Baihe Pork Cake 白河肉糕

Baihe Pork Cake (白河肉糕) is a steamed cake of pounded pork, egg and starch from Baihe County (白河县) in Ankang (安康), southern Shaanxi. The Ankang city government calls it a traditional dish found only in Baihe. The Ankang municipal publicity department calls steamed pork cake the centrepiece of the county's Sandianshui (三点水, 'three dips of water') banquet.

How it is made

The Ankang municipal publicity department describes the method. Cooks choose streaky pork from local pigs raised along the Han River (汉水), trim off the sinew and membrane, and pound the meat into a fine paste with the back of a cleaver. Egg white is kneaded in again and again. While the paste steams, egg yolk is poured over it every ten minutes, three times, until it sets. The cake is then sliced, laid over lotus root or strips of tofu in a bowl and steamed a second time. Before serving it is dressed with chicken stock containing shiitake mushrooms and green vegetables.

Flavour and texture

The finished cake is yellow on top and white below, with a glossy surface. The Ankang city government describes it as soft, fine and smooth, rich but not greasy, and with a firm bite.

Where it comes from

Pork cake heads the list of hot dishes in the Sandianshui banquet, and the craft of making this banquet has been on Shaanxi's fourth provincial intangible-heritage list since 2013. Baihe people lay on this banquet for weddings and other happy occasions. Its main dishes are mostly steamed in wooden steamers. Before each of its three sweet soups, guests get two bowls of clear water to rinse their spoons, which gives the banquet its name. In 2022 a Baihe workshop, Zhang Laosi Pork Cake (张老四肉糕), was named in Ankang's second batch of intangible-heritage workshops. In October 2024 the county offered free tastings of Baihe Pork Cake, among other intangible-heritage foods, at an expressway service area.