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Chinese Name: 东坡肉
English Name: Dongpo Pork; Dongpo Meat; Dongpo’s Braised Pork; Dongpo Rou
Category: Zhejiang Cuisine浙菜, Sichuan Cuisine川菜
Main Ingredients: Pork Belly
Dongpo Pork东坡肉 is a famous traditional dish of Han nationality in Jiangnan area. It belongs to Zhejiang cuisine浙菜 and Sichuan cuisine川菜.
Dongpo Pork supposedly created by Su Dongpo苏东坡 (Su Shi苏轼), a famous writer, poet, painter, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome, and statesman of the Song dynasty.
Su Dongpo once served as an official in Hangzhou and made a lot of contributions to the people. People admire him very much. It is said that he likes to eat pork. So when the Chinese New Year comes, everyone sends pork to him for new year’s greetings. He asks his family to cut the meat into squares, burn it red and tender, and then distribute it to the people. After eating, everyone feels very delicious. From then on, the meat is called “Dongpo Rou”.
The ingredients and shapes of Dongpo Meat are similar. The main ingredients are half fat and half thin pork, which is stewed with ingredients. The finished dishes are neat mahjong blocks, bright red and agate in color. It Taste soft but not rotten, fat but not greasy.
Dongpo Pork has been handed down, in addition to the influence of Su Dongpo, there are its own unique reasons. It has to be said that fat. Although the practice of stewing Dongpo meat over a low heat and slowly has tried to remove excess fat, in fact, the fat content in the meat is still very high. Coupled with the sweet taste, this fully corresponds to the taste instinct engraved in people’s genes – a preference for high fat and high sweetness.
How to make Dongpo Pork?
Su Dongpo recorded the basic practice of Dongpo meat in vernacular. The two most critical points are less water and slow stewing over low heat. For thousands of years to come, the technology and seasoning have changed, and these two points are adhered to together. This determines the basic taste of Dongpo meat, which is extremely soft and rotten.
Today, the general practice of Dongpo meat is to cut the pork belly into 3cm square, boil it in boiling water for five minutes, shape it and take it out. Use a large casserole with bamboo grates, green onions and ginger, pork skin facing down, and add sugar, soy sauce and Shaoxing wine. Finally, put the scallion knot, cover, seal the gap of the pot cover with peach blossom paper, boil over high heat, and simmer over low heat for 120 minutes. Then skim the oil, put the meat skin upward into a small pottery pot, cover it and steam in a steamer for 30 minutes.
Ingredients：
- 600g pork belly
- 6 jujube
- 300g chives
- 20g ginger
- 500ml Shaoxing wine绍兴黄酒
- 20g rock sugar
- 10g white sugar
- 100ml braised soy sauce
- 3g salt
Instruction:
- Step 1, Wash and cut the ginger into large pieces and wash the shallots.
- Step 2, Cut streaky pork into small pieces of uniform size about 4cm square. Tie each piece of meat with a string.
- Step 3, Blanch pork and drain.
- Step 4, Lay a bamboo grate on the bottom of the casserole and a layer of chives on the bamboo grate.
- Step 5, Put the boiled pork in a casserole with the skin down.
- Step 6, Put ginger slices evenly on the meat. Then spread a layer of chives. Add rock sugar and dates.
- Step 7, After adding salt, sugar, soy sauce and rice wine, the soup should be level with the meat.
- Step 8, Cover the lid, bring to a boil over medium heat, and simmer over low heat for 2 hours.
- Step 9, Open the casserole and remove the excess chives.
- Step 10, Then take out the meat gently, put it into a steaming bowl, and pour some stew soup.
- Step 11, Put into a steamer and steam for 1 hour.
- Step 12, Out of the pot, ready to eat.
