HowToCook

Tiger-Skin Pork Knuckle

Tiger-Skin Pork Knuckle is a traditional famous dish, using pork knuckle as the main ingredient. It goes through three steps—braising, frying, then stewing—to make the skin take on a tiger-skin pattern. The skin is soft and flavorful, fatty but not greasy, and the lean meat is tender and tasty. This dish is the go-to choice to make the elders happily gorge during festivals, truly a lifesaver.

Difficulty ★★★★★Updated 1/25/2026

Ingredients and Tools

  • Front pork knuckle
  • Edible vegetable oil
  • Rock sugar
  • Salt
  • Dark soy sauce
  • Light soy sauce
  • White vinegar
  • Bay leaves
  • Cinnamon bark
  • Cardamom
  • Sichuan peppercorns
  • Star anise
  • Starch
  • Scallion
  • Ginger
  • Garlic
  • Water
  • Cooking wine

Measurements

  • 1 tablespoon = 15ml
  • 1 teaspoon = 5ml |Ingredient|Quantity|Unit| |:---:|:---:|:---:| |Front pork knuckle|1|piece| |Edible vegetable oil|1|bucket| |Rock sugar|5|bucket| |Salt|1-2|teaspoon| |Dark soy sauce|1|teaspoon| |Light soy sauce|1|tablespoon| |White vinegar|1|tablespoon| |Bay leaves|3|slices| |Cinnamon bark|2-3|gram| |Cardamom|3|piece| |Sichuan peppercorns|8-12|piece| |Star anise|2-4|piece| |Starch|1|tablespoon| |Scallion|2|stalk| |Ginger|6|gram| |Garlic|6|clove| |Cooking wine|2|tablespoon|

Steps

  • After thawing, soak the pork knuckle in water for 1 hour to remove blood.
  • If you have a blowtorch, use it to torch the surface of the pork knuckle skin until brown-black to remove hairs and damage sweat glands. Be careful not to torch the same spot too long to avoid burning. Stop when the skin is almost entirely brown-black.
  • If you do not have a blowtorch, heat an iron wok to above 200, place the pork knuckle directly in the wok, and use a spatula or chopsticks to make the skin fully contact the wok surface. When the contact area turns brown, move to another spot and continue scorching the skin until the whole knuckle has been scorched. Be careful during this process and do not overheat the wok until red-hot.
  • Use a scouring pad to scrub the pork knuckle in water to remove the charred surface. After scrubbing, the pork knuckle should look like it did before torching.
  • Place the pork knuckle in an iron wok, add as much cold water as possible depending on wok depth and knuckle size; while ensuring you can lift the wok and contents, best if it can submerge more than 3/4 of the knuckle. Deodorize.
  • Take the white part of 1 scallion, cut into 3 sections, and add to the pot.
  • Take 3 cloves of garlic, smash each with the side of a knife, and add to the pot.
  • Take 3 grams of ginger and add to the pot.
  • Add 2 tablespoons cooking wine to the pot.
  • After the water boils, wait five minutes, then remove the pork knuckle, pick out all the aromatics from the pot, and transfer to another container to reserve all the broth. Deep-frying.
  • Add cold oil to the wok, using the previous water amount as reference; best if it can submerge more than 3/5 of the knuckle, then heat over medium heat.
  • When the oil reaches 50% heat, switch to low heat and add the pork knuckle to fry.
  • During frying, the cook should pay attention to personal safety.
  • During frying, use a spatula or other heat-resistant utensil to ladle oil evenly over parts of the pork knuckle not submerged; if possible, turn the knuckle every 3 minutes to fry evenly.
  • Frying takes about 20 minutes. When you see the skin has turned light brown throughout and the lean meat is slightly charred, remove and set aside.
  • The used oil can be used for other fried foods, but do not reuse too many times. Caramel color.
  • Prepare 200ml caramel color. Stewing.
  • Put the pork knuckle into a pressure cooker, add all the broth, caramel color, bay leaves, cinnamon bark, cardamom, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, and white vinegar. If you like it sweeter, you can add an extra 2-3 grams of rock sugar.
  • Take the white part of 1 scallion, cut into 3 sections, and add to the pot.
  • Take 3 cloves of garlic, smash each with the side of a knife, and add to the pot.
  • Take 3 grams of ginger and add to the pot.
  • Cover the lid and pressure-cook for 40 minutes. Reduce sauce.
  • During stewing, make a starch slurry. Take 1 bowl, add 1 tablespoon starch and 100ml water, and stir to form a white suspension.
  • When the stewing time ends, open the pressure cooker lid, remove all aromatics from the pot, and keep only the pork knuckle.
  • Transfer the remaining broth from the pressure cooker to an iron wok, and transfer the pork knuckle to a plate or bowl.
  • Place the wok on the stove and turn to high heat. During reducing, you can dip a chopstick tip into the broth to check saltiness and add salt to taste. Note that the broth tastes lighter when there is more liquid than when there is less, so consider this when adding salt.
  • When the broth boils, watch the remaining broth volume.
  • When the remaining broth is less than 1/2 of the original volume, stir the prepared starch slurry again and add half of it.
  • Wait for the broth to boil, then add the remaining half.
  • Wait for the broth to boil; after boiling, wait 1-2 minutes and turn off the heat. The broth should be red-brown and thick.
  • Use a spoon to ladle the broth evenly over the pork knuckle, trying to coat every part. If the broth runs out before the knuckle is fully coated, you can serve directly; otherwise, any remaining broth does not need to be ladled, and you can serve directly.

Notes

  • Reference: Bilibili Lao Fan Gu video tutorial. If you follow this guide and find issues or improvements, please submit an Issue or Pull request.