Have You Heard of Lu Rou Fan? Taiwan's Best Rice Bowl?

Lu Rou Fan, haven’t heard of it? Well, it’s a delicious Taiwanese dish made with braised pork belly, fragrant rice, boiled eggs and bok choy. It does take a couple of hours to make, so it’s great for when you’re having a slow day. Watch along and you can find the recipe below or on andy-cooks.com
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Director, Chef and Host: Andy
Videographer, Editor: Mitch Henderson
Production Manager: Dazz Braeckmans
Editor: Caleb Dawkins
Ingredients:
- 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of skin-on pork belly, diced into 1 cm (0.4 inch) cubes
- 2 tbsp peanut oil
- 4 shallots, sliced thinly
- 4 eggs, hard-boiled for 8 minutes
- 8 slices of ginger
- 8 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp of rock sugar
- 7 tbsp of light soy sauce
- 1 cup (240 ml) of Shaoxing wine
- 1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp of white pepper
- 1 tsp of five-spice powder
- 2 cups (475 ml) of water
- Steamed rice and bok choy to serve
Method:
1. Place a pot, for which you have a lid, over medium heat. Add the oil and diced pork. Cook over medium heat to start rendering the fat and to begin browning. This will take around 30 minutes.
2. Remove most of the pork fat from the pot, reserving it to fry the shallots.
3. To the pork, add the ginger, garlic, cinnamon stick, star anise, bay leaves, Shaoxing wine, rock sugar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, white pepper, and five-spice powder.
4. Turn the heat back to medium and stir well. Then add the water, give it one last stir, bring to a light simmer, and cover with the lid. Reduce heat to low and cook for 1.5 hours.
5. While the pork is simmering, add the rendered pork fat to a small pot and fry the shallots until golden brown (if you don't have enough pork fat, you can add some oil). Once golden brown, remove and set aside.
6. After the pork has cooked for 30 minutes, add the fried shallots and peeled boiled eggs. Continue cooking for the remaining hour.
7. At the one-hour mark, remove the lid to allow the sauce to thicken slightly.
8. Once cooked, remove any aromatics and serve on steamed rice with steamed bok choy on the side.

[@liv-4423]

As a Taiwanese, I can say this is a very solid effort! Most versions in Taiwan would use smaller cuts of pork belly so that it really gives that 'melt in your mouth' texture when you eat it. But everything else from cooking methods & choice of aromats was spot-on. Andy did say that his preference was larger chunks, and this dish does has many little variations all over Taiwan, so all in all, the essence of this dish was still retained. Love to see it when chefs add their own flair but still respect the original dish 👏🏻👏🏻 Now I want to see an Origins episode where Andy goes to Taiwan to taste lǔ ròu fàn there! And following on from this video, more Taiwanese dishes please! Like beef noodle soup, or street foods like pork belly bun (guà bāo), scallion pancake (cōng yóu bǐng) and Taiwanese popcorn chicken (xián sū jī) would go down really well with your viewers too I think!

[@StephenHung2274]

I literally thought popcorn chicken was 雞米花XDDDD

[@liv-4423]

@@StephenHung2274 well you're not wrong! 😂 I think 'Taiwanese popcorn chicken' is the westernised name given for that fried dish 😋

[@EdwardChen0]

Yum, maybe oyster omelettes or fried stinky tofu...

[@diverstalent]

Hi, do you boil the pork first to rid impurities? Sousan

[@fixedoracle]

Would love to see Chef Andy try his hand at a beef noodle soup!

[@merdufer]

For those cooking a large batch as meal prep, you might as well use the liquid to marinate soft boil eggs over night like ramen eggs.

[@lisamckay5058]

I've never done that before. That sounds delicious.

[@arlenek8552]

Great idea!

[@rapmabida9813]

​@@lisamckay5058it's a neat trick to also keep it from becoming a hard boiled

[@higashirinchiah1013]

Taiwanese style is rubbery hard boil. The soft yolk are Japanese style😅

[@mitchellknott3527]

That liquid will turn gelatinous and solid overnight.

[@ryanyen6808]

Lu Rou means pork stewed in sauce for a long period of time, Fan means simply rice. Thank you Andy for making it in a professional way. I must say as a Taiwanese we may not be as careful in terms of cooking skill as you are when cooking Lu Rou Fan. Your cooking makes this food look cooler

[@jhc6608]

It would be nice to appreciate one's own culture. It's "cool" as it is and really doesn't need approval or others own version of it to make it look "cooler". I mean I'm sure every household in Taiwan has their own cool versions.

[@obtuseangler768]

​@@jhc6608it's also nice to appreciate other's opinions🤓

[@airbus7808]

Taiwanese food is one of the most underrated cuisine. Great video

[@rodpotato4161]

Fun fact: In southern Taiwan mostly call Lu Rou Fan as Rou Zao Fan, if you oder Lu Rou Fan, you may get a whole slice of Lu Rou which is Kong Rou, instead of minced meat. Lu Rou 滷肉, Rou Zao肉燥, Kong Rou 控肉

[@thestaringenclave]

It's actually rather nice too to finely julienne the ginger. It helps to cut through the fattiness of this dish. We could also save some of the crispy fried shallots as garnish at the end to give a slight variety in texture. I am just sharing how some of my favourite lu rou fan are prepared. :D

[@AdmAckbarr]

In dishes featuring ginger, the bites which include a bit of the julienne are always my favorite bites. I will take these tips when trying this dish!

[@thebiglimey]

When I visited Taiwan for work, most factories would serve fried rice or maybe dumplings for us at lunch, but there was one that we visited that would always make us Lu Rou Fan from their factory kitchen - I think it was a bribe to make sure I kept my business there haha - thanks for making a Taiwan favourite dish, and maybe you need to hop over there and do a series on the amazing food scene on the island!

[@eddielin6081]

Usually we serve it with some braised bamboo shoots strips or a couple pickled white radish slices here but I guess if someone want to cutdown their sodium intake, boiled bok choy works as well. Thanks for making my favorite Taiwanese dish on your channel ❤

[@mikemitchell9157]

Bamboo shoots are incredibly hard to find where I'm from but thanks for the tip bud. The closest thing I have here is Japanese knot weed lol Would love to try the bamboo tho

[@willyjum]

Not a big deal, but the "rou" is pronounced like row. It simply means meat in Chinese. Also, phenomenal job with the dish. Looks perfect.

[@Redbert80]

​@@mikemitchell9157you normally can find them canned, even Asians don't often buy them fresh. Also makes it easier to order online when they're canned.

[@mikemitchell9157]

@@Redbert80 I don't order food online I don't belive in it. Very few things I do order offline

[@soupy2287]

@@mikemitchell9157 Are you not in the UK? Bamboo shoots are in every major supermarket

[@user-hd6ii7nn8t]

I'm from Taiwan and I have to say. This looks amazing!

[@jake115577]

Andy measuring the water on the rice pot using his finger is the asian most thing he did 😂

[@ripfrickingben]

appreciate you lots andy, absolutely my favorite cooking channel on the platform, never change

[@houchi69]

Now you need to go to Taiwan!!! There are several different styles of this popular dish. Some makes it with ground pork, 3:7 fat to lean ratio, and some makes it your way, with diced pork belly. Also, Taiwanese don't use Jasmine Rice :) Short-grain, always.

[@Trolligi]

Yes he should go to Taiwan

[@weskertseng4276]

Taiwanese reply approved hah

[@Nambangerunit5]

My favorite YT chef . Very passionate in what you do . Thank you . Always a good time watching you .❤

[@toddanderson1559]

Well done! I had a Taiwanese co-worker that knew I loved food so she made me this dish except she also included shitake mushrooms that were diced the same size and she crisped the pork belly and mushrooms before braising. Absolutely outstanding! First time I ever liked mushrooms. Haha.

[@Neubulae]

for whatever reason I love how you pronounce like ‘aromats’ and ‘schllots’, really nice sounding words

[@mikehsieh76]

Just had it for dinner before watching this. My kids love it. Thank you for sharing our comfort food with the world!

[@Vershaii]

I appreciate this Andy, for bringing my childhood favorite dish to the stage.

[@oliverschmidt1988]

i love the editing, layering the cuts. amazing job!

[@rhystapscott]

Been watching you cook for a long time now and have been meaning to buy your cook book, well, tonight I actually did! Your an amazing and humble chef and I love watching all of your videos!

[@SK1MD]

Love this❤ This is my all time comfort food. I can eat this every meal and die happy😂❤ Thank you so much for making this dish and sharing it with everyone in the world!!😊

[@v4valentin]

Genuinely one of my favourite dishes, thanks for the video.

[@twoblink]

As a Taiwanese; I approve. Pro Tip; if it's super oily; take some of the rendered pork belly fat; drizzle it on the rice; stir it around; THEN serve it. #Flavortown

[@wilsc8896]

My hero for including the rice cleaning as a step in your cooking rice 101 demo. Such an important step often overlooked.

[@zchesiq]

Chef Andy! i just followed this recipe today, and oh my goodness i loved it!!! thank you this is amazing i really felt i was a chef while making this 😂

[@wooikentlee7956]

No way! Are there anything you can't cook chef 😊 this dish reminds me of home so much, and I'm so glad you show us how to cook it. I like to use pork shoulder for more meaty texture! Thank you chef, this is absolutely amazing ❤

[@lisamckay5058]

Now I want to go to Taiwan, to try the amazing food there. Thanks, Chef. It looks delicious.

[@joc7996]

oh, i agree. taiwan is one of my foodie countries to visit. please go.

[@AL__EX]

Taiwan is definitely overlooked as an Asia foodie destination. i'd put it top 3 with Japan, Thailand.

[@mrmuffyman]

Looks super authentic!

[@MrTraveller.]

Yes, Lu Rou Fan is a very popular local comfort food here in Taiwan 🇹🇼 Also try “San Bai Ji” ( 3 Cup Chicken or with squid )

[@lurkingknight]

Beef noodle soup.

[@Crochet-Fish]

三杯雞超讚 最近喜歡吃三杯杏鮑菇

[@MikiRei]

Awesome take. Thanks for this episode. It's always great to see how close to authentic you try to make each dishes. Just thought I'll add a few things. 1. We don't typically eat it with bok choy. Its usually with a pickle of some sort. People have used mustard greens or pickled radish. However, my mum always used pickled cucumbers. But it's not even that pickled. She cuts it to small round pieces and then soaks it in sugar and leaves it overnight in the fridge. She's from central Taiwan so probably a regional variation. It's a much crispier and "fresher" taste. We also have 米糕 which is like Lu Rou Fan but we use glutinous rice. 2. Other variations would also add mandarin peels. You have to be careful not to overdo it. My grandma typically does this. She's from yet a different part of Taiwan so again, variations. 3. Would suggest using a slow cooker rather than over normal stove to break down the pork even more so it "melts". For those cooking this at home, a lazy way for the fried shallots is to go to your local asian grocery store and ask for bawang goreng and just put that in instead. Thanks again for this episode and would love to see more takes on Taiwanese dishes.

[@ForbiddenFruitGaming]

By the way Andy! No place makes it the same but Northern Taiwan and Southern Taiwan Lu Rou Fan are drastically different. Northern tastes more savory while the South likes to add a lot of sugar into their braise mix (a lot use Coca Cola as an ingredient too). But thank you for shedding light on what I consider underrated foods in the international community.

[@brn_yt]

It's amazing that there's such a difference in flavor of the same dish on such a little island 😮

[@tekashisun585]

@@brn_yt Born and raised in Taiwan, but I never thought about the differences of this dish haha

[@vincentchin2864]

Andy, you are truly awesome! You really have a knack for Asian Cuisine 😊 Delicious 😋

[@samuelyau1113]

Incredible as always AC 🙌

[@darthchin888]

Salivating, beautiful dish. keep up the great cooking and content Andy. Well done mate 👍

[@simonhodgetts6530]

I have eaten this many times in Taiwan - delicious - they’re real foodies there, and I must say I always ate well whenever I visited!

[@stubertg5241]

There's nothing opaque about your cooking videos Andy. Gold standard! Love your work! Looks like I've got a recipe for meal prep Sunday sorted now. Cheers mate!

[@kennyc5212]

One of the best Taiwanese dishes if not the best!

[@deanfunk8448]

Thanks, Andy. Another success!

[@woodz7504]

So happy you made this, ive been making this for months after discovering braised pork belly styles! Thank you for the vid, will definitely level up my pork now

[@lukehofwalker4649]

Thanks a lot for your content. I just got your cookbook a few days ago and its amazing how much i learn about homecooking since i follow you. Have a nice weekend :)

[@thetravellingbloke2992]

It’s one of the best dishes and comfort food. There is a Taiwanese place next to my office when I need a quick meal Man I love it

[@Qoonutz]

I prefer using short grain rice than jasmine rice. Nonetheless, well done Chef! Thank you for promoting Asian food!

[@christophercorpus2424]

Awesome recipe...will definitely try this. Thanks Chef...more power👍

[@Manhattan_project.420]

i really like the vibe of your long videos, very relaxing.

[@judewilkinson5486]

YUMMY!!! made this one with great success, will definately go back for seconds. A winner with the fam!! Thanks for tasty easy to follow recipe mate. YOU are the legend!!

[@limanwangsadiputra9950]

I can tell that dish so much flavour, great job chef

[@pearl729]

Thanks Andy, for making this Taiwanese dish. Makes me really miss my grandma's lu rou fan!

[@secretagent07]

You are incredibly talented chef!

[@dianareddell1496]

Ooh gosh, that looks so good!

[@thelammacus]

I used to eat this ALL THE TIME in China, I had no idea what it was called but this brought back so many memories I'm almost in tears. Thank you so such Andy!!

[@P26984152]

Omg Andy!!! You are the best!!!

[@btdtgg]

That's looks fantastic Andy!

[@TheOonamac]

That looks SO good!

[@XeroJin84]

One of my favorite dishes I make at home - and usually what I order at a good Vietnamese restaurant I go to. Good recipe. I usually add diced daikon in my lu rao fan. Sometimes a little diced shitake (not from dried) as well. You should also try making hand pulled noodles and using that instead of rice - it's really good.

[@kennethwu115]

One of my favs. Thank you so much Masterchef ❤

[@ctai010]

Taiwaness here. Very delighted to see a classic comforting Taiwaness recipe. A tip my mum taught me is lightly boil the pork belly before slicing. Making slicing pork belly much easier

[@petembb]

Had it a few times eating out, but also made it my self just to try. Never seen it that finely diced. All other recipies i seen and tryed takes LARGE chunks that you sear hard then braise for several hours...but omg its just so good. Also goes really good with pickled cuecumber.

[@tanyamiller6275]

Love your cooking vids

I just made this dish today and it was superb. Thanks Andy!

[@OutMagic]

Awesome video mate, thank you :D

[@Christopher.E.Souter]

Just a heads-up for Andy: The Chinese word usually Romanised as *_"ROU,"_* is pronounced similarly to the English word, *_"ROW,"_* (as in "row, row, row the boat"). Also, there is a very similar Chinese dish from Shanghai, called *_"HONG SHAU ROU,"_* which translates into English as *_"RED-BRAISED PORK BELLY,"_* and the *_"AU"_* part of *_"SHAU"_* roughly rhymes with the *_"OW"_* in the English word, *_"SHOWER."_* See the Wikipedia description of this dish: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_braised_pork_belly

[@jiayinjustin]

actually it should be pronounced as "shao" instead of "shau", "shao"(烧） is a standard Mainland Chinese spell（mandarin), "shau" is a Honhkong(cantonese) spell

[@Christopher.E.Souter]

@@jiayinjustin Yes, you're quite right. I had forgotten that. I'm Australian, and I'm quite illiterate as far as any Asian languages are concerned, 😂 but my late wife was from Shanghai, and she used to make the most beautiful and tasty 紅燒肉! 😋

[@jiayinjustin]

wow nice, enjoy it👍@@Christopher.E.Souter

[@lurkingknight]

there are so many braised porkbelly variants in the region, Vietnamese have a similar one but using fish sauce. I'm partial to the cantonese variant of mustard greens. Mei Cai Kou Rou in mandarin, mui choy kau yuk in cantonese. braised/steamed pork belly is always a crowd pleaser.

[@MsZsc]

i dont give people a hard time pronouncing my name even, i always romanize my chinese name to say sichun instead of 巳春

[@natyc8391]

This is a dish that is definitely Uncle Roger approves! even the rice looks yummy! Andy really knows how to cook his asian dishes😄

[@weskertseng4276]

Uncle Andy approved

[@Dinckelburg]

First time i made this i was in love

[@fauzymohamed]

Awesome video as always Chef! I'll have to give this a shot but with chicken or beef instead of pork. Thanks for another great recipe

[@bendelbridge]

If you do it with chicken, try to avoid the breast. It’s too dry and doesn’t do well in slow cooking / braising. I’d use chicken Merrylands which would have the meat falling off the bones

[@ajmulla92]

I live in Taipei and now craving this haha delicious and great video as always Andy!

[@noreenstxs9605]

Thanks Chef!

[@SMKreitzer1968]

Wow, that looked delicious!

[@samuelshen3071]

great efforts, thanks chef Andy. For people watching this, please do go to Taiwan someday and give the food there a try, it's probably the best food/experience you can buy with very little money.

[@nbnd3342]

ANDY COOKS 👨‍🍳 BACK AT IT 🔥 COOKING UP SOME CRAZY GOODNESS 👌

[@hakujo]

Andy's such a wholesome dude.

[@millychase]

Making this tonight. Thanks Chef.

[@Tim_L_RSA]

Originally born in Kaoshiung 🇹🇼 a slice of yellow pickled radish instead of veg for me will always be the true authentic Taiwanese taste…proper street food style. Nicely done though 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@judewilkinson5486]

That looks delicious and I'm definately going to try that one this week!!!!

[@HeroesofCybertron]

One of my favories!

[@luisurena1770]

One time i made this, but i added arbol chile, orange peel and a bit of vinegar(inspired from adobo) and it came out amazing, nice video Andy

[@francisdaleburnsgutierrez1569]

Nothing better than a nice bowl of 滷肉飯 at 3 am after a fun night out.

[@brandofhero]

Finally this gets the recognition it deserves. Best carbs ever.

[@theseeker6097]

Cheers/love from Canada 🇨🇦 Andy looking forward to getting your book once available in 🇨🇦

[@Mano-ii4ng]

Awesome Mate, looks yummie. 😉 Can't wait till your book is available here in Holland

[@johnpayne2465]

Such a good thing!

[@padders1068]

Andy, Chef, Legend, looks amazing. Thanks for sharing and thanks to the team! Peace ❤

[@andy_cooks]

Thanks for watching!

[@s0dfrumbehind]

Mate, that stuff tastes wholesom. Cheers for the recipe ❤

[@mii0130]

Splendid attempt chef!

[@t0msie]

This dish is what I have been looking for.

[@ibieibie9178]

Looking good!

[@mclovin6537]

Whoa that looks good

[@vonong4807]

My favorite!!!❤

[@Trolligi]

Taiwanese cuisine like this is so good

[@Neeoooo]

The rice cooking way is top notch. Measuring style

[@romeinfantelifestyle6762]

I fell in love with 2 dishes when I first visited taipei, the turkey rice and this braised soft pork belly topped on rice lu rou fan, the best I had is in this humble diner in front of the old theatre with a bar and I have been looking for legitimate recipes, this one seems to be authentic i'm gonna try this.

[@beckyG6A]

I can’t believe my favorite chef on the internet made a dish from back home 😍😍🇹🇼🇹🇼

[@Aaron5571]

Possibly my favorite video. Not favorite recipe but video. The realness, the extra stuff that could have been an outtake. All good. Calms us home cooks I'm sure. Anyway, cheers!

[@sylviagoh1246]

Thank you for telling everyone that you need to wash your rice. According to my grandmother, wash it three times....love your washing it one more time for good luck! 😉

[@nobotshere8364]

I go to Taiwan in 3 weeks, the first thing I'm eating is the pork pepper buns followed by this. I'll be sprinting to the night market!! My wife makes this dish but you can't beat the sweats of the night market!

[@StreetFoodSection]

Perfect and delicious that's all I can say ❤️

[@TobyKBTY]

I visited Taiwan for the first time earlier this year, and Lu Rou Fan and Beef Noodle Soup were so good there that's about half of what I kept ordering LOL. I would spy where the locals flocked too and just enjoy every single bite and bowl. This definitely got my craving again.

[@nikman2]

im just a humble cook

[@luizakolozsi4692]

Thank you for creating something delicious again. Greetings from Hungary 😀

[@sunandathunder]

Favourite...Especially the Taiwanese version...

[@pithyginger6371]

As a Taiwanese, this is pretty damn legit recipe

[@Smilebydrlo]

Absolutely stunning! I can’t believe I had to show this to my fellow Taiwanese friends on how to make the ultimate Lu Rou Fan! Haha😂 However, the OG way of the rice will use traditional rice wine over the shiouxing wine. Rice wine is much preferred amongst Taiwanese cooking!