Yunnan-style Minced Meat with Shredded Radish 300 g

Yunnan-style Minced Meat with Shredded Radish Zhǎ: A Dish Interwoven with Tradition and Delicacy

In Yunnan's culinary repertoire, minced meat with shredded radish zhǎ is a distinctive and beloved traditional dish. It skillfully combines pickled and fermented shredded radishes with tender pork. Through a unique cooking method, it presents a delicacy with a distinctive flavor and rich texture, carrying the Yunnanese people's love for food and their insights into life.

Selection of Ingredients

When making Yunnan-style minced meat with shredded radish zhǎ, the selection of ingredients is of great importance. For the pork, streaky pork with a proper ratio of fat and lean meat is usually chosen. During the cooking process, this kind of meat can not only release abundant fat to add fragrance but also ensure a certain chewy texture, providing rich layers of taste. The radishes mostly used are fresh, juicy, and crisp white radishes local to the area. After being cut into uniformly thick shreds, they go through steps such as pickling and sun-drying to make shredded radish zhǎ. This process endows the shredded radishes with a unique fermented flavor, making them salty, fragrant, slightly sour, and crispy. In addition, an appropriate amount of rice flour is used. It not only increases the viscosity of the dish but also interacts with the shredded radishes during the fermentation process, creating a unique mellow texture.

Production Process

The production process of this dish integrates several steps including pickling, fermentation, and steaming. First, pickle the cut shredded radishes with salt for a certain period to remove the excess moisture and make the texture firmer. Then, thoroughly mix the pickled shredded radishes with rice flour, chili peppers, Chinese prickly ash, and other seasonings, and put them in a clean container for sealed fermentation. Under suitable temperature and humidity conditions, after several days of fermentation, the shredded radish zhǎ begins to develop its unique flavor. Next, cut the streaky pork into thin slices and marinate them with seasonings such as cooking wine, light soy sauce, and salt to make them flavorful. After that, layer the marinated pork slices and the fermented shredded radish zhǎ alternately in a steaming bowl and steam them over high heat in a steamer. During the steaming process, the fat of the pork slowly seeps into the shredded radish zhǎ, and the flavors of the two blend together, creating a unique aroma.

Flavor Characteristics

The finished Yunnan-style minced meat with shredded radish zhǎ has an attractive color, with the golden color of the shredded radish zhǎ contrasting beautifully with the ruddy color of the streaky pork slices. When you smell it, there is not only the unique fragrance of the fermented shredded radish zhǎ but also the aroma of the pork, which is rich and makes your mouth water. When you take a bite, the streaky pork is neither too greasy nor too dry, with a tender and juicy texture. The shredded radish zhǎ is crispy, salty, fragrant, and slightly sour, complementing the flavor of the pork perfectly. The rice flour absorbs the juice of the meat and the flavor of the shredded radishes during the steaming process, becoming soft, glutinous, and fragrant, adding more layers of texture to the whole dish and leaving a lingering aftertaste.

Eating Scenarios

Minced meat with shredded radish zhǎ has diverse eating scenarios in Yunnan. During family gatherings, it often appears as a special dish on the dining table. Family members sit around and enjoy this delicacy together, enhancing family bonds. In traditional festivals and celebration activities, this dish is also a common delicacy, symbolizing reunion and abundance. In addition, for tourists who love food, tasting minced meat with shredded radish zhǎ is also an important way to experience Yunnan's food culture. Whether in local restaurants or rural courtyards, one can taste this traditional delicacy full of Yunnan flavors.

Yunnan-style minced meat with shredded radish zhǎ, with its unique combination of ingredients, exquisite production process, alluring flavor, and rich eating scenarios, has become a shining pearl in Yunnan's food culture, demonstrating the unique charm of Yunnan's culinary culture.