In our family, we have been eating braised pork with pickled vegetables for more than ten years.

My ancestral home is from Yuyao, Zhejiang Province. Yuyao belongs to the Ningbo area, so it is collectively called Ningbo people in Shanghai.

Braised pork with dried plums and vegetables is a famous traditional dish in Zhejiang. For some unknown reason, this dish has been included in Cantonese cuisine.

My relatives in Yuyao have always had the habit of making dried plum vegetables by themselves.

Although I have not seen the whole process of pickling prunes with my own eyes, I know that making prunes is a time-consuming and laborious task. Every year, my relatives personally send their own prunes to Shanghai to distribute to their loved ones and friends to taste.

I receive two large packages of pickled plums every year and they are treasures. I keep one package for myself and eat it myself, while the other package is divided into several small packages and given to friends who are waiting to try it every year.

Due to the special production process of umeboshi, the finished product will exude a particularly rich fragrance of umeboshi.

If the pocket containing the pickled vegetables is not tied tightly, the aroma of the vegetables will come out of the pocket and permeate the entire room.

Because of this regional connection, our family’s special dish is roasted pork with dried prunes and vegetables.

When I was young, I often liked to eat roasted meat with dried plums and vegetables cooked by my mother. It was an era of scarcity and I didn’t know much about food. As long as I could eat meat, I would be very happy.

I remember eating stewed meat with dried prunes and vegetables at that time. After my mother passed away, I continued to eat this special dish cooked by my father.

My father did not inherit my mother’s cooking skills. In my memory, he did not like braised pork with prunes, but preferred steamed pork with prunes. He said that the prunes were chewy when eaten this way.

Now that I recall the version my father made, he actually wasn't very good at cooking.

Later, I took over and continued to innovate and promote the dish of braised pork with dried plums and vegetables at home.

Nowadays, the craftsmanship of the pickled vegetables made by relatives in Yuyao has been improved with the times. Modern people recommend eating healthy food, so the salt content of the current pickled pickled vegetables has been reduced a lot, and dried bamboo shoots are added, which makes it richer in nutrients and more delicious.

Seeing this improved prunes, I also had the idea of ????improving the process of roasting meat with prunes, so as to live up to such good ingredients.

I am a person who loves innovation by nature, but I didn’t know when I became a foodie and became a part-time home cook without a professional qualification certificate.

So there are many versions of this dish of braised pork with dried plums and vegetables at home.

In the past, I always felt that there was too little meat in braised pork with pickled vegetables, so I first made a meatier version, that is, the ratio of meat to pickled pickled vegetables is 7:3, mainly eating meat, and devouring it with great pleasure; later I heard that

Eat less meat, so I made a meat-less version, that is, the ratio of meat to prunes is 3:7, mainly eating prunes, and the meat is just a foil.

I feel like I am around fifty years old, I am good at cooking, and my dishes are becoming more and more sophisticated.

At this time, I was no longer obsessed with whether this dish had more meat or less meat, but I was thinking about how to make this dish on the table.

So the restaurant version of Braised Pork with Umeboshi and Vegetables appeared. The pork belly must be bought from black pigs, and the master who chops the pork is required to chop the pork belly into uniform sizes; soak the Umeboshi and chop it into pieces. The restaurant version of this Braised Pork with Umeboshi and Vegetables,

Pork belly is wrapped in dried plum vegetables. The meat is full of vegetable aroma, and the vegetables are soaked in meat flavor. They are red and shiny. It is an excellent companion with wine and rice.

Later, I made a family banquet version of steamed pork with prunes and vegetables. In order to meet the gourmet standards of color, flavor and shape, I used bacon instead of pork belly. I spread the bacon neatly on top of the prunes and steamed it for more than an hour.

This steamed pork with dried plums and vegetables is suitable for entertaining guests. It is beautifully presented and has an attractive aroma. Even those who don’t like meat will have an appetite after seeing it.

In recent years, I have become even more imaginative about how to eat steamed pork with prunes and vegetables.

For example, the leftover steamed pork with pickled vegetables can be used to make fried rice the next day. This fried rice with pickled pickled vegetables without any seasoning has become our family’s original delicacy. If you ever find yourself losing your appetite, then have a bowl of fried rice with pickled pickled vegetables.

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I also used the leftover steamed pork with dried plums and vegetables to make steamed buns, which turned into steamed buns with dried plums and vegetables. They were definitely more delicious than the steamed buns with dried plums and vegetables bought from outside bakeries. The soup penetrated the inner walls of the buns and the meat was crispy. One bite

I couldn't stop biting it.

Recently, I remembered that the steamed pork with prunes and vegetables my father made in the past was not very authentic, so I decided to improve the cooking method.

First soak the prunes in water for half an hour, squeeze out the precipitated soy sauce-colored water and set aside for later use; blanch the pork belly, put a little peanut oil in the pot, add ginger slices, star anise, and bay leaves, saute until fragrant, then take them out; add rock sugar and cook until

For caramel color, add pork belly instead of dark soy sauce for coloring; then add cooking wine and light soy sauce, then add prunes and stir-fry for a while.

Take a deep basin, place a layer of dried prunes and a layer of pork belly, and finally put it on a high fire and steam it for more than an hour.

The 2018 version of steamed pork with pickled vegetables is characterized by using rock sugar instead of dark soy sauce for coloring, which reduces the salty taste. Using rock sugar instead of white sugar is healthier and makes the dish more oily.

It will drip into the pickled vegetables. The pickled pickled vegetables absorb the aroma of the meat, while the pork belly is fat but not greasy, and the pickled pickled vegetables are oily but not burnt.

The ingredients complement each other and complement each other.

The taste has reached unprecedented heights.

Every family has one or two housekeepers, and each housekeeper will pass on some memories or stories.

If one day your family wants to eat a home-cooked dish that has not been cooked for a long time, it must be a moment that awakens the taste in her memory, and that feeling must be very beautiful.