Lushan Assorted Braised Pot 鲁山揽锅菜

Lushan Assorted Braised Pot (鲁山揽锅菜) is a mixed stew of braised pork, fried pork meatballs, tofu, glass noodles and fern shoots from Lushan (鲁山), Henan. Its everyday name is zahui cai (杂烩菜, 'mixed stew'). The Pingdingshan (平顶山) culture and tourism bureau lists it among the city's foods, and Xinhua (新华网) calls it a dish no Lushan New Year's Eve dinner goes without.

Ingredients

The Lushan County government gives carefully chosen pork as the main ingredient. With it go pork meatballs, local fern shoots (蕨菜), seasonal vegetables, oil-braised tofu and glass noodles (粉条), with garlic scapes and day-lily buds (金针) mixed in. The seasoning is broad-bean paste (豆瓣酱) with five-spice and star anise, plus a spice blend made from several dozen Chinese herbs.

How it is made

The pork is braised and stir-fried. The tofu is fried in oil and then braised until it is yellow outside and white inside, neither too soft nor too firm. The meatballs are deep-fried until golden and crisp, and the glass noodles are chosen to be fine, long and slippery.

Flavour and texture

The county describes the finished pot as fresh, fragrant, soft and tender, salty and mildly hot, a balance it says was worked out to suit the local liking for salty, savoury, smooth and soft food.

Where it comes from

Lushan tradition dates the dish to the Hongwu reign at the start of the Ming dynasty, and the county says it was refined over several generations of the Yang (杨) family. Yang Genxian (杨根宪), whom Xinhua names as founder of the Yang family Lushan braised pot brand, opened a fast-food shop serving it on the western section of Renmin Road (人民路), the road from the county town towards Mount Yao (尧山); the shop was formally registered in February 1979. The Henan Cooking Association (河南省烹饪协会) awarded Lushan's braised pot the title 'Unique-Flavour Languo Cai' (独特风味揽锅菜) as a famous shop and dish.