Dongpo pork, also known as boiled pork and braised pork, is a traditional famous dish of Han nationality in the south of the Yangtze River, which is classified as Zhejiang cuisine according to its special dishes.
Its practice is to take raw pork as the key food, select the raw pork with five flowers and three layers, and add the necessary seasonings to stew. After cooking, Dongpo meat is red and transparent, and its color is like agate. Cut into the size of a mahjong game block, it is not only full of oil, but also fat but not greasy, so it is widely loved by the people.
In the tenth year of Xining in North Song Shenzong (1077), Su Shi, a great writer, went to Xuzhou as a satrap. At the beginning of July, due to the continuous downpour, the Yellow River burst and the water level reached 20 feet.
Seeing the suffering of the people, Su Shi, an honest official, changed his clothes and led Xuzhou soldiers and civilians to build dikes to fight floods and provide disaster relief. After more than 70 days and nights, the flood diverted and subsided, and the people in the same city all cheered and burst into tears.
In order to better thank this well-known county, the people carried a big fat pig and several jars of wine to Su Shi's mansion. Su Shi can't get rid of it. After receiving the pig, Parent-child Le instructed his family to cook boiled meat, put it into pepper, salt and other seasonings, and then distributed it to the soldiers and civilians who participated in flood fighting and disaster relief. Many people feel that crispy meat is delicious and satisfying after eating it. They unanimously called it "Chongqing pork", and this dish is widely circulated in Xuzhou.
Three years later, Su Shi was demoted to Huangzhou because of Wutai Poetry Case, and helped Yong Tuan. Due to the difficulties of daily life, Su Shi had no choice but to farm in Su Dongpo, Huangzhou, and named himself "Dongpo Jushi", so later generations often called him Su Dongpo.
At that time, Huangzhou raw meat was of high quality and low price, and Su Dongpo had a good specialty food. He had a little spare money, so he bought a piece of fat and thin raw pork, added seasonings that he thought were suitable for him, and sat by the fire while reading and cooking. Gradually, he made delicious braised pork, and the fragrance drifted to his neighbors from time to time. Many people came to his house to ask him for advice. Su Dongpo wrote a poem "Ode to Pork", about his work experience in cooking braised pork, and the deliveryman brought it to him.
The original poem is as follows: cleaning clank, without water, firewood smoke will not start. Don't rush him when he is ripe, he will be beautiful when he is ripe. Pork produced in Huangzhou is as cheap as sand. If you don't want to eat, the poor can't understand cooking. You can make two bowls in the morning and let your family leave it alone.
However, although braised pork tastes delicious, it is not well-known at this time. The "Dongpo Meat" that really spread all over the country was Su Shi's second visit to Hangzhou.
In January of the 4th year of Yuan You, Song Zhezong (1089), Su Shi returned to Hangzhou, where he had been away for fifteen years. In May and June of the following year, the precipitation in western Zhejiang continued, and before long, the West Lake flooded and swallowed up a large area of crops.
Su Shi was busy organizing migrant workers to dredge the West Lake and build dikes and bridges, which finally made the West Lake in Hangzhou look brand-new and solved the hidden danger of flood disaster in the West Lake.
In order to better thank Su Shi, Hangzhou people heard that he liked pork best when he was in Xuzhou and Huangzhou, so they spontaneously raised money and carried pigs to his official residence.
After Su Shi took over, he still cooked braised pork according to Xuzhou's practice, cut it into mahjong game pieces, and sent people to the migrant workers involved in dredging the West Lake. After everyone ate it, they were full of praise, so they called this kind of meat "Dongpo Meat".
"Dongpo Meat", which is delicious enough to satisfy hunger, soon spread all over Hangzhou, and ordinary people also learned to cook it. In this case, many Hangzhou restaurant owners got inspiration from the design. In order to make their business more prosperous, they have hired chefs to make and process "Dongpo Meat" as a signature dish, attracting tourists from all over the world, and "Dongpo Meat" is famous all over the world.
I won't mention this sentence. Let's talk about Su Dongpo's integrity, honesty and frankness. When he was an official in Yuwen Middle School, it was easy to dislike these flattering and cunning dignitaries. Language annoys many people. One of them is an adult messenger named Liu. As a spokesman, Liu Yushi was narrow-minded and relied on his power to recall his enemies from the emperor.
When he overheard Dongpo meat in Kyoto, he frowned and rushed to Hangzhou in disguise to find out. As a result, every time he entered the restaurant, he found that the specialty dishes were basically Dongpo meat. During the chat, he learned that the boss and employees praised Su Shi, which made him hate Su Dongpo and vowed to transfer him to Hangzhou.
So, he asked for a cookbook and hurried back to Kyoto, only to be exposed to Song Zhezong, slandering Su Dongpo's insolence and graft in Hangzhou, which provoked the local people to hate Su Shi and made "Dongpo Meat" to vent their anger. Hearing this, Zhezong was furious and didn't send someone to do further detailed investigation. An imperial edict told Su Shi to return to the DPRK, and he was demoted from then on.