Instructions: Bring liquids to a boil. Add pork, garlic, and soy. Reduce heat and simmer 30 min, skimming crud off occasionally. Slice the scallions into 1" pieces and dump them in. Add the bean curd and mash it around until its incorporated in the sauce. Add sherry (if you use more bean curd, use less sherry; if you use less bean curd, use more sherry). Continue to simmer until pork is tender, 15 to 30 min more.

You may put a slice or two of ginger in with the garlic, but my mother never did that.

This dish should have visible fat. The sauce should be thin and have a slightly curdled look to it. To pay lip service to western sensibilities, you might consider serving it surrounded with a stir-fried green vegetable (my mother used spinach). Warning: do not even think of making this dish with totally lean meat! It just wont work - the meat will be stringy and tasteless. Butt or fresh bacon is the traditional way, but the fattier and gristlier ends of loin, after all the stir-fryable parts have been cut away, will do.

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