Shanghai-style Pork Hock (冰糖元蹄 or 走油蹄膀)

Here is another authentic Shanghai-style pork dish, one of my favorites.  Don't get thwarted by the efforts.  The result makes the efforts quite worthwhile.

1. Get a small-size boneless pork hock (with skin, ~2 lbs; or use one piece of the boneless, skinless Pork Shoulder in large pack available from Costco).  Clean thoroughly.  Singe out any remaining hair on the skin using a stove lighter or a small blow torch (hold the meat side firmly with one hand, while singing out the hair on skin using the other hand!).
2. Blanch the meat for 2-3 minutes.
3. (Low Heat) Heat 1 Tbsp vegi-oil in a large-size (10-12" in diameter) flat bottom cooking pan, and place 2 Tbsp of rock sugar in (or 2 Tbsp of brown sugar, or 1Tbsp of Rock Sugar plus 1 Tbsp of brown sugar).  Note- Rock sugar is cane sugar in rock form.  Might be useful to pick the kind of package with smaller pebble-sized rocks, so you don't have to hammer the larger pieces into smaller, more manageable, pebbles. 
4. (Low Heat) Place the meat skin-side-down into the pan after the rock sugar dissolves partially (or brown sugar dissolves completely).  Move the meat around regularly to let the skin aquire color from the sugar, till the skin is in golden brown color (5-6 minutes).
5. Add enough water to immerse the meat above halfway point, add 2-3 stalks of green onion (chopped into 2" segments), 4-6 thin slices of ginger, 2 Tbsp Rice Wine, 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce, 1 tsp salt, and 2-3 star anise (optional).
6. Bring to boil and then let simmer (with lid on) for 1 hour with skin-side down, and for another half hour with meat-side down (use a spatula in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other hand to flip the meat). Monitor the water level after an hour, and add water to keep the meat half-way immersed.  Shift the meat piece slightly in the pan every 30 minutes to make sure it is not stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Now, flip the meat again to skin side down again.  Note- Meat is considered ready when you can easily and smoothly poke a single chopstick through the piece.
7. After 1.5 hours, do one of the following two things: (1) take off the lid and turn on high heat, to reduce the sauce to thicker form, for 10-15 minutes; or (2) turn off heat, without reducing the fluid to thicker form (but ladle more sauce on top when serving). 
8. Garnish with blanched leafy vegetable (of your choice, e.g., spinach), ladle some of the sauce left in the cooking pot on top of the meat skin, and serve.  Alternatively, chill the meat in fridge overnight, then serve in thin slices with soy paste (醤油膏) sprinkled on top, or on the side as dipping sauce. Here is the outcome from our kitchen.