Dongpo Pork,a Dish with a Great Name in History
3 min read
Su Shi(1037-1101),the prominent literateur in North Song Dynasty,is the first person that comes into our mind when Dongpo pork is referred to.Su Dongpo,another name of Su Shi,had been the local official in Hangzhou twice and was respected and admired by the local because he always put people’s needs on the top list and got things done. Specialized in literature,Su Dongpo was also a gourmet,devoting particular care to the delicacies.It was said that the spread of Dongpo pork was closely related to the building of Su Causeway.
Holding different political views with the Prime Minister Wang Anshi,Su Dongpo requested that he be transferred to be a local official.Later,he was impeached into prison due to Wutai Poem Case.When he was discharged from prison,he was relegated to Huangzhou(today’s Huanggang,Hubei Province).It was hard for Su Dongpo to accept his status and situation at first.He led a miserable life and few would like to pay a visit to him,except some of his best friends.Fortunately,the pork in Huangzhou is relatively cheap and Su Dongpo cooked pork by himself and shared with his friends.He even composed a poem to introduce his experience of cooking pork.”Fine pork in Huangzhou is rather cheap.The rich won’t touch it while the poor keeps cooking it.Less water,slow fire,it smells good when cooked to a certain point. From this we can see,Su Dongpo not only possessed a profound literary knowledge. but also showed wisdom from his life experiences and dealing with tough time.
Su Dongpo was appointed as the local official again to Hangzhou in 1090.He launched a water-conservancy project to build dam and causeway for the benehts of the people.To show their gratitude,the civilian gave Pork and Shaoxing rice wine to him as presents.Su Dongpo asked his folk to cook the pork and bring the wine together to the construction site and distribute to the workers.Much to their surprise,his folk mistook it for cooking the pork in the rice wine!However,it was even more deiicious than ever.The pork cooked in wine was tastier with a peculiar flavor.This story was handed down as a popular topic among people.Su Dongpo’s praises were being sung everywhere and people even imitated his way of cooking pork in rice wine.Thereafter,Dongpo Pork became a household name in classic cuisine,famous all over the world.
With the change of the modern diet and people’s need of preserving life, many local restaurants in Hangzhou have made innovations on this dish to lead a healthier and fashionable diet-cooking the Dongpo Pork with vegetables.Due to the pervasive spread of Buddhism and Buddhist temples in Hangzhou,many local people have faith in Buddhism.Further more,many tourists visit Hangzhou because they are attracted by its Buddhist culture.May be these are the reasons why so many local restaurants begin to make vegetable Dongpo Pork.The major ingredients are wax gourd and bean products.It is fresh,tender and nutritious,overcoming the Shortcoming of high fat in the original Dongpu Pork,more aligned with the idea of a healthy diet.
