Sweet and Sour Pork

Name: Sweet and Sour Pork
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: Pork loin; Egg white; Cornflour; Sunflower oil; Onion; Red pepper; Pineapple; Caster sugar; Rice vinegar; Tomato puree; Light soy sauce; Salt

Sweet and Sour Pork, plated as one serving.

339 kcal a serving, against 802 for the traditional version. That is 463 kcal off, or 58%, with 35.3g of protein. Serves 4. 30 minutes.

What the traditional version is

Fatty pork shoulder coated in a thick egg and wheat batter, plunged into hot oil until crispy. Tossed in a sauce made primarily of white sugar, vinegar and ketchup, then bulked out with pineapple and peppers.

What changed, and what each change costs

600g of fatty pork shoulder and a deep fryer for lean pork loin baked on a rack

Pork loin is pure lean muscle. Ditching the hot oil removes a massive amount of fat, while keeping the meat itself front and centre.

What it costs you. The crunch is fleeting. A thin cornflour crust baked in the oven stays crispy in a wet sauce for about 4 minutes. Eat it immediately.

100g of sugar down to 40g

Takeaway sweet and sour relies on extreme sweetness to balance the harsh vinegar. Cutting the sugar leaves a sharper, fruitier finish.

What it costs you. You lose that thick, glossy syrup texture that coats the back of a spoon. This is a lighter dressing. Nobody is going to mistake it for a sticky glaze anymore.

100g of plain flour down to 30g of cornflour

Heavy batter acts like a sponge for frying oil. A light dusting of cornflour creates just enough texture to hold the sauce without holding the fat.

What it costs you. The pork pieces look smaller on the plate because they are not wearing big puffy jackets.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Pork loin
Egg white
Cornflour
Sunflower oil
Onion
Red pepper
Pineapple
Caster sugar
Rice vinegar
Tomato puree
Light soy sauce
Salt

How it starts

Preheat your oven to 220C fan.
Cut the pork loin into 2cm cubes.
Add the cornflour to the bowl and toss hard.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Chinese.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	802	339
Protein	31.4g	35.3g
Fat	51.1g	9.5g
Saturated fat	12.1g	2.1g
Carbohydrate	53.7g	26.4g
Protein per 100 kcal	3.9g	10.4g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Chinese prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. eggs, gluten, soybeans, sulphites.

The method is in the book

This is the first recipe where timing is absolutely everything. Serve it straight from the pan and it works brilliantly. The sharp, fruity sauce hits all the right takeaway notes and the lean pork is tender. Leave it sitting on the stove for even 5 minutes while you set the table, and you'll be eating damp, soggy meat. Accept the trade. You get a massive protein hit for a fraction of the original fat, provided you hustle at the end.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Chinese, along with 55 more. Buy the paperback