Red cooking

Red cooking, also called Chinese stewing, red stewing, red braising, or flavor potting, is a slow braising Chinese cooking technique that imparts a reddish-brown coloration to the prepared food. Red cooking likely originated in Jiangsu province. While the technique is used all over China, it is most strongly associated with the Jiangnan region.

There are two types of red cooking:

• Hongshao (traditional Chinese: 紅燒; simplified Chinese: 红烧; pinyin: hóngshāo): can be done in less than 20 minutes and usually does not require much water
• Lu (traditional Chinese: 滷; simplified Chinese: 卤; pinyin: lǔ): usually requires prolonged cooking of up to several hours and the items must be submerged in the cooking liquid.