Guo Bao Rou

Mix 150 g potato starch with 300 ml water. Let settle for about 20–30 minutes, until the starch forms a compact layer beneath clear water. Complete Steps 2–3 while waiting.

Pat 400 g pork tenderloin dry, trim the silverskin and cut broad slices 3–4 mm thick across the grain. Mix with 1 g salt and 1 pinch white pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Finely julienne 25 g carrot, 15 g Chinese scallion and 10 g ginger. Cut 5 g cilantro into lengths and dry well. In a small bowl, stir 60 g sugar, 60 ml white vinegar and the remaining 1 g salt until most sugar dissolves.

Carefully pour away the clear water above the starch and loosen the wet paste. Drain excess liquid from the pork, then coat each slice evenly in the wet starch. The coating should cling thickly, with no dry powder or watery runoff.

Add oil to a deep wok to a depth of about 4 cm, no more than halfway up the wok. Heat to about 160°C. Lower slices flat into the oil in small, spaced batches. Once set, gently separate them. Fry each batch for about 2–3 minutes until pale golden and cooked through. Drain on a rack and let the oil recover between batches.

Heat the oil to about 185°C. Fry the pork again in batches for about 20–30 seconds, until golden and rigidly crisp with fewer bubbles. Drain immediately. Do not wait for the oil to smoke; adjust to the actual thickness and temperature and avoid dark browning.

Carefully transfer the frying oil to a heatproof container, leaving only a thin film in the wok. Add all the sauce from Step 3 and boil over medium-high heat for about 1–2 minutes, until the sugar dissolves, bubbles tighten and the sauce lightly coats a spatula. Reduce briefly if still watery; do not caramelize.

Add all the fried pork, carrot, scallion, ginger and cilantro. Toss quickly for about 10–15 seconds to give each slice a thin shiny coating, then plate at once. Leave no large pool of sauce and serve hot before the crust softens.