork does not contain soy sauce, and the color is obtained by using fried sugar color.

Let me put it simply, light soy sauce is for flavoring, dark soy sauce is for coloring. If you don't stir-fry sugar color when braising pork, you must add dark soy sauce, otherwise the color will not look good. What I do is fry the sugar color, then pour in the pork, and then add light soy sauce, and a little bit of dark soy sauce to enhance the color. This way, it has both color and flavor. There is also a simple way. There is braised sauce sold in the supermarket. You can just add the braised sauce when cooking. It is relatively simple and tastes good. The following is the procedure I made at home, you can refer to it.

Dice the pork belly and blanch it in water; put oil in a pot, add sugar to the cold oil, a little more, until the sugar bubbles up and starts to smoke, then add the meat and stir-fry until the meat is colored. When the oil in the fat is fried out, pour out some of the oil (too much oil will make it greasy, the poured oil will make the dishes more fragrant), add water, scallion segments, ginger slices, star anise, bring to a boil over high heat, add salt to taste, and add light soy sauce according to your taste, depending on the color. If the sugar is not fried well, add dark soy sauce to adjust the color. Simmer until the skin is crispy and soft, pick out the scallion segments, ginger slices, and star anise, simmer over high heat until the soup thickens, and add a little MSG. You can add carrots, potatoes, or garnish with green onions and carrot slices when serving according to your preference.