Lanxi Min Pig Pork 兰西民猪肉

Flavour and texture

The Heilongjiang Daily quotes Liu Di (刘娣), head of the Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, who sums up Min pork in five short phrases: red meat, white fat, full marrow, sticky skin and blossoming marbling (肉红、脂白、髓满、皮黏、花绽). Liu Di puts its flavour down to muscle that holds little water and a lot of dry matter, a high content of unsaturated fatty acids and flavour amino acids, and plenty of fat between the muscle fibres: lean streaked with fat, commonly called snowflake meat (雪花肉).

The breed grows slowly. A Min pig usually needs more than ten months to reach slaughter weight, which gives the fat inside the muscle time to build up.

How it is eaten

Pork stewed with starch noodles (猪肉炖粉条) is a main dish in north-east homes in deep winter, and the Heilongjiang Daily names the Min pig as the best source of the pork for it.

Where it comes from

The Min pig is the only nationally protected pig breed in north-east China. It has stayed on the national list of protected livestock breeds through every revision since the Ministry of Agriculture first drew the list up in the 1990s. Sanjiang White (三江白猪), China's first lean-meat breed, was bred by crossing Landrace with Min pigs.

Lanxi lies on the Songnen Plain (松嫩平原) and takes its name from its position on the west bank of the Hulan River (呼兰河). The county breeding farm is more than fifty years old and has kept its Min pig herd intact through several generations of farmers and researchers; the pigs are sturdy, with glossy black hair, and Liu Di says the breed tolerates both minus 28 and plus 30 degrees Celsius. Lanxi registered a Min pork trademark in 2002, and Lanxi Min Pig (兰西民猪) holds a geographical indication certification. The county government lists Home of the Northeast Min Pig in China among its titles.