Ingredients
- 700 g pork shoulder, cut into bite-size pieces
- 60 ml Québec maple syrup
- 80 ml rice vinegar
- 60 ml ketchup
- 30 ml soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 cup pineapple chunks
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
Method
- Toss the pork with half the cornstarch and sear it in oil until browned; remove from the wok.
- Stir-fry the onion, pepper, and garlic for 3 minutes, then add the pineapple.
- Whisk the maple syrup, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, and remaining cornstarch.
- Return the pork, pour in the sauce, and simmer 4–5 minutes until glossy and cooked through.
- Serve immediately with steamed rice.
Conversion and rationale
Original sweetener (classic version): 75 g white sugar in the sweet-and-sour sauce
Conversion used: Replace 75 g sugar with 60 ml maple syrup and reduce the ketchup by 15 ml; no other liquid reduction is needed because the sauce is thickened with cornstarch.
Why Quebec maple syrup: Maple rounds the vinegar and pineapple without making the sauce one-dimensional. The familiar Cantonese sweet-sour balance remains intact with a local, less refined sweetener.
General rule: 1 cup (250 ml) sugar ≈ 3/4 cup (180 ml) maple syrup; reduce liquids by 45–60 ml per cup of syrup and lower oven by 15 °C. Substitution calculator →