Datong Braised Pork Belly Strips 大同扒肉条
Datong Braised Pork Belly Strips is featured among the local specialties of Shanxi.
Datong Braised Pork Belly Strips (大同扒肉条) belong to Datong’s (大同) old eight-dish spread, associated with the New Year meal. Also called xiaoshaorou (小烧肉), the skin-on pork belly passes through boiling, frying and a long final steaming in a bowl.
How it is made
Shanxi’s (山西) government recipe starts with large squares of belly gently cooked in water with spring onion, ginger, Sichuan pepper, star anise and chilli. The partially cooked meat is cut into strips about 1.5 centimetres wide and returned to the pot with cooking wine.
The strips are then fried until the skin turns yellow and bubbles, before another brief boil. They are arranged skin-side down over star anise and spring onion in a bowl. Original cooking broth seasoned with salt, MSG, ground pepper and soy sauce fills the bowl, which is steamed over high heat for two to three hours.
Where it comes from
Shanxi’s government records an older colouring practice attributed to Datong cooks: strips of gourd were added during boiling, using their sugar to colour the meat. Locally produced dry-pressed yellow wine later replaced the gourd.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-26. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.