Hakka Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetables (Mei Cai Kou Rou / 梅菜扣肉)
Meizhou, Guangdong
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The working recipe — the Market List, the Method, and where it lives or dies
I
Origin
Meizhou, Guangdong Province — Huizhou area Hakka tradition
II
Description
Iconic Hakka dish of pork belly steamed for hours atop a bed of sweet-salty mei cai (Huizhou preserved mustard greens) until the fat is silky and trembling and the preserved vegetable has absorbed all the pork fat. The bowl is inverted at the table so the pork crowns the greens. Different from Mao's Red-Braised Pork — this is steamed, not braised.
III
The Thread
—Taiwanese three-cup chicken (strong aromatics, same technique area)
—Vietnamese thit kho tieu braised pork
—French confit duck with lentils
IV
Flavour Context
Sweet-savoury-funky from preserved vegetables absorbing rendered pork fat; intensely comforting and deeply umami
Pillars V — VII
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