Su Shi, a gourmet in Song Dynasty, once tasted Dongpo meat.

Dongpo meat:

Dongpo meat is also known as rolled meat and braised pork. It is a traditional famous dish of Han nationality in Jiangnan area, belonging to Zhejiang cuisine and Sichuan cuisine, with pork as the main ingredient.

Dongpo meat has similar ingredients and shapes. The main ingredients are half-fat and half-thin pork, which is stewed with ingredients. The finished dishes are neatly packed mahjong pieces, bright red and agate in color, soft but not rotten, fat but not greasy.

Dongpo pork is said to have been created by Su Shi, a poet in the Northern Song Dynasty (a native of Meishan City, Sichuan Province) (one said that Wang Chaoyun, a concubine of Su Shi, was created to improve her diet when Su Shi was demoted to Huangzhou), and the earliest place of origin was Meishan, Sichuan. The prototype is Xuzhou giving back meat, which is one of the "four treasures of Dongpo" in Xuzhou.

according to legend, in April, the tenth year of Xining in Song Shenzong (177), Su Shi went to Xuzhou to be the magistrate. On July 7th, the Yellow River burst in the area around Caocun, Zhuozhou. By August 21st, the flood besieged Xuzhou, and the water level was as high as 2 feet. Su Shi died with his own body, joined the Dutch army, led the imperial military camp, and built dikes to protect the city with the people of the whole city.

After more than 7 days and nights of hard struggle, Xuzhou City was finally saved. All the people in the city rejoiced. In order to thank the well-led and well-known Zhizhou, who shared the life and death with Xuzhou people, they slaughtered pigs and sheep in succession, and took wine and food to the government to comfort them.

Su Shi couldn't refuse. After accepting it, he personally instructed his family to make braised pork and gave it back to the people who participated in the flood control. After eating it, the people all felt that the meat was fat but not greasy, crisp and delicious, and unanimously called it "gift meat". Since then, "giving back meat" has spread around Xuzhou and become a traditional dish in Xuzhou. This is recorded in Xuzhou Literature and History Materials, Xuzhou Scenery Records and Xuzhou Ancient and Modern Famous Cuisine.

In the third year of Yuanfeng (AD 18), on February 1st, Su Shi was demoted to Huangzhou as an assistant envoy of Yong Lian. He cultivated land by himself, so he called this place "Dongpo lay man". This is the origin of "Dongpo Meat". During his stay in Huangzhou, he personally cooked braised pork and wrote his experience in "Eating Pork Poetry".

The braised pork cooked by Su Shi in Xuzhou and Huangzhou is only influential in the local area, but it is not well-known in the whole country. The braised pork, which is really famous all over the country, was Su Shi's "Dongpo pork" when he was in Hangzhou for the second time.

Su Shi:

Su Shi was born in Meishan, Meizhou (now Meishan City, Sichuan Province), a native of Luancheng, Hebei Province, a writer, calligrapher, gourmet, painter in the Northern Song Dynasty, and a historical water control celebrity.

In the second year of Jiayou (157), Su Shi took part in palace examination's Grade B, and gave him a scholarship. In the sixth year of Jiayou (161), he entered the third class in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and was awarded the judge of Fengxiang House in Dali. Song Shenzong worked in Hangzhou, Mizhou, Xuzhou and Huzhou. In the third year of Yuanfeng (18), he was demoted as the assistant envoy of Huangzhou Yong ying because of the Wutai Poetry Case.

Song Zhezong became a bachelor of Hanlin, a bachelor of attendant studies, a minister of rites, etc., and was well-known in Hangzhou, Yingzhou, Yangzhou and Dingzhou. In his later years, he was demoted to Huizhou and Danzhou because of the ruling of the New Party. Song Huizong was granted amnesty and returned to the North, and died in Changzhou on the way. Song Gaozong posthumously awarded a surname; Song Xiaozong pursued "Wen Zhong".

Su Shi was a literary leader in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty and made great achievements in poetry, ci, prose, calligraphy and painting. The text is vertical and horizontal; Poetry has a broad theme, fresh and healthy, uses exaggerated metaphors and has a unique style. It is also called "Su Huang" with Huang Tingjian. Ci is an uninhibited school, and he is the representative of the uninhibited school with Xin Qiji, and is also called "Su Xin";

Prose writing is rich and unrestrained, and it is also called "Ousu" with Ouyang Xiu, and is one of the "Eight Masters in Tang and Song Dynasties". Su Shi's good books, one of "Song Sijia"; He is good at literati painting, especially at ink bamboo, strange stones and dead wood. His works include Dongpo Seven Episodes, Dongpo Yi Zhuan, Dongpo Yuefu, Xiaoxiang Bamboo Stone Map, Dead Trees and Strange Stones Map, etc.