Pork knuckle with black rice vinegar and ginger (猪脚醋）

Pork knuckle in black vinegar is a traditional Cantonese confinement dish for newly delivered mothers to help them recover from the stress of pregnancy and labour. According to Cantonese custom, this dish is also used to celebrate the birth of a child. The new parents will distribute this dish to their relatives and friends to announce the arrival of the newborn twelve days after the baby's birth.

During the cooking process, calcium in the bones of the pork knuckle will be dissolved by the vinegar which is why eating this dish helps to replenish the loss of calcium in pregnancy. Ginger which is rich in Vitamin C helps to strengthen the mother's immune system and it also aids the removal of  “wind”, (known as "hong" in hokkien), that is generated during childbirth. Ginger also helps lactation. Adding eggs will provide the new mother with large amount of protein which is especially good for repairing muscles.  

Black rice vinegar is produced in China and Chinkiang vinegar is reported to be the best. It is made with glutinous or sweet rice, although millet or sorghum may be used instead. Dark in colour, it has a deep, almost smoky flavour. Many people prefer black vinegar made from glutinous rice and malt since it has a slightly sweet flavour to compliment the acidic taste of vinegar. Black rice vinegar works well in braised dishes and as a dipping sauce. Black vinegar lowers the ph. of food and leaches calcium from bones cooked with it, therefore it is used to prepare high calcium food especially for breast feeding mothers and it helps relieves a windy abdomen.

Ingredients

1 whole pork knuckle

Get your butcher to cut into big pieces

500 gm crushed old ginger  

Add more ginger if cooking for confinement

Palm or brown sugar

250 ml black vinegar and 1 liter water

Blanch the pork to remove the scum

Heat up the sesame oil and fry the ginger until fragrant

Put in the blanched pork and mix thoroughly

Pour in the vinegar

Add the brown sugar and stir

Add the water and bring to boil then cover and let it simmer until the meat is tender.

Alternatively, transfer the meat into a slow cooker 

You can also add some chilli to give it some extra oomph

If you have any soup leftover and do not feel like more pork then add fried chicken feet to the soup. Simmer for about 1 - 2 hours. It is delicious