This Taiwanese ragù is the ultimate comfort food
A spoonful of spicy ragù over a bowl of perfectly cooked white rice is sometimes all you need for ultimate happiness.
When I was in New York recently, I ate at Win Son. A restaurant in Brooklyn where it’s all hipsters and they serve Taiwanese-American food. I spent a week eating everything I could get my hands on, but the meal at Win Son stayed with me the most. Perhaps because of the lu rou fan, literally translated as braised meat with rice.
Meat that simmers slowly in lots of delicious ingredients and reduces into a spicy, fatty sauce. The Italians have bolognese, the Taiwanese have lu rou fan. Both are exactly what you need when it’s raining outside or you’ve just been dumped. Pork is used for the Taiwanese dish. Sometimes it’s pork belly, cut into very thin strips, and sometimes it’s minced pork. It depends on whether you’re in the north or the south. Both versions are incredibly delicious.
Savoury
The meat is braised in, among other things, soy sauce, Chinese rice wine (shaoxing), star anise and cinnamon. This makes the sauce very savoury, but also lightly sweet. Add a soft-boiled egg and finely sliced spring onion and you have a feast fit for a king. And whether minced pork or pork belly is used, the skin always remains attached to the meat, creating a gelatinous texture. That may not sound all that appetising, but it absolutely is. It makes the meat extra juicy and fatty, leaving such a delicious coating on your lips. A bit like when you eat a good bowl of porky ramen.
Noodles
The sauce is sometimes served with noodles, or with danzai noodle soup. In the latter case, you also get a shrimp for a Taiwanese surf and turf. Either way, it never hurts to have this savoury meat sauce in the fridge or freezer. And that wonderfully delicious version I ate in New York? That recipe is simply available online, so you can easily make it at home.
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