Recipe For Teochew Jellied Pork Skin 美容养颜的潮州肉皮冻 

At the turn of an eye the northern hemisphere has entered into the autumn-winter seasons. Many friends have complained about suffering from dry skin because of the weather, and asked me for remedy. There is a Chinese saying that “sickness comes through the mouth”. I believe that health and skin beauty are related to what we eat. Here I will introduce an authentic Teochew dish that is rice in collagen – Teochew jellied pork skin. It is inexpensive and highly suited for the dry autumn-winter spell. 

转眼间，北半球进入了秋冬季节，有很多朋友跟我抱怨因为干燥的天气，皮肤经常干裂，问我有何妙计？所谓病从口入，我认为健康的体质和漂亮的肌肤是吃出来的，下面为潮州朋友们介绍一道富含胶原质的潮州菜 — 潮州肉皮冻。这道菜经济实惠，最适合在干燥的秋冬季节食用。

Main ingredients 主要材料: 

• 400g of pork skin (with fat removed) 去肥肉的猪皮8两 (400克); 
• 100g of lean pork meat猪瘦肉2两 (100克)

Seasonings 调味料:

• 1 tablespoon of Teochew preserved vegetable 潮州冬菜1汤勺;
• Suitable amounts of ginger, onion, cooking wine, salt and, chicken essence 姜、葱、料酒、盐、鸡精适量

Instructions 做法:

Step 1 第一步

Cut the pork skin into rectangular or triangular slices measuring 10cm by 5 cm. Wash with a tablespoon of salt. Next blanch (in Teochew "tshok") the pork skin and pork meat in water with ginger, onion and cooking wine. Remove from the water and wash away any foam. The pork skin will be curled-up after being blanched.

把猪皮切成长 10cm 宽 5cm 的长方形或三角型，用1汤勺盐搓洗干净，然后将猪皮、猪肉放入有姜、葱、料酒的水焯一下，再捞出洗去泡沫，经过焯水的猪皮变成一卷卷的。

Step 2 第二步

Add the Teochew preserved vegetable into four bowls of water (800ml) and cook for two minutes. Remove the preserved vegetable. Add 3 slices of ginger, the pork skin and pork meat into the soup and put to boil.

将4碗水（800ml）和潮州冬菜煮2分钟，然后捞出出冬菜。把3片姜与猪皮、猪肉放入汤里一起烧开。

Step 3 第三步

Next pour the soup into an electric slow cooker to cook for 2 hours, adding salt and chicken essence (2 teaspoons of each). For pork skin that is thicker, slow-cook for 2 to 3 hours.

If your rice cooker has the soup-cooking function, you can also use it, cooking for about 2 hours.

接下来转入电子煲汤锅煲2小时，调入盐、鸡精各2茶勺。猪皮有厚有薄，有些厚的猪皮用电子煲汤锅煲要煲2到3小时才好。

有些电饭锅是有煲汤功能的，两小时煲出来的正合适。

To give the jellied pork skin a darker shade of colour, you may add half a tablespoon of soy sauce before placing into the slow cooker. 

如果担心猪皮冻颜色不够深。可在最后调味时加入半汤勺酱油。

Step 4 第四步

Transfer the contents into a receptacle with capacity to hold 6 bowls of water. Place the receptacle into the refrigerator’s freezer compartment for 6 hours as the final step for your Teochew jellied pork skin. Ideally the pork skin should to be left in the freezer overnight. If the freezing time is too short, the pork skin will taste less springy.

取出装入可盛 6 碗水的容器里，放入冰箱的保鲜层冰镇6小时即成猪皮冻。 猪皮冻建议在冰箱隔夜最好，冻的时间不够长，猪皮冻口感不够有弹性。

Alternatively, you can cook the jellied pork skin using a pressure cooker. This is done by adding 3.5 bowls of water (700ml) and cooking in the pressure cooker for 30 to 40 minutes. It takes a shorter time, but the pork-skin soup will be denser, and the appearance of the pork-skin less translucent.  

猪皮冻也可以用高压锅煮，可以缩短时间但煮出来的猪皮汤比较浓浊，做出来的猪肉冻外表看起来不够剔透。但如果你不介意，一般加水3碗半 (700ml)，放入高压锅煮30到40分钟就可以。

Points to note 注意：

1.  Make sure the pork-skin is cleanly removed of white layer of fat, otherwise it will taste fatty. The pork-seller is usually able to help you with this.

做猪皮冻一定要把猪皮上面的白肉刮干净，不然吃起来会肥腻，一般这个可以让卖猪肉的店给你处理好。

2. The pork-skin must be well-boiled before it can be made into jelly 

猪皮要熬的比较烂才可以做皮冻。

3. After the pork-skin is frozen, some lard may appear on the surface. You use a spoon to gently scrap this off. 

猪皮冻制成后上面可能有一些猪油，用勺子轻轻刮去即可。

4. To improve the appearance of the dish, you can arrange the pork-skin neatly when placing them into the receptacle.  Place the bottom layer of pork skin downward-facing and the top layer upward-facing. In this way the inside of the pork-skin is concealed.

若要让这道菜的外观更好看，可以在猪皮猪肉汤转入容器时，将猪皮要摆整齐，即下面的猪皮要反面摆放，上面的猪皮要正面摆放，这样就不会看到猪皮的内里。

5. When serving, cut the jellied pork skin into thick slices, top with sesame oil, sprinkle with parsley. When eating dip with fish sauce, or another preferred sauce.

吃的时候把猪皮冻切厚片，淋上麻油，撒上香菜，用鱼露蘸着吃，用别的酱料也行。

Teochew Jellied Pork Trotter 潮州猪脚冻

The above method can also be used to prepare Teochew jellied pork trotter. Use the pig’s hind leg, remove the bone and slice into thick strips. Add to 3 .5 bowls of water and slow cook for 2.5 hours. Use the same seasoning as above. When cooking the trotter, it will float to the surface. As such, remove a portion of the soup before freezing. After the trotter has solidified, add this portion of soup to the container to freeze. In this way the trotter is also covered on the top.

用以上方法也可以做猪脚冻。用猪后脚来做，猪脚要去骨，切大件，加水3碗半煲2.5个小时，调味同上。做猪脚冻时，猪脚会浮上来，那么我们预先留一些汤出来，等到猪脚凝固了，再把剩下的汁淋在上面继续冰冻，这样猪脚就完全被覆盖了。

【Our Contributor 美食达人介绍】

Tan Pia Hua comes from a family steeped in Teochew culinary traditions and is a recognised food blogger. Her grandfather opened the first claypot and beef steamboat eating place in Swatow in the 1920s and 30s. Having picked up a love for Teochew food, she now researches on creating new recipes, which she posts on weekly basis under the thread "Excellent Famly Kitchen" 《奂家厨房》at a Baidu forum site for food lovers. Since 2008 she has shared on ways to prepare more than 300 different dishes, mainly of Teochew-style cooking , and now has a strong following of online fans.