Guts in the gloaming or 5am intestines 五更肠旺

Wu geng chang wang (“Wu geng” is apparently an indication of time, 5am, in old Chinese and “chang wang” simply means intestines); the dish is usually made up of preserved mustard leaves, tofu, pork intestine slices, and congealed pork blood cubes and in this receipe is named after Hunan¹ province in China but which also has a Wiki page that — slighty contradictorily, which I’m guessing is a result of the constant geo-polotical push & pull between the two areas — claims:

…it was actually a Sichuan style dish created in Taiwan, likely when a chef wanted to impress former president Chiang Ching-kuo by simmering pig intestines and duck blood, cooking it until five “gēng” (3:00 A.M. to 5:00 A.M), so the dish became known as “five gēng intestines and blood”. Famed painter Chang Dai-chien disliked the name and renamed it “wǔ gēng cháng wàng”.

Then there’s this slightly lighter version — via the eponymous Pimlico Road restaurant — from the “Hunan: A Lifetime of Secrets from Mr Peng’s Chinese Kitchen” cookbook, written as a tribute by son Michael to his father. So, no tofu in this one. But bloody hell, doesn’t it still look gorgeous?

Here’s the recipe, which makes 4 (of their) portions

8 × 5 cm length pig’s intestines
120g set pig’s blood, cubed
3 spring onions, finely chopped
3 cm ginger, shredded
2 tsp shallot oil

For the sauce:

4 tbsp Sichuan chilli sauce
2 tsp tian mian jiang
1 tsp minced garlic
8 tbsp chicken stock
2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
4 tsp Shaoxing wine
1 tsp sugar
1½ tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp crushed Sichuan peppercorns
12 sweet basil leaves

Instructions:

Prepare the intestines by washing them inside out. Poach in boiling water until the colour changes before removing and allowing to cool. Gently pan-fry the pig’s blood until it gets a coating on the outside, being careful not to break it. Mix all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning. Heat the sauce gently in a wok. As the sauce begins to bubble, add the pig’s blood, intestines, ginger and spring onions. Cook for about 3 minutes. When the blood and intestines are heated through, add the shallot oil, stir through and serve.

FOOTNOTE:

¹ There’s an explanation for this, from the book:

“Customers often ask me why the restaurant is called Hunan. They say, ‘Your father’s cooking is not Hunanese?’ That’s true. It’s another quirk in his personality. When the restaurant first opened he served dishes mainly from the Hunan province, such as double-cooked pork, and some of these original dishes are still being offered to customers today. But over the years my father has adapted and incorporated the other styles of cooking he had learnt before he opened Hunan. His cooking style is a mixture of Hunanese, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Sichuan and Northern Chinese (dong bei). The restaurant was named in honour of his first mentor who taught him Hunanese cooking and he will never change the name.”