Twice-cooked pork is a dish. It is closely associated with the Sichuan-Chongqing region in terms of geographical origin and is known for its home-style cooking method.
I enjoy ordering twice-cooked pork when I go to restaurants, and I also enjoy preparing it in my own kitchen. However, this dish requires a considerable amount of effort to prepare. I need to go to the market in advance to purchase the ingredients, which typically consumes half of my day. Therefore, I proactively make this dish no more than twice a year.
I am particularly engrossed in the latter part of the cooking process for this dish:
Once the fatty pork belly has been stir-fried until the oil is slightly caramelized, I crank up the heat on the stove and pour in three tablespoons of dark soy sauce. In an instant, the high temperature ignites the oil vapors in the pan, and as I vigorously toss the ingredients with a flick of my wrist, the tongues of flame leap over the range hood and dance towards the ceiling. If you have no experience in cooking and happen to witness this spectacle, please do not panic or attempt to find a fire extinguisher to spray into the pan because the flames will naturally extinguish as soon as I stop stirring. As the flames subside, the rich aroma permeates the air, and at this stage, I consider it highly unlikely for this dish to go awry.
Regarding “Folding Chengdu,” as the name implies, this booklet showcases images exclusively from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. I have ingeniously folded 90 small photographs within its pages. Clearly, these scattered pictures are derived from everyday life and lack the capacity to fully convey narratives beyond the images. Nevertheless, they serve as mere footnotes to the streets and alleys I have traversed in the past. The incessant croaking of frogs in the fields of Xindu following a heavy rain, a little cat peering from beneath a car in Yulin Street, emitting a series of meows, crowds on both sides of Fuhe River in Yushuang shouting cautionary slogans, pigeons fluttering their wings above the release pond at Zhaojue Temple… In summary, this is a personal perspective captured in a readily browsable booklet.