Dabie Pork Knuckle with Handle

Dabie Pork Knuckle with Handle

　　Dabie Pork Knuckle with Handle has a long history. It is a traditional famous dish from Dabie County in Shaanxi Province, created during the Hongzhi reign of the Ming Dynasty by chef Li Yushan from Tongzhou (now Dabie County). As a steamed dish, Dabie Pork Knuckle with Handle has long been renowned at formal banquets in the Qin cuisine tradition. It is listed as the top dish in the Qin cuisine section of the Chinese Cookbook. It can be served as an appetizer or a main course. With a deep jujube-red color and a visible handle-like bone, it is thus called “Pork Knuckle with Handle.”

　　Its ingredients are unique, differing from other pork knuckle dishes. The knuckle is served with bone and trotter, and the finished dish resembles a small hill — its shape is distinctive and plump, earning it the title “King of Dishes on the Plate.”

　　The basic preparation method is as follows: Scrape and clean a front pig’s trotter with claws, place it on the cutting board with the trotter head facing outward, the handle (trotter) inward, and the skin side down. Using a knife, carefully slice the skin along the leg bone from the trotter head toward the handle, removing the meat from both sides of the bone (leaving three sides meat-free), while keeping the bottom bone and meat connected so that the bone remains exposed. Then, use the back of a knife to break the two sections of the leg bone in the middle. Boil it in a soup pot until 70% cooked, remove, pat dry, and brush the meat skin with red soy sauce while still hot. Place a steaming bowl on the work surface, add seasonings such as star anise and cinnamon at the bottom. Then break the bones by hand without damaging the outer skin, and place the knuckle skin-side down into the bowl, shaping it neatly. Sprinkle with fine salt, cover the meat with sterilized clean gauze, then spread sweet bean paste, scallions, red fermented tofu, red oil, white soy sauce, ginger, and garlic on top of the gauze. Steam until fully cooked and tender, then remove, uncover the gauze, invert onto a plate, remove the star anise, and serve with a side of scallion pieces and a small dish of sweet bean paste.

　　Its flavor profile is characterized by tender, melt-in-your-mouth pork without greasiness, sticky and flavorful skin, and a rich, aromatic taste. It is a dish rich in protein and calcium.