Huanggou Braised Pig's Head 黄狗猪头肉

Where it comes from

According to the Sucheng district government, the dish began in 1748, the twelfth year of the Qianlong reign. Its founder, Huang De (黄德), came from Chuzhou (滁州) in Anhui and fled floods to Suqian, where he set up a stall at the south end of Tongdai Street (通岱街), today's East Street. His pig's head meat was rich without being greasy. Huang De's childhood name was Xiaogou, "little dog", so local diners called him Huang Gou, "yellow dog", and the name passed to his cooking.

By 1926 the recipe had reached his seventh-generation descendant Huang Youpei (黄友培), who kept a stall outside Suqian's east gate. When catering was collectivised in 1956 the family stall joined the Dazhong Restaurant (大众饭店), and in 1980 the Suqian catering company built a restaurant devoted to pig's head meat, which moved to Xingfu Middle Road (幸福中路) in 1998. The eighth-generation descendant Huang Jinting (黄金亭) became the recognised heir after 1992.

How it is made

The meat is cooked in an old broth kept going from one day's pot to the next. The district government tells the story behind it: when the Qianlong Emperor passed through Suqian on a southern tour, the county magistrate presented Huang De's pig's head meat, and the emperor praised it. Huang De kept a bowl of the broth left from the emperor's meal and added it to the next day's pot, and the broth has been carried forward from day to day and generation to generation ever since, which is where the name "Qianlong old broth" comes from.

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