Sweet and Sour Pork

Sweet and sour pork is battered pork fried until crisp, then tossed in a glossy sauce balanced between sugar and vinegar. It is the dish that shaped how the West first tasted Chinese food, and the Cantonese original it's built on — gu lo yuk — is older and sharper than the version most menus outside China serve.

What it really is

Pork is cut into bite-sized pieces, coated in a light batter and deep-fried until the outside turns crisp and golden. The frying happens separately from the sauce, which is cooked down on its own from vinegar, sugar and tomato, often with pineapple and bell pepper added for colour and a fruitier sweetness, before the just-fried pork is tossed through it at the last moment.

The pork is tossed in the sauce, not simmered in it. Cooking the pork inside the sauce would soften the crisp coating almost immediately; the sauce and the meat are only combined right before serving, so the crust survives the sauce rather than dissolving into it.

How it is served

• Tossed together on a plate, sauce coating every piece.
• With steamed rice on the side.
• As a main course, often ordered alongside a plainer dish to balance the sweetness.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the wheat in the batter and the soy if it's used in the sauce base.
• Say if pineapple is included, since some regional versions and some guests prefer it without.
• Note that the crisp coating softens quickly once sauced, so it's best eaten promptly.