Steamed Cured Meat Platter 腊味合蒸

Steamed Cured Meat Platter (腊味合蒸) is a Hunan dish of several kinds of cured meat steamed together in one bowl. The version given by Voice of Hunan (华声在线) uses cured pork, cured chicken and cured fish, and CNR (央广网) calls it the Hunan cured-meat dish known across the country.

Ingredients

Voice of Hunan lists pork, beef, chicken, fish and duck as the main cured meats for it, and three kinds steamed together make the dish. According to CNR, any cured meat can go in. Hunan cured meat is smoked: the cleaned meat is cured with salt, Sichuan pepper, star anise, cinnamon, cloves and other spices, left for a week, then hung in a smokehouse over burning hardwood such as tea or Chinese bayberry wood, and left to mature for months. CNR traces the Hunan habit of curing meat to the Han dynasty, because the warm, damp climate made fresh meat hard to keep.

How it is made

Voice of Hunan gives the method as cured pork, cured chicken and cured fish placed together in one bowl with chicken stock and seasonings, then steamed. CNR describes a simple home version: shredded ginger, fermented black beans and dried chillies are stir-fried first, the cured meats are added, and the whole is steamed.

Flavour and texture

The meats come out glossy red with a strong cured aroma. The taste is salty with some sweetness, with a little thick juice, and the different meats balance each other. The texture is supple and chewy without being greasy, and Voice of Hunan names it a first choice for eating with rice.

Where it comes from

Legend links the dish's rise to fame to a beggar. Liu Qi (刘七), once a restaurant owner in a small Hunan town, fled his creditors and became a beggar. Near the New Year, families gave him bits of their cured fish, pork and chicken, and as it was late he steamed them all together. A wealthy household followed the smell, liked what they tasted, and took him on as cook in their own restaurant, which hung up a sign offering 'steamed mixed cured meats'.