Zhenjiang Crystal Pork Terrine with Black Vinegar 镇江香醋配肴肉
Zhenjiang Crystal Pork Terrine with Black Vinegar is featured among the local specialties of Jiangsu.
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Zhenjiang Crystal Pork Terrine with Black Vinegar (镇江香醋配肴肉) pairs two specialities of Zhenjiang (镇江) in Jiangsu: crystal pork terrine (水晶肴肉), a jellied pork trotter dish, and Zhenjiang fragrant vinegar (镇江香醋), the city's black rice vinegar.
How it is made
The terrine, also called crystal yao trotter (水晶肴蹄), is made from pork trotter. The meat is cured with fine salt and a nitrate solution, then braised with Sichuan pepper, star anise, spring onion, ginger and Shaoxing wine. Chinese Wikipedia gives the dish more than 300 years of history.
The vinegar starts as glutinous rice brewed into rice wine. A vinegar culture is added, and the mash goes through solid-state layered fermentation for close to three weeks, followed by at least six months and up to five years of ageing. The Zhenjiang vinegar industry association (镇江市醋业协会), founded in November 2004, applied the next year to register 'Zhenjiang Xiangcu' as a collective trademark, which it now holds, and the vinegar is listed as a Chinese geographical-indication product. The Zhenjiang Xiangcu protection regulations (镇江香醋保护条例), put before the standing committee of the Jiangsu provincial people's congress, require it to be made within Zhenjiang by its special process.
Flavour and texture
The word 'crystal' describes the look: bright red meat, glistening skin and clear jelly. The lean meat is fragrant and tender and the fat is not greasy. The vinegar is named 'fragrant' for its particular aroma.
How it is eaten
Zhenjiang's food is known by three words, yao, dian and mian (肴、点、面): the terrine, dim sum such as crab-roe soup dumplings, and noodles cooked in the terrine's stock. Locals dip these dishes in Zhenjiang vinegar or drizzle it over them, and Chinese Wikipedia says the terrine tastes better with shredded ginger and the vinegar.
A local story says a Zhenjiang husband once cured trotters with saltpetre (硝, xiao) meant for firecrackers; the meat turned bright red, and because xiao sounds like yao in the Zhenjiang dialect, the dish became yaorou. Chinese Wikipedia notes that the Song dynasty rhyme book Guangyun (广韵) already defines yao (肴) as any food other than grain, so yao is likely the original character rather than a borrowing from xiao.
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Nanjing salted duck 南京盐水鸭 →
Nanjing's salted duck is another salt-cured Jiangsu meat speciality, set against Zhenjiang's nitrate-cured, jellied pork trotter.
