Chinatown Eats: Pan-fried Pork Patty

Pork patty on rice at The Boss Bakery and Restaurant

Yesterday we went to Vancouver's Chinatown for lunch, and our go-to is The Boss Bakery and Restaurant on Main Street. The cha chaan teng offers lunch specials, featuring a rotating menu with 12 dishes with portion sizes that are impossible to finish in one sitting.

Sometimes the menu has pan-fried pork patty with rice and this signature dish is delicious.

However, one needs to be patient, as it takes a long time to cook.

Typically these pork patties are steamed, but here it's carefully pan-fried, and because it's very thick, it takes a while to cook through.

A good pork patty doesn't use ground meat -- it should be pork butt or shoulder with some fat, otherwise the texture will be too tough. Then the pork needs to be sliced thinly into strips, and then the strips carefully diced into small pieces. This is what gives the pork patty a meaty texture.

The diced pork is mixed with cornstarch, oyster sauce, some chicken boullion and white pepper for flavour and then formed into a patty.

For steamed pork patties, some are also seasoned with finely diced water chestnuts or preserved mustard greens before the mixture is placed in a shallow dish and then steamed for about 15 minutes.

In the case of The Boss, the thick pork patty is steamed and then fried to add a bit of char, and then served on a large mound of white rice, garnished with thin ginger slivers and scallions, and one broccoli floret. A small dish of sweet soy sauce is included for extra flavour.

The result? Tender, and very meaty patty that goes well with rice. Bring a food container to carry leftovers home!