Boshan Roast Meat

Boshan Roast Meat

　　Roast meat is a traditional delicacy in the Zibo area. The "Qi Min Yao Shu" (Essential Techniques for the Welfare of the People), written by Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty, documented a method called "grilling stewing," which involves first thoroughly cleaning a suckling pig — “wiping, washing, scraping, and trimming until it is perfectly clean. Make a small incision in the belly, remove the internal organs, and wash again.” Then, the pig is “slowly roasted over a low flame from a distance” until it reaches a color “like amber, or even genuine gold,” and when eaten, it “melts in the mouth, as if dissolving like snow,” with an exceptionally delicious taste.

In modern times, Boshan roast meat developed a unique style based on the "grilling stewing" method. Around 1905, Qian Zhenyuan, the owner of the "Yuan Xing Zhai" roast meat shop in Boshan, accidentally discovered that after deep-frying a pork knuckle, the burst skin made the meat even more flavorful. He then switched from large roasting to smaller portions and changed from ordinary firewood to fruitwood splits for roasting. This produced meat with crispy skin, tender flesh, a fragrant aroma, and a non-greasy taste, making it extremely popular. As a result, Boshan roast meat gained fame throughout the mountain city. Later, several other roast meat shops were established in Boshan, including "Shun Xiang Zhai," "Yuan Xin Zhai," "Zhen Xing Zhai," and "Sheng Hua Zhai," run by families such as the Zong, Duan, and Zhou families, leading to a boom in the roast meat business.

In 1954, the Zibo Food Company was established, and Boshan roast meat was included as one of its product offerings, becoming part of regular production. To maintain the reputation of the roast meat, the company established strict processing procedures. Essentially, a live pig (weighing around 60 kilograms) is scalded to remove bristles, split into two halves, and left to dry in a cool, ventilated place. The bones are then removed, along with the four legs and the belly bottom, and the leaf fat is stripped away. The meat is then cut into pieces approximately 15–30 centimeters long and about 5 centimeters wide, seasoned with salt and prickly ash peel, and soaked in water for 40 minutes. After being taken out and air-dried for 4–5 hours, it is placed in the roasting oven. Smokeless applewood, persimmon wood, jujube wood, Chinese toon wood, and prickly ash wood are used as fuel. Woods with strong odors, such as cypress and pine, are prohibited. The roasting process takes about 3.5–4 hours in the oven.

Boshan roast meat can be served as part of a cold or hot platter, or used in stews. If hot roast meat is sprinkled with white sugar, wrapped in fresh lotus leaves before eating, or combined with mung bean starch sheets and eggs to make a soup dish, it offers an even more distinctive flavor.

In 1982 and 1984, Boshan roast meat won the Ministry of Commerce's Quality Famous and Special Products Award twice.