Hong Shao Rou (Red Braised                      Pork, 红烧肉)

(Title Credit Omnivore's Cookbook)

Cooking Breakdown

The dish I chose to cook this week is Hong Shao Rou (literally Red Braised Pork)

It was a super tasty dish that was a little challenging to make. However, it was worth the patience!

Pro tip: If you decide to make this, when melting the sugar, don't step away from the pot! The sugar burns fast!

Note: I substituted white cooking wine for the Chinese cooking wine, and Kikkoman soy sauce for the light and dark soy sauce.

Taste scale 10/10😋

My chosen occupation is meal prep. I have chosen to pursue meal preparation because I feel it is a necessary

part of being a successful adult and student. My parents are good cooks, and most of my friends in undergrad

engaged in meal prepping. The friends and students that cooked appeared to have more disciplined and

balanced lives, and overall seemed like better students. I realize that cooking doesn't equate to being a

successful student, but that was my initial perception accurate or not. My occupational biography has mostly

consisted of me being a student. I never played sports or had very many permanent hobbies. I always jumped

between things I was interested in. Throughout school, I always felt like a good student but not the best that I

could be. My lack of cooking skills always felt like a hindrance to becoming the fully functional and

independent student I wanted to be.

My current viewpoint is if I am not efficient in cooking, then I have to eat out and that can quickly become

financially draining. Also, if I don't cook I don't have a very realistic way in which to eat healthily. When I

eat less processed food I have noticed that I feel more energized and study better. Because of previous

perceptions of those I have close relationships with I am engaging in selfing, through cooking, to create the

student identity that I want (e.g. well balanced, efficient, independent, etc.). In this case, I can see that cooking

is tied to feelings of self esteem, and becoming a better cook gives more meaning to my occupational identity

as a student.

References

Ruth Kjærsti Raanaas, Anne Lund, Unni Sveen & Mona Asbjørnslett (2019) Re-creating self-identity and meaning through occupations during expected and unexpected transitions in life, Journal of Occupational Science, 26:2, 211-218, DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2019.1592011

https://omnivorescookbook.com/hong-shao-rou/