Yifeng Pine Meat

Yifeng Pine Meat

　　A delicious local dish from Yichun: Yifeng Pine Meat

　　Legend has it that during the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong era, a wealthy landlord wanted to show his generosity. With the Lunar New Year approaching, he invited nine of his farmhands to a meal but didn’t want to spend too much — so he only gave the cook five catties of pork belly. The cook thought, “How can five catties be enough for nine people?” Just as she was worrying, she remembered there was a pack of leftover starch in the kitchen cupboard — and inspiration struck. Why not use the starch along with the pork belly to create a new dish?!

　　She got to work right away. When the dish was ready, she served it to the landlord for tasting. He found the flavor quite good, and because the meat was mainly golden yellow in color, he named it “Golden Meat.”

　　And so, a delicious dish that would be passed down through generations was born. After the liberation, the government believed Golden Meat was a creation of the working people’s wisdom, and that the name “Golden Meat” sounded too luxurious. Moreover, since the meat was tender, flavorful, and shaped like pine cones, it was renamed “Pine Meat.”

　　Ingredients for Yichun cuisine — Pine Meat: 500g of pork shoulder heart, 2 eggs, 75g of bracken starch or high-quality potato starch, 20g of shiitake mushrooms (when using shiitake, it’s called Mushroom Pine Meat; when using sea cucumber, it’s called Sea Cucumber Pine Meat), with salt, soy sauce, MSG, ginger, and scallions as seasonings.

　　Preparation method for Yifeng Pine Meat: Cut the meat into strips 9–12 cm wide, marinate with salt and soy sauce for about 15 minutes. Then mix with eggs and bracken (or potato) starch. Fry the strips one by one in oil heated to 70% temperature until golden brown, then remove from the pan. Cut into 2.5 cm cubes and set aside. Remove the stems from the shiitake mushrooms, wash them, and stir-fry briefly. Place them flat in a bowl, arrange the pine meat on top, press tightly without leaving gaps, add seasonings to taste, then steam in a steamer over high heat for two hours. Invert onto a plate and sprinkle with ginger and scallions to serve.