P
Chinese · Xi'an
Rou Jia Mo (肉夹馍) — Shaanxi Braised Pork Flatbread: Chinese Hamburger
Rou jia mo (肉夹馍, literally meat sandwiched in bread — the grammar is reversed from English usage) is the Xi'an street food that has been called the Chinese hamburger — a crispy, slightly flaky flatbread (mo, 馍) split and stuffed with finely chopped braised pork (typically pork belly or pork cheek, called bao rou, 臊子) slow-cooked in a complex spiced master stock until it collapses and shreds. The contrast between the crackling, slightly charred flatbread and the moist, intensely spiced, gelatinous pork filling is one of the great Chinese street food experiences. Rou jia mo originates from the Shaanxi region and is associated with the Muslim Chinese (Hui) cooking tradition of Xi'an.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the braised pork (bao rou)
1 kg
pork belly
blanched, then braised whole
Your own market
2 tbsp
doubanjiang
fermented broad-bean paste
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
4
dried chillies
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
30 g
3
scallions
cut into sections
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2 tbsp
dark soy sauce
2 tbsp
light soy sauce
3 tbsp
Shaoxing wine
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
20 g
rock sugar
Origin · ChinaWismettac · Vancouver →
3
star anise
Your own market
1
cinnamon stick
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
4
cloves
Your own market
1
black cardamom pod
lightly cracked
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
dried mandarin peel
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the mo flatbread
300 g
plain flour
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
5 g
dried yeast
Your own market
180 ml
warm water
Your own market
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the pork belly and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain and discard the blanching water. The pork is ready when the water runs grey and foamy — this purge is complete.
2
In a clay pot over medium heat, fry the spice paste — doubanjiang, dried chillies, ginger, and scallion — briefly in a film of oil until the paste deepens in colour and the fat turns red and fragrant. The paste is ready when the raw, sharp edge of the doubanjiang yields to a rounded, oily aroma.
From the canon — Doubanjiang — the 'soul of Sichuan cuisine' — is a fermented paste of broad beans (fava beans) and chillies that is to Sichuan cooking what soy sauce is to J… Doubanjiang (Sichuan Fermented Bean Paste — Aged vs Fresh) →
3
Lay the blanched pork belly into the pot. Add the dark soy, light soy, Shaoxing wine, rock sugar, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, black cardamom, and dried mandarin peel. Pour in enough cold water to cover the pork entirely. Bring to a full boil, then reduce immediately to a very low simmer — the surface should barely tremble. Braise for 2½ to 3 hours. This is where the dish lives or dies: too fierce a heat renders the pork fibrous and dry; the correct low, patient simmer breaks down the collagen into gelatin and renders the fat until the belly yields without resistance to a chopstick pressed firmly into its side.
4
Lift the braised pork from the pot. Reserve the cooking liquid. On a board, chop the pork very finely — almost to a mince — incorporating pieces of skin for gelatin and some larger fragments for texture. Moisten the chopped mass with a small ladleful of the reserved cooking liquid. The correct consistency is cohesive and glistening, neither dry nor pooling with liquid.
5
Make the mo dough: dissolve the yeast in the warm water and allow to stand until slightly foamy. Combine with the flour and knead to a smooth, supple dough. Cover and allow to rise until just puffed — the dough need not double fully, as a tight crumb is characteristic of the mo.
6
Laminate the dough: roll it out into a thin sheet, fold it onto itself, and roll again. Repeat several times to build distinct layers. Divide into four equal pieces. Shape each piece into a tight round and press flat. Bake on a dry flat griddle over medium heat, turning once, until the exterior is crispy, crackled, and carries faint char marks on both faces, and the bread sounds hollow when tapped.
7
Split each hot mo through its equator, leaving one edge intact as a hinge. Pile the finely chopped braised pork generously into the pocket. The bread should remain crisp on the outside; the filling should be moist, deeply spiced, and gelatinous against the crackle of the crust.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Pork cheek (bao rou proper) from a heritage breed, slow-braised 3 full hours; mo baked in a traditional clay-lined griddle oven for maximum crackle and char.
02
Estate — Free-range pork belly with a good fat-to-lean ratio; a clay pot for the braise; mo finished on a cast-iron griddle with a lid to trap reflected heat.
03
Market — Standard pork belly from a butcher; braise conducted in a heavy-based casserole; mo cooked on a stainless griddle pan, turned carefully once.
04
House — Supermarket pork belly; a deep saucepan for the braise; mo baked in a domestic oven at high heat — the crust will be less crackled but the filling remains the soul of the dish.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. A chopstick pressed firmly into the braised belly meets no resistance and the meat begins to part along its grain.
◇Sight. The chopped pork filling is glistening and cohesive, neither crumbling dry nor pooling liquid on the board.
◇Sound. The baked mo sounds hollow when tapped on its flat face, indicating a set, layered interior beneath the crust.
◇Sight. The surface of the mo is crackled and carries faint char marks — the characteristic sign of a correctly laminated and baked flatbread.
◇Where it lives or dies. The braise must be held at the barest possible simmer for the full duration — fierce heat makes the pork fibrous; only a long, trembling simmer dissolves the collagen and renders the fat to the gelatinous, shred-tender mass the dish requires.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Whisky
From British Columbia
Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.
Without alcohol
No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
Sourced through Provenance