Yuxiang Pork (Yuxiang Rousi, 鱼香肉丝)
Published Mar 05, 2016, Updated Apr 14, 2024
Chengdu Challenge #25: This Is Not Pork in Garlic Sauce
Yuxiang pork is often translated in the U.S. as pork in garlic sauce. But yuxiang is so much more than a garlic sauce. It’s sweet-and-sour-and-chili-and-garlic sauce. To me, it is what sweet-and-sour sauce should be, but more intriguing and deep. It’s got the tang of dark vinegar just barely tamed by sugar, plus the trinity of garlic-ginger-scallions. But garlic does not dominate, it is just perfectly balanced with the slightly sweet-and-sour and the spicy chili element.
The literal translation of yuxiang rousi, fish-fragrant pork slivers, is just as misleading. The yuxiang flavor has no fish ingredients, nor any fish smell or taste. However the sauce originated as one for fish, so the name stuck for anything that later got favored with the same super flavorful sauce, such as this pork or the pinnacle of yuxiang—yuxiang eggplant.
The chili component of the sauce for yuxiang pork is often paolajiao—long, red, pickled erjingtiao chilies—but they are usually next to impossible to find in the U.S. We sometimes are able to source paojiao at The Mala Market, but I have also found that you can make a very similar tasting chili by doing a short natural ferment of the dried erjingtiaochilies we carry. This is an ideal ingredient for people who eat gluten-free, as the pickled chilies contain no wheat, whereas most Sichuan sauces do.
The alternative is doubanjiang, and, specifically, hongyou douban, or red oil douban, the type of broad bean paste fermented with chili and mixed with oil, which has a bright-red color and taste that works exceptionally well in this dish.
Ideally, the co-star with the lean pork is celtuce, also called asparagus lettuce, which is crisp and light and extremely delicious but available only in Chinese markets. Celery has a distinctly different taste, but is a fine substitute. The other necessary supporting ingredient is dried wood ear mushrooms, also found only at Asian markets—and, as of 2022, at The Mala Market, in the delicate, premium cloud ear version.
Below are two versions of yuxiang pork, made years apart with different ingredients. The first is made with celery and red-oil bean paste and the second is made with celtuce and pickled erjingtiao chilies.
One final note that applies to almost all of my stir-fry recipes. Everyone’s ingredients, wok, stove, humidity, altitude, etc., are different, so your version will never be just like mine. So if you are nearing the end of a dish and the sauce is too thick, just splash in a little chicken stock or water; if it is too thin, add a bit more of a cornstarch slurry. I always have both ready to go if I need them. But you really can’t go too wrong with yuxiang; it’s good no matter what and it goes with everything. You could use it with chicken or fish or tofu. Some Sichuan cooks even put it on English peas.
For more yuxiang dishes, see my classic Sichuan Yuxiang Eggplant (Yuxiang Qiezi, 鱼香茄子) and Yuxiang Zucchini (Yuxiang Xianangua, 鱼香夏南瓜)!
Yuxiang Pork (Yuxiang Rousi, 鱼香肉丝)
Ingredients
- ¾ to 1 pound lean pork, cut in very thin strips or slivers about 2 inches long
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 3 stalks Western celery or 6 stalks Chinese celery or equivalent amount of celtuce, cut in thin strips (save leaves for garnish)
- A small handful of dried wood ear or cloud ear fungus, to make about ½ cup when rehydrated
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 3 tablespoons minced scallion
- 1 tablespoon Pixian chili bean paste (preferably red-oil bean paste, hongyou douban) OR 2-3 tablespoons minced pickled erjingtiao chilies
- 3 tablespoons Baoning or Zhenjiang vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon Chinese light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 3 tablespoons chicken stock or water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with equal amount of water
- ¼ cup canola or peanut oil
Instructions
- Prep ingredients: slice pork into thin strips, which is much easier to do if it is slightly frozen. Marinate pork strips in Shaoxing wine. Cover wood ear mushrooms in very hot water and let sit for about 15 minutes or until soft, drain and slice thinly. Slice celery (or celtuce) in thin strips to match pork strips. Mince ginger, garlic and scallions.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup mix vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine and chicken stock. Mix cornstarch and water in another small prep bowl.
- Heat wok over high flame until heat starts to rise. Add ¼ cup oil and when hot add the pork strips. Spread them out and let them cook, stirring and flipping them every so often until just cooked through. Move the pork to the sides of the wok with your spatula and add the ginger, garlic and scallions to the well in the center. There should be plenty of oil to briefly cook them. Add chili bean paste (or pickled chilies) and cook briefly. Mix in the pork, then add celery and wood ear strips. Mix all together and stir-fry until celery starts to wilt.
- Add vinegar sauce mixture and distribute well, then add cornstarch slurry a bit at a time, continuing to stir-fry, until sauce thickens (you might not need it all). Plate and garnish with celery leaves.
Tried this recipe?
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Wood Ear Mushroom (Cloud Ear Fungus, Yun Er)Buy on Mala Market
Pixian Red-Oil Broad Bean Paste (Juan Cheng Doubanjiang)Buy on Mala Market
Pickled Er Jing Tiao Chilies (Sichuan Pickled Chilies, Pao La Jiao)Buy on Mala Market
Shaoxing Huadiao Rice Wine for CookingBuy on Mala Market
Baoning Handcrafted Vinegar, Aged 3 Years (Sichuan Black Vinegar)Buy on Mala Market
Zhenjiang Handcrafted Vinegar, Aged 6 Years (Chinkiang Black Vinegar)Buy on Mala Market
Zhongba 360 Light Soy Sauce (Naturally Brewed 1 Year)Buy on Mala Market
Great idea on the sauce blending. Fish-fragrant pork is one of the great recipes.
Thank you! I hope it works for you as well as it did for me.
Great looking recipe! I collect the wood ear mushrooms in the wild and dry them for use in Asian dishes. The common name is off-putting, but it’s also referred to as Judas’ ear because it frequently grows on elder, the tree on which Judas Iscariot reportedly hung himself (the Latin name is Auricularia auricula-judae). I often find them fruiting on dead box elder (a maple- unrelated to elder) and dead elm.
Thank you for that fascinating explanation for the name. Now it’s a bit less off-putting. 🙂
Thanks also for the foraging info. I never thought about doing that in the U.S.
One of my favorites. BTW, you need to move to NJ. We have a chain of asian markets here, appropriately named “Asian Market”. The one near me usually has the asparagus lettuce in stock. I’ve also bought pickled peppers there, made from the long red peppers you show in the photo.
Well, I’m jealous of you, but I’m probably not moving to NJ. 🙂 Actually, I think I fall in the middle of Americans as far as access to real Asian ingredients. I can get more locally than a lot of people can in their cities, but less than those who live in a community with a lot of Asians. My rule for food that always tastes like Sichuan is to substitute fresh ingredients when you have to but always use Sichuan-made pantry items and seasonings. Happy cooking!
I have been dying to try the Yu Xiang eggplant, but I never could find the Chinese eggplant in my stores. Maybe it’s not the right season. Anyway, I tried this recipe tonight with pork, as you suggested. It was super delicious!
I even found the exact brand of wood ear fungus! I had had that on my last trip to Shenyang at a little malaban restaurant and I loved it but didn’t think I would ever find it here. Thank you for sharing both this recipe and the fungus!
I have one comment on the recipe. In this one, you said to cook the meat first, then the garlic, ginger and scallions. And the taste of the ginger came out a little too strong for me. In your other recipes with the trinity, you cooked these first then added the meat. I will make this again tomorrow for a friend and I think I will cook the aromatics first and see how it differs.
Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe, Taylor!
Hi Christopher,
I’ve been thinking about your questions. Firstly, I often substitute good old American eggplant for the Asian to no serious detriment.
As for cooking order, that’s a very good observation. For these recipes, I usually follow the cooking order that The Cookbook specifies, and in this case, the order was meat, aromatics, vegetables. I believe it worked because the vegetables are so thin they don’t need to cook long and the wok wasn’t overcrowded. Generally, however, I cook the meat first and remove it from the wok. Then the aromatics go in the clean wok on their own, followed by the vegetables, and only when they are almost done is the meat returned to the wok with the sauce. So if you thought the ginger was too strong, you might try this process instead. I would not suggest the order of aromatics, meat, vegetables, as I think the ginger and garlic would be overcooked/burned by the end. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for asking!
Thanks for the reply!
Yes, the garlic does get overcooked that way, haha! I know! I will try removing the meat as you suggested.
Now I need to stock up on the celtuce. By the way, I asked a friend from Chengdu about that. They call it wosun (莴笋). That might help others find it in their Asian markets…
Happy cooking!
🙂
I made this last night, using celery and Sambal Oelek for the pickled chiles. It was delicious!
Love to hear that! I think it’s going to go into regular rotation for us too.
I continue to be amazed by (and grateful for) this fantastic resource. I made another large batch of “Hong You 2” oil about two weeks ago and it’s the best yet. But next on my list is this Yu Xiang Pork–I know it’s just a photo, but this just looks so delicious…
Thank you so much, Ian! I appreciate the kind feedback.
WOW ! Am I glad I found you !! I have only been to Chengdu twice, in 2002 and 2003.! Fell in love.. I HOPE I can go back in July…. to EAT EAT EAT.. I decided to do my best to try learn to cook Szechuan about 3 months ago… and am enjoying the process enormously. I have EVERY GRAIN OF RICE and MRS CHIANG’S SZECHUAN COOKBOOK, for starters.. But—- this place is a gold mine !! Thank you !!!!!
You are very welcome, Bill! Thanks for writing. I hope the recipes work out for you.
I woke up today with a craving for this Sichuan dish. My husband said it would be too spicy when I showed him the recipe. Undeterred, I made it as written. He had two helpings and continued to peck at it until I put the leftovers in the fridge. THANK YOU!!!
That’s fun to hear. So glad it hit the spot! Thanks for letting me know.
Met your husband at a conference and learned of the site. Great writing and wonderful recipes.
Thank you so much, Nick! Craig is my best publicist. ???? (And sorry for the delayed response while I’ve been traveling.) Appreciate your checking it out.
I’ve now made Yu Xiang Pork three times and the recipe has inspired me to join your mailing list and, of course, try some other recipes! I love the Challenges and Dan Dan Noodles is next. So happy to have found your site. Thank you!
Thanks for the kind words, Daddio! Hope you enjoy the other recipes as much.