Black Vinegar Pork

I've slowly been working my way through freezer items.  I found some pork loin and decided to make this recipe.  I love black vinegar (Chinkiang), plus I had all the ingredients in my home, which is always a bonus.  I doubled the recipe as I had 2 lbs of pork in the freezer.  I served this with roasted broccoli w/ Everything Bagel seasoning and coconut cilantro quinoa with lime zest.

• 2 lbs pork loin , cut into bite-size pieces
• 6 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (I used Taiwanese rice wine as it's what I had), divided
• 4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce, divided
• 2 tablespoons ginger juice, squeezed from grated 2" ginger nub
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 4 tablespoons black vinegar
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons unrefined coconut sugar

Put the pork into a bowl along with 3 tablespoons of wine, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and ginger juice.

I grated my ginger and then pressed it through a small strainer with a spoon.  It worked!

Stir to combine and allow it to marinate for 1 hour (at least), covered and in the fridge.  When the pork is done marinating, add 1/2" of oil (I used avocado) to a cast iron pan and preheat the oil to 340 degrees F (I used my candy thermometer to test).  Put the potato starch in a bowl.

Roll each piece of pork to give each piece an even coating of starch.  Transfer to rack.

Fry the pork, in batches if necessary (I did 3) until lightly browned and cooked through.

Transfer the fried pork to the paper towel lined plate.  (In hindsight, I wished I stopped right there below and just S&P'd the pork and squirted it with lemon.  I think that would have been amazing!)

In a sauté pan, add the remaining wine along with the black vinegar, rice vinegar, soy sauce and sugar. Turn the burner on to high heat and bring the mixture to a boil.

Add the pork, into the black vinegar sauce, and continue boiling until the sauce is very thick and syrupy and coats each piece of pork, rather than the pan.

Well...I thought it was okay.  A lot of work and I didn't think the payoff was great.  If I'm going to get oil out and deep fry, then I want it to be spectacular!  However, my son loved it, so that at least made me happy.  The potato starch did give a nice crisp to the pork though.  Maybe it would have been better if I used Shaoxing wine???