Pork Knuckles and Ginger Stew

Cantonese Chinese pork knuckles and ginger vinegar stew with eggs in the bowl

Pork knuckles and ginger stew is a classic and very traditional Cantonese postpartum confinement dish. Nowadays, some Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong offer this pork trotter ginger vinegar stew as dim sum items.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 3

Total Time 3 30

Servings

Calories 351kcal

Author Tracy O.

Equipment

1 Clay pot
1 Wok or pot
1 Rack (Optional)
1 Instant Pot (Optional)

Ingredients

5 cups Pat Chun sweetened black vinegar (2 bottles, each bottle is 20 fl oz / 600 ml)
3 pounds Ginger
2 pounds Pork knuckles/ trotter
12 Eggs (You can cook more or less according to you need)

Water for boiling Pork Knuckles:

6 cups Water

Water for Cooking Eggs in Instant Pot:

1 cup Water

Ice Bath for the Eggs:

4 cups Water
2 cups Ice

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Use a butter knife or a peeler to peel off 3 pounds of fresh ginger roots. Then, rinse or wash it.
After that, use the side of the knife to smash the ginger, break it down a little bit. This can help ginger absorb the sweetened black vinegar. Or, some people like to cut ginger into slices. Personally, I like it in chunks.
Next, put the peeled ginger from step 2 into the wok and turn on medium small fire. Stir fry the ginger until it is dry and slightly browned. The purpose of this step is to dry the ginger. Remember don’t add oil to stir fry the ginger.
The following step, transfer the stir fried ginger from step 3 into the clay pot.
Pour 5 cups ( 2 bottles of 20 fl oz, 600 ml each bottle) of Pat Chun sweetened black vinegar in the pot. Cover the lid and turn on the fire to medium and let it cook until it's boiling. Then, turn the fire to small and simmer for at least 2 hours.
* Personally, I like to cook until the ginger is not that spicy, the process takes 1 to 2 weeks. Therefore, I normally make this dish a month before the due date of the baby. I don’t cook the pork trotter/knuckle and eggs until the ginger is not spicy. I reheat the ginger with the black vinegar until it is boiling and don’t open the lid. Then, turn off the fire. Just leave it on the stove, I repeat this step for 7-14 days.
When the ginger is ready and not that spicy, pour 6 cups of water into the wok and turn on high fire. Let the water boil.
Put 2 pounds of pork knuckles/ trotter (pig feet) into the boiling water. Let it cook until it's boiling again.
Drain and rinse the pork knuckles.
After that, put the boiled pork knuckles into the ginger black vinegar stew. Cover the lid and turn on medium fire until it's boiling. Then, turn the fire to small and simmer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour 1 cup of water into the instant pot and put in a rack. Then, place 12 eggs on the rack. Close the lid and vent, push the manual button to adjust time for 2 minutes at high pressure and naturally release the pressure.(See details on how to make hard boiled eggs instant pot post or you can just boil it over the top stove for 15 minutes.)
When the eggs are done, put the eggs into the ice bath. (2 cups of ice and 4 cups of water)
Peel off the hard boiled eggs and put them into a bowl.
After cooking the pork knuckles for 30 minutes, open the lid.
Add the hard boiled eggs from step 13. Mix the vinegar sauce and eggs a little bit and turn off the heat. (You can add more eggs as you need. Also, you can add more eggs the next day or so.)

Video

Notes

Cooking tips for how to make Cantonese pork knuckles with ginger and vinegar:

Peel off and wash ginger.
Use the side of the knife to smash the ginger, break it down a little bit. This can help ginger absorb the sweetened black vinegar.
Or, some people like to cut ginger into slices. Personally, I like it in chunks.
Stir fry the ginger until it is dry and slightly browned. The purpose of this step is to dry the ginger. Remember don’t add oil to stir fry the ginger.
When the ginger is dry and slightly brown, put them into a clay pot. Pour the sweetened Pat Chun black vinegar into the pot. Turn on medium high fire, until it’s boiling. Then, turn the fire small and simmer for at least 2 hours.
Personally, I like to cook until the ginger is not spicy, the process takes 1 to 2 weeks. Therefore, I normally make this dish a month before the due date of the baby. I don’t cook the pork trotter/knuckle and eggs until the ginger is not that spicy. I reheat the ginger with the black vinegar until it is boiling and don’t open the lid. Then, turn off the fire. Just leave it on the stove, I repeat this step for 7-14 days. Usually it is 14 days, so the ginger is not spicy. When the ginger is ready, I put the pork trotter and eggs.
If you use a slow cooker, it can shorten the days to cook the ginger and it will not be spicy.
You can add more eggs as you need. Also, you can add more eggs the next day or so.

Nutrition