-For the pork belly, try to get pork belly that’s leaner that what you’d get for braising. Ideally you’ll have thick layers of very marbled meat with thin strips of fat in between. You could also use pork shoulder, but I prefer pork belly for the extra fat content. Whatever you do, please don’t make this a pork loin (you’ll end up with pork jerky).

-Shaoxing is a dark brown cooking wine you can pick up in most asian groceries, but if you can’t find it, sherry makes a pretty good substitute.
I’ll admit that Thai chili sauce isn’t exactly authentic, but I like the mild sweet garlicky heat it provides.

-Chinese dark soy sauce is actually a key component (I used Pearl River Bridge brand). It is much darker than the more common Japanese dark soy sauce and is more viscous. I’m fairly certain that this is were the red color comes from, so it’s probably not a good idea to substitute in something else if you can find it.

-Maltose is a malt sugar that’s made from barley. It is extremely viscous and sticky with a smooth texture like very cold honey. It’s not as sweet as honey, but because of its viscosity it helps make the marinade stick to the pork and imparts a malty flavour. You can usually find it in asian groceries, and I love just sticking a clean chopstick into the jar, twirling it around until I have a little lollipop of maltose and sucking on it.