Clear Soup Dongpo Pork

Clear Soup Dongpo Pork

　　Clear Soup Dongpo Pork is one of the famous dishes of the ancient city of Kaifeng. Legend has it that the great literary scholar Su Dongpo loved to eat fresh bamboo shoots, referring to them as the “Jade Plate Monk,” praising their cooked flavor as “a monk’s delight,” and even hailing fresh bamboo shoots as “the immortal among vegetables.” At a poetry, literature, and wine gathering, he composed a poem: “No bamboo (shoots) makes one fat, no meat makes one thin; neither fat nor thin; bamboo shoots with pork.” Hence, the method of cooking bamboo shoots with pork quickly gained popularity among literati and was passed on among poets and scholars, eventually being named “Dongpo Pork.” It gradually spread to the public and has remained enduringly popular.

　　The method for making Clear Soup Dongpo Pork is as follows: cook the pork until it is 80% done, slice off half of the outer skin (to remove the bristly smell), then cut it into rectangular pieces. Arrange these pieces alternately with sliced winter bamboo shoots and mushrooms in a steaming bowl. Add seasonings such as salted water, lard, and cooking wine. Steam until thoroughly tender, then invert the contents into a bowl, remove the floating oil, and add an appropriate amount of clear soup. The dish is characterized by its savory broth, tender meat, clean and refreshing taste, rich yet not greasy. (Kaifeng)