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Pork from a poet and tastes to take you back in time
By Tan Weiyun |
March 18, 2009, Wednesday
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THE cuisine of Hangzhou is not just one of the eight Chinese culinary schools, but has a rich and flavorsome history involving poets, emperors and statesmen. Tan Weiyun samples a few dishes.
As one of the eight Chinese culinary schools, Hangzhou cuisine has earned a reputation for its careful selection of fine ingredients, elaborate preparation methods, exquisite presentations, refreshing tastes, mellow fragrances and the many skilled styles of cooking, such as sauteing, stewing, simmering and stirring and deep-frying.
One of the most famous, must-taste Hangzhou dishes is Dongpo's Pork (Dongpo Rou), which is made by pan-frying and then cooking a pork belly with heavy soybean sauce.
The pork is half fat and half lean meat. The texture is oily but not as greasy as it looks, with the fragrance of the wine after hours of simmering on the stove helping offset the fat.
After being braised, sauteed, steamed and simmered twice, the meat is so tender you can pry it away easily with chopsticks.
Legend has it that when Su Shi (known as Su Dongpo 1037-1101), a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist and statesman of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), was banished to Hangzhou as the city's mayor, he managed to reinforce the dam along the West Lake, preventing it from bursting its banks. He also got the people of Hangzhou to build the six bridges on the lake.
To show their gratitude, people cooked pork and presented the dishes to Su. Su wanted to share these with his citizens, so he ordered his chef to cut the pork into smaller cubes and distributed them among the people. Thus the pork dish became "Dongpo's Pork."
Actually, the poet and mayor loved eating pork very much. He had his own theories about cooking meat.
He first braised the pork, added Chinese fermented wine, sugar and soybean sauce, and made red-braised pork, then slowly stewed it on a low heat with a small amount of water, ginger and green onions.
This dish was first developed and flourished in Hangzhou, becoming one of Hangzhou's most famous dishes, and the city's gastronomic symbol.
Another famous Hangzhou dish is West Lake Vinegar Fish (Xihu Cuyu). It is said that the Lou Wai Lou, a restaurant near the West Lake, with a history going back more than 150 years, has the most authentic recipe.
The recipe needs grass carp caught wild from the lake and this should be starved for one or two days to clean the intestines, dispel dirt and make the meat firmer before it is cooked.
Forget spring onions, garlic, chilli sauce, pepper, sesame oil, peanut oil, MSG or other unnecessary frills. The most authentic vinegar fish, which concentrates the real flavor of the fish, is quite easy to cook with water, sugar, vinegar, rice wine and soybean sauce.
Just two doors away from the restaurant's present site is the former residence of Yu Yue (1821-1907), a famous literateur and educator, who ordered the fish everyday to treat his guests. Other famous fans of the vinegar fish included Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek.
It seems that every famous Chinese dish has a story behind it. The vinegar fish was said to be invented by a Hangzhou woman living by the West Lake. Her husband was killed by a local villain who wanted to grab the wife. The husband's younger brother saved the woman and she persuaded her rescuer to flee to escape the villain's retribution. The day he left, the woman prepared the fish, hoping that this would help him always remember his hometown.
Auntie Song's Fish Soup (Songsao Yugeng), or shredded perch soup with ham and ginger, another Hangzhou signature dish dating back more than 800 years, is famous for its tender meat and crab-like flavor.
Song Wusao was a refugee from Henan Province. She fled from the north to the south, settling beside the West Lake and earning her living cooking. Song's cuisine was thus a combination of the tastes of the north and the south.
One day the Emperor Zhao Gou (1107-1187) traveled to the West Lake and heard that a local woman, Auntie Song, was good at cooking fish soup. He invited her onto his boat and she made the soup for him. The dish was so delicious, and it made the emperor nostalgic for his hometown. He rewarded her with large amounts of money, gold and other treasures.
This slightly thickened fish soup is cooked with small pieces of white fish, sliced bamboo shoots, mushrooms and ham, and usually spiced up at the table with a touch of red vinegar.
The fish soup has been on Hangzhou dining tables for hundreds of years and has become a dish that each visitor to Hangzhou should taste.
Lou Wai Lou
Boasting a history of about 150 years, Lou Wai Lou Restaurant, meaning "the building after the building" in Chinese, is one of the oldest and most famous restaurants in Hangzhou, and offers not only authentic Hangzhou food but also a great view over the West Lake.
Address: 30 Gushan Road
Tel: (0571) 8796-9682, (0571) 8796-9023
Zhi Wei Guan
This time-honored restaurant features various local snacks and dishes. Dong Po's Pork and West Lake Vinegar Fish are two of its specialties.
Address: 83 Renhe Road.
Tel: (0571) 8706-5871, (0571) 8701-0499
Address: 10-12 Yanggong Causeway
Tel: (0571) 8797-0568, (0571) 8797-1913
As one of the eight Chinese culinary schools, Hangzhou cuisine has earned a reputation for its careful selection of fine ingredients, elaborate preparation methods, exquisite presentations, refreshing tastes, mellow fragrances and the many skilled styles of cooking, such as sauteing, stewing, simmering and stirring and deep-frying.
One of the most famous, must-taste Hangzhou dishes is Dongpo's Pork (Dongpo Rou), which is made by pan-frying and then cooking a pork belly with heavy soybean sauce.
The pork is half fat and half lean meat. The texture is oily but not as greasy as it looks, with the fragrance of the wine after hours of simmering on the stove helping offset the fat.
After being braised, sauteed, steamed and simmered twice, the meat is so tender you can pry it away easily with chopsticks.
Legend has it that when Su Shi (known as Su Dongpo 1037-1101), a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist and statesman of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), was banished to Hangzhou as the city's mayor, he managed to reinforce the dam along the West Lake, preventing it from bursting its banks. He also got the people of Hangzhou to build the six bridges on the lake.
To show their gratitude, people cooked pork and presented the dishes to Su. Su wanted to share these with his citizens, so he ordered his chef to cut the pork into smaller cubes and distributed them among the people. Thus the pork dish became "Dongpo's Pork."
Actually, the poet and mayor loved eating pork very much. He had his own theories about cooking meat.
He first braised the pork, added Chinese fermented wine, sugar and soybean sauce, and made red-braised pork, then slowly stewed it on a low heat with a small amount of water, ginger and green onions.
This dish was first developed and flourished in Hangzhou, becoming one of Hangzhou's most famous dishes, and the city's gastronomic symbol.
Another famous Hangzhou dish is West Lake Vinegar Fish (Xihu Cuyu). It is said that the Lou Wai Lou, a restaurant near the West Lake, with a history going back more than 150 years, has the most authentic recipe.
The recipe needs grass carp caught wild from the lake and this should be starved for one or two days to clean the intestines, dispel dirt and make the meat firmer before it is cooked.
Forget spring onions, garlic, chilli sauce, pepper, sesame oil, peanut oil, MSG or other unnecessary frills. The most authentic vinegar fish, which concentrates the real flavor of the fish, is quite easy to cook with water, sugar, vinegar, rice wine and soybean sauce.
Just two doors away from the restaurant's present site is the former residence of Yu Yue (1821-1907), a famous literateur and educator, who ordered the fish everyday to treat his guests. Other famous fans of the vinegar fish included Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek.
It seems that every famous Chinese dish has a story behind it. The vinegar fish was said to be invented by a Hangzhou woman living by the West Lake. Her husband was killed by a local villain who wanted to grab the wife. The husband's younger brother saved the woman and she persuaded her rescuer to flee to escape the villain's retribution. The day he left, the woman prepared the fish, hoping that this would help him always remember his hometown.
Auntie Song's Fish Soup (Songsao Yugeng), or shredded perch soup with ham and ginger, another Hangzhou signature dish dating back more than 800 years, is famous for its tender meat and crab-like flavor.
Song Wusao was a refugee from Henan Province. She fled from the north to the south, settling beside the West Lake and earning her living cooking. Song's cuisine was thus a combination of the tastes of the north and the south.
One day the Emperor Zhao Gou (1107-1187) traveled to the West Lake and heard that a local woman, Auntie Song, was good at cooking fish soup. He invited her onto his boat and she made the soup for him. The dish was so delicious, and it made the emperor nostalgic for his hometown. He rewarded her with large amounts of money, gold and other treasures.
This slightly thickened fish soup is cooked with small pieces of white fish, sliced bamboo shoots, mushrooms and ham, and usually spiced up at the table with a touch of red vinegar.
The fish soup has been on Hangzhou dining tables for hundreds of years and has become a dish that each visitor to Hangzhou should taste.
Lou Wai Lou
Boasting a history of about 150 years, Lou Wai Lou Restaurant, meaning "the building after the building" in Chinese, is one of the oldest and most famous restaurants in Hangzhou, and offers not only authentic Hangzhou food but also a great view over the West Lake.
Address: 30 Gushan Road
Tel: (0571) 8796-9682, (0571) 8796-9023
Zhi Wei Guan
This time-honored restaurant features various local snacks and dishes. Dong Po's Pork and West Lake Vinegar Fish are two of its specialties.
Address: 83 Renhe Road.
Tel: (0571) 8706-5871, (0571) 8701-0499
Address: 10-12 Yanggong Causeway
Tel: (0571) 8797-0568, (0571) 8797-1913
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