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Steamed Hunan Cured Meats
Cured pork belly and cured grass carp, fanned on a plate with black beans and tea oil, steamed until the fat turns translucent. Adapted for a home kitchen from the original ClouChef R&D report — 腊味合蒸, report 13.
Original poster image from clouchef.com (poster: 腊味合蒸_13.jpeg). This is the hero poster only, not a step-by-step photo set.
Prep: 20 minutesCook: 30 minutesTotal: 50 minutesServings: 2–3Difficulty: Easy–MediumRegion: HunanFlavour: Smoky-salty (cured meats and black bean)
Why this works
Cured meats are already fully flavoured, so this dish is really about restraint: soak, slice, arrange, steam, and let the ingredients do the work. A fifteen-minute soak in 40 °C water takes the harsh surface salt off without loosening the meat, and slicing the pork to half a centimetre keeps every piece cooking at the same rate. Arranging the pork and fish in alternating, non-overlapping fans matters more than it looks — overlapped slices steam unevenly and trap water. The single mid-steam vent at fifteen minutes is the report's signature control: it releases accumulated steam so the dish does not turn watery, while the tea oil and black beans melt into a savoury sheen over the top. Thirty minutes at a full 100 °C is enough to render the fat glossy and translucent; longer and the cured meat dries and hardens instead. A pot of plain rice and a simply cooked green vegetable are all the accompaniments this salty, fragrant plate needs.
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Ingredients
| Ingredient | US | Metric | Substitute / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cured pork belly (larou) | 5.3 oz | 150 g | From a Chinese grocery; Hunan-style smoked larou if available. |
| Cured grass carp (layu) | 3.5 oz | 100 g | Cured fish, from a Chinese grocery; cured mackerel is a fallback (adaptation). |
| Liuyang fermented black beans | 4 tsp | 20 g | Rinsed once and drained. |
| Tea oil (camellia oil) | 2 tsp | 10 ml | Or another neutral oil with a clean flavour (adaptation). |
| Dried chilli flakes, for decoration | ½ tsp | 3 g | — |
| Ginger slices | 0.2 oz | 5 g | For the base of the plate. |
| Scallions, chopped, to garnish | 1 tsp | 3 g | Report quantity for garnish, from the plating step. |
Equipment
- Steamer (bamboo or metal) or a large pot with a rack and lid
- 20 cm steaming plate
- No steamer? A pot with an inverted heatproof bowl as a rack and a tight lid works (adaptation)
Steps
- Soak and slice. Soak the cured pork and cured fish in 40 °C warm water for 15 minutes to remove surface salt and impurities. Slice the pork 0.5 cm thick and cut the fish into 3 cm pieces. Rinse the black beans once and drain.
- Arrange the plate. Lay the ginger slices on a 20 cm steaming plate. Fan the pork slices and fish pieces alternately, without overlapping. Scatter the black beans evenly over the top, drizzle with the tea oil and dot with dried chilli flakes.
- Steam, venting once. Steam at 100 °C for 30 minutes. At 15 minutes, open the lid once for about 5 seconds to release excess steam, then close again — this prevents a watery finish.
- Rest and serve. Remove and rest for 2 minutes so the rendered fat settles back. Transfer to a serving plate or bamboo steamer basket and scatter the chopped scallions. Serve with plain rice, which balances the salt.
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Technique: the fifteen-minute vent
Cured meats release both fat and water as they steam, and without a vent the water pools on the plate and dilutes the black-bean flavour. One short opening is enough: longer, and the steamer loses too much heat and the timing slips. If your steamer lid is loose, the dish vents itself and you can skip the opening, but check at fifteen minutes that no water is pooling.
Variations
- Pork only: use 250 g cured pork if cured fish is unavailable; keep the beans, oil and timing the same (adaptation).
- Extra cured flavour: add a few slices of cured sausage to the fan (adaptation).
Frequently asked questions
Where do I buy cured pork and fish?
From a Chinese grocery, usually vacuum-packed in the cured-meats section; Hunan-style smoked versions are ideal but any Chinese cured pork works.
Why is my dish watery?
The mid-steam vent was skipped, or the slices overlapped and trapped steam. Fan them without overlap and vent at 15 minutes.
Is it very salty?
It is a cured-meat dish, so yes by design — serve with plain rice and unsalted vegetables to balance it.
Storage and freezing
Best eaten fresh. Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated; re-steam until steaming hot throughout. Cured meats freeze well before cooking for up to 2 months, but the finished steamed dish is not recommended for freezing.
Steamed Hunan Cured Meats — Recipe Card
Steamed cured pork and cured fish with black beans and tea oil.
Prep: 20 minutesCook: 30 minutesTotal: 50 minutesServings: 2–3
Ingredients: 150 g cured pork belly; 100 g cured grass carp; 20 g Liuyang black beans; 10 ml tea oil; 3 g dried chilli flakes; 5 g ginger; 3 g scallions.
Steps: 1) Soak 15 minutes, slice pork 0.5 cm, fish 3 cm. 2) Fan on plate with beans and oil. 3) Steam 100 °C 30 minutes, vent once at 15 minutes. 4) Rest 2 minutes, garnish, serve.
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Source note: ingredients, quantities and steps are adapted from the original ClouChef R&D report for 腊味合蒸 (data/reports/13.md). The report's pricing, margin and marketing sections are deliberately omitted here; no B2B cost is presented as a home-cook cost. The cured-fish fallback, the oil substitute and the steamer alternative are adaptations and are labelled as such. Original poster image: clouchef.com (腊味合蒸_13.jpeg).