Zhongxiang Coiled Egg-Wrapped Pork Roll 钟祥盘龙菜
Zhongxiang Coiled Egg-Wrapped Pork Roll is featured among the local specialties of Hubei.
Zhongxiang Coiled Egg-Wrapped Pork Roll (钟祥盘龙菜) is a steamed roll of pork paste wrapped in egg from Zhongxiang (钟祥) in Hubei, also written "蟠龙菜" (coiled dragon dish). China News Service calls it one of the "钟祥三绝" (three wonders of Zhongxiang), and its making has been on Hubei's provincial intangible heritage list since 2011.
How it is made
Wu Jinlin (吴金林), a Jingmen-level heritage bearer of the craft, told China News Service that the main ingredient is pork, with starch, egg, salt and ginger added. Wu Qinggao (武清高), the provincial heritage bearer, who has made the dish since 1962, sums it up in a rhyme. The back fat is cut into strips and washed, the lean meat is chopped to a paste and soaked in water until pale, spring onion and ginger go in, and the paste is stirred until it binds, then wrapped in an egg sheet.
One of the key steps, he says, is to keep adding water while stirring the seasonings into the paste, stirring clockwise until it turns springy. The roll is steamed over a high flame until cooked, then steamed again for 15 minutes.
Flavour and texture
The skin is golden and the slices are springy, fresh and tender, rich without being greasy, with a smooth, fragrant finish that lingers. The dish is known for "吃肉不见肉" (eating meat without seeing meat): the pork arrives as a paste inside an egg wrap.
How it is eaten
Locally the dish is usually called "卷切" (roll-and-slice) or "剁菜" (chopped dish). Straight from the steamer the roll looks like a dragon lying on the ground; sliced and laid on a plate it forms a coiled dragon, which gives the dish its name. It is shaped in a bowl for serving.
At a Zhongxiang banquet it is the head dish. Local hosts have a saying for the ten courses of a banquet that begins "一龙二凤" (first the dragon, then the phoenix), and the "dragon" is this dish; people say there is no banquet without it. A poem by Fan Guokai (樊国楷), widely quoted in Zhongxiang, ends with guests calling for the food and the roll-and-slice arriving as the coiled dragon.
Where it comes from
China News Service gives the dish 500 years of history and says it is listed in the cookbook Zhongguo Caipu (中国菜谱). Wu Qinggao describes Zhongxiang as an important birthplace of Hubei's Chu cuisine (楚菜) and says Zhongxiang cooking developed further in the Jiajing (嘉靖) reign of the Ming dynasty. Newer versions add corn, beef or shrimp to the ingredients.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-25. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.