Dongpo Pork

Dongpo Pork is said to have been created by Su Dongpo (a native of Meishan, Sichuan), a poet in the Northern Song Dynasty. The earliest place of origin is Xuzhou, Jiangsu.

The prototype is meat donated as a gift from Xuzhou, which is one of the "Four Treasures of Dongpo" in Xuzhou.

In April of the 10th year of the Xining reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty (1077), Su Shi went to serve as the magistrate of Xuzhou.

On July 7, the Yellow River burst in the Cao Village area of ??Chanzhou. By August 21, floods surrounded Xuzhou, with the water level reaching as high as 28 feet.

Su Shi died with his own life, and personally led the imperial army to defend the city.

After more than seventy days and nights of hard fighting, Xuzhou City was finally saved.

The people in the whole city were all rejoicing. In order to express their gratitude to this Haozhizhou, who had a good leader and lived and died with the people of Xuzhou, they killed pigs and sheep one after another, and carried wine and vegetables to the government to express their condolences. .

Su Shi couldn't refuse, so after accepting it, he personally instructed his family to make braised pork and gave it back to the people who participated in the flood fight.

After eating it, the people all felt that the meat was fat but not greasy, crispy and fragrant, and unanimously called it "return meat".

Since then, "return meat" has been spread in Xuzhou and has become a famous traditional dish in Xuzhou.

This is described in "Xuzhou Literary and Historical Materials", "Xuzhou Customs Chronicles", and "Xuzhou Ancient and Modern Famous Foods".

On February 1, the third year of Yuanfeng (AD 1080), Su Shi was demoted to Huangzhou and served as deputy envoy of Tuanlian.

He opened up wasteland and farmed his own land, so he called this place "Dongpo Layman".

This is the origin of "Su Dongpo".

While in Huangzhou, he cooked braised pork himself and wrote his experience in "Pork Eating Poetry".

The braised pork cooked by Su Shi in Xuzhou and Huangzhou was only influential locally and not very famous nationwide.

The braised pork that is really famous and famous all over the country is the "Dongpo Pork" made by Su Shi when he was in Hangzhou for the second time.

In the fourth year of Emperor Zong Yuanyou of the Song Dynasty (1089), On the third day of the month, Su Shi came to Hangzhou, where he had been away for fifteen years, to serve as magistrate.

In May and June of the fifth year of Yuanyou, there was heavy rain in western Zhejiang, Taihu Lake overflowed, and large areas of crops were flooded.

Due to Su Shi's early and effective measures, the people in western Zhejiang passed the most difficult period.

He organized migrant workers to dredge the West Lake, build embankments and bridges, and transform the old appearance of the West Lake into a new one.

The people in Hangzhou were very grateful to Su Shi for this good deed. Everyone praised him as a wise parent official.

I heard that he liked to eat pork the most when he was in Xuzhou and Huangzhou, so during the New Year, everyone would carry pigs and wine to pay him New Year greetings.

After Su Shi received it, he instructed his family to cut the meat into cubes, cook it until it was red and crispy, and then distributed it to the migrant workers who participated in dredging the West Lake. After eating, everyone was amazed and sent him here. The meat is affectionately called "Dongpo meat".

Red pine nuts eat crystal

There are many different records in the literature about the use of red pine nuts and water jade.

The annotation of "The Classic of Mountains and Seas·Nanshan Classic" says that the water jade consumed by red pine nuts is water essence (crystal), "Sou Shen Ji" calls it "Bing Yu Powder", and Ge Hong's "Bao Pu Zi" It is said that what Chisongzi takes is a magical elixir, and the Chisongzi elixir method has been passed down from generation to generation.

According to legend, Huang Chuping was named Chisongzi in the "Biography of Immortals" also written by Ge Hong, and he drank pine wax and Poria.

"Dantai Lu" calls Chisongzi the Kunlin Immortal Bo, who governs Nanyue Mountain and can turn jade into water.