Where does Dongpo meat come from?

Tracing back to the source, "Dongpo Meat" was first created in Xuzhou. According to "Famous Cuisine of Xuzhou in Ancient and Modern Times", when Su Shi became well-known in Xuzhou, the Yellow River burst, and Su Shi took the lead in building dikes to protect the city with the people of the whole city.

Xuzhou people slaughtered pigs and sheep and went to the government to comfort them. Unable to refuse, Su Shi instructed his family to cook braised pork and return it to the people. After eating, people feel fat but not greasy, crispy and delicious, so they call it "Sichuan style pork". When Su Shi was relegated to Huangzhou, he wrote the Song of Cooking Meat, and people began to imitate it, calling it Dongpo Meat.

When Su Shi was appointed as the second magistrate of Hangzhou, he made great contributions to dredging the West Lake. When everyone gave him wine and meat to celebrate the New Year, Su Shi ordered pork and wine to cook for migrant workers. His family mistakenly thought that rice wine and pork were cooked together, but everyone felt crisper and better after eating. The reputation of "Dongpo Meat" slowly spread all over the country.

Dongpo meat, also known as boiled meat and braised pork, is a traditional dish in the south of the Yangtze River, belonging to Zhejiang cuisine, with pork as the main ingredient. The dishes are thin and tender, red and bright in color, rich in juice, crisp and rotten but not broken in shape, fragrant and waxy but not greasy. Slow fire, less water and more wine is the key to cooking this dish.

Dongpo meat is found in Zhejiang cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Hubei cuisine and other cuisines, and the practices vary from place to place, such as cooking before burning, steaming after cooking, and directly stewing juice. The main components and shapes are similar. The main ingredient is half fat and half thin pork, and the finished dish is neatly packed mahjong tiles with bright red agate color, soft but not rotten, fat but not greasy.