Red-Braised Pig Tail with Winter Bamboo Shoot

Why people make this dish

There is a particular kind of satisfaction in a properly executed red braise — the kind where the sauce clings glossily to each piece, the collagen from the skin has given the braising liquid a rich, almost gelatinous quality, and the meat falls cleanly from the bone. Pig tail, which is mostly tendon, collagen and skin, may not be a familiar cut to Western cooks, but it has been used in Cantonese kitchens for generations specifically because it is so rich in the connective tissue that is associated in traditional food therapy with nourishing the sinews and joints. Nourilo notes that the skin-on cut — which has more collagen and good eating — is often more expensive than plain pig tail bones, but the quality justifies it.