

If you find the pork too soft and hard to slice, placing it in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes helps a lot.

Shredded pork with garlic sauce uses thinly sliced pork and vegetables to create a special texture – tender, crisp, and very richly slathered with the sauce due to the cutting method. The ingredients for shredded pork with garlic sauce And the sauce tastes much more complex than the plain brown sauce that’s sometimes also referred to as garlic sauce. In the US, you might find this dish in authentic Sichuan restaurants under the name shredded pork with garlic sauce. All four flavors are balanced and none stands out too much, yet it’s bursting with fragrance. It results in a spicy, savory sauce that is also sweet and sour. To create the flavor, an appropriate ratio of vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, Shaoxing wine, doubanjiang (fermented spicy bean paste) and plenty of aromatics is used to create a rich yet balanced symphony of flavors. The Yu Xiang flavor is another signature one that is commonly used in dishes such as Yu Xiang Eggplant, or this dish, which we loosely translate as “shredded pork with garlic sauce”. The Suan La (酸辣), or sour spicy, in the hot and sour noodle soup. The Gai Wei (怪味), or strange flavor, in the Chicken with Spicy Sesame Sauce. You might have experienced the Mala (麻辣), or numbing spicy, in the famous Mala Chicken or Mapo Tofu. The Yu Xiang, or fish fragrant flavor, is one of the major flavor profiles in Sichuan cuisine. It might sound confusing because there’s nothing fishy about this dish. Yu Xiang Rou Si (鱼香肉丝) directly translates as “fish fragrant shredded pork” in Chinese.

Yet, the explanation of its Chinese name is a little long-winded. I think the English name “Shredded Pork with Garlic Sauce” does not justify this dish. Try this dish for an authentic Chinese restaurant experience in your own kitchen! Shredded pork with garlic sauce, or Yu Xiang Rou Si, features tender pork strips stir fried with an array of colorful vegetables, brought together with a rich sauce that is sweet, sour, savory and spicy.
