Youxian Stir-Fried Pork with Pressed Tofu 攸县香干炒肉

Youxian Stir-Fried Pork with Pressed Tofu (攸县香干炒肉) is pork fried with Youxian xianggan (攸县香干), the pressed tofu of Youxian County (攸县) in Zhuzhou (株洲), Hunan. The Liling City Media Centre (醴陵市融媒体中心) records that Youxian xianggan was taken into the Hunan cuisine recipe book in 2000 and quotes a local jingle that pairs it with blood duck: "攸县小吃神州俏，香干血鸭剁辣椒" ("Youxian snacks are popular across China: pressed tofu, blood duck, chopped chilli").

Ingredients

The tofu is the point of the dish. Youxian xianggan comes in palm-sized, salty squares with a golden surface marked by the weave of the pressing cloth. Local mineral-rich spring or well water and a local soybean called Bayuehuang (八月黄, "eighth-month yellow") are used, and the traditional method runs to more than ten steps: soaking and grinding the beans, boiling the soy milk, setting it with a coagulant, shaping, pressing and soaking. Instead of being smoked, the pressed blocks are soaked in a brown-sugar brine, which turns them brownish-yellow without a smoky taste masking the bean flavour. The media centre says the first tofu to be called Youxian xianggan was the "salt tofu" (盐豆腐) of Bahechong (八合冲) in Shiyangtang town (石羊塘镇), and that Youxian tofu became a national geographical indication product in 2011.

How it is made

The Liling City Media Centre describes the basic method: pork belly is fried in the wok until it gives up its fat, then the pressed tofu is stir-fried with it, and the tofu ends up more fragrant than the meat. Even fried simply with chilli and garlic leaves, the tofu has plenty of flavour. The columnist Zhang Xiaoxiong (张效雄), writing in Da Xiangcai Bao (大湘菜报), calls pork with pressed tofu a classic Hunan home dish and lists its standard kit as Ningxiang (宁乡) spotted-pig pork belly, tender Youxian tofu, Liuyang (浏阳) fermented black beans, Yiyang (益阳) Lameizi (辣妹子) chilli sauce and fresh garlic leaves.

Where it comes from

Youxian's tofu industry flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties, according to the county gazetteer cited by the media centre. The pressed tofu reached Guangzhou and Shenzhen around 2000, where other yellow tofu on sale was smoked, and its smokeless, strongly beany taste made it popular there and then in Shanghai, Beijing and many other cities.