Garlic mashed pork

Garlic mashed pork

　　"Garlic mashed pork": This is a beloved home-style dish in Sichuan cuisine. The dish is most famous at two Chengdu restaurants—Bamboo Grove Snack and Shuyuan Restaurant. Garlic mashed pork emphasizes ingredient selection, requiring pork leg meat that is marbled with fat and lean; it values knife skills, demanding slices that are thin and even, with skin, fat, and lean meat all connected; it emphasizes seasoning, requiring a bright red color and rich flavor that highlights the taste of garlic. Tasting this dish brings a refreshing sensation, with richness but no greasiness, making it perfect to enjoy with alcohol or rice.

　　Made with marbled thigh or pork belly meat (traditionally the former), the dish is prepared by briefly boiling the meat until just cooked, then slicing, rolling, and tossing it cold. The finished dish is fragrant, spicy, delicious, with a strong garlic flavor, and offers a crisp, tender texture. Pork belly has always been a star in Chinese cuisine. Boiling it in water with the skin on results in a thick, glossy broth, while the belly remains juicy and flavorful. Rolling the slices with strips of cucumber and dipping them in the garlic sauce makes it so delicious you won’t mind eating a lot.