What’s better than fried rice? NOTHING, except maybe Roast Pork Belly XO Fried Rice made with those amazing Roast Pork Belly drippings. XO does not, in this case, refer to cognac. Instead, it’s a sauce composed of dried scallops, dried shrimp, pepper, and cured ham all aged together to bring out an extra-savory-not-easily-replicable flavor.
2–4 SERVINGS
4½ ounces Roast Pork Belly, sliced and cut into slivers
2 large eggs
Pinch kosher salt
2 tablespoons Roast Pork Belly drippings, or any oil/fat
6 pieces crushed garlic
3 tablespoon shallots
⅓ cup fresh corn, off the cob
½ cup diced bell pepper
4 cups cooked, loosely packed day-old rice
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 heaping tablespoon XO sauce
⅓ cup medium chopped scallions
¼ cup cilantro, coarsely chopped, for garnish
BALLS OUT
40–80 SERVINGS
7 pounds Roast Pork Belly, sliced and cut into slivers
50 large eggs
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
3 cups Roast Pork Belly fat, or any oil/fat
150 pieces crushed garlic
4¾ cups shallots
8⅓ cups fresh corn, off the cob
12½ cups diced bell pepper
25 quarts cooked, loosely packed day-old rice
3 cups chicken bouillon
4⅓ tablespoons black pepper
6¼ teaspoons sugar
1¾ cups XO sauce
2 quarts medium chopped scallions
1½ quarts cilantro, coarsely chopped, for garnish
1. Prepare Roast Pork Belly. Set aside.
2. Whisk eggs in a bowl, add salt, then set aside.
3. Heat wok/pan on high heat and add 1 tablespoon pork fat. Sauté one by one, in this order: garlic, shallots, corn, and bell peppers. Lightly brown each before adding the next ingredient. Set aside in a bowl.
4. With wok still on high heat, add eggs and cook for 15–20 seconds. Eggs should still be runny. Set aside in a different bowl.
5. Add remaining pork fat to wok, then cooked rice. Mix until you get good color on the rice, breaking all the clumps apart. Make sure rice is not completely dried out. If it is, add less than a tablespoon pork oil, then stir-fry into the rice.
6. Add sautéed garlic, shallots, corn, and bell peppers. Lower to medium heat and add chicken bouillon, black pepper, and sugar. Mix well.
7. Add XO sauce and mix thoroughly. Taste. It should be lightly savory and peppery, with a hint of sweetness. If you feel it’s lacking, season to your liking.
8. Add Roast Pork Belly. If the belly is room temperature or recently roasted, go ahead and mix in eggs. If the belly is cold, stir-fry for at least 1–2 minutes or until the pork is hot to the touch, then mix in eggs.
9. Next, add scallions and mix for 5–10 seconds. Remove pan from heat immediately.
Plate in a nice big family-style bowl to share or eat by yourself while you sit in front of your computer monitor watching the endless hilarity of cats playing pianos . . . but not before you garnish with cilantro.
Always keep extra Roast Pork Belly fat handy to add more flavor to dried-out or overcooked fried rice.
Day-old rice is THE way make fried rice, period! If it’s older than that, it might be too dry, and you will need to add some water to it to remoisten it. BUT it could also be at the point of no return and just be crappy. Be careful.
You can use fresh rice, too, for fried rice, but it’ll be much harder to stir-fry (but I know, Japanese fried rice is typically made with fresh rice but that’s NOT long grain, it’s usually a short grain, which is a different game y’all).