Steam minced pork

Steam minced pork refers to a savory dish popular in Hong Kong and the Guangdong area of China. Consisting mainly of minced pork, it typically includes ingredients such as dried squid (土魷) and preserved cabbage (梅菜). The dish is cooked by steaming over a pot of boiling water until it is well cooked. The seasonings usually include soy sauce, salt, sugar and corn flour[1] and occasionally white pepper and sesame oil.[2] It is usually served with rice during lunch or dinner.

Steam minced pork
A kind of Cantonese cuisine, steam minced pork
Traditional Chinese蒸 肉 餅
Simplified Chinese蒸 肉 饼
Literal meaningSteamed Pork Cake
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Ingredients and types of food
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Culinary history

The origin of steam minced pork remains unknown. However, it is believed that it is originated from the Guangdong area of China and is classified as one of the representative Cantonese cuisine dishes. It consists of many typical Guangdong dishes qualities such as a sweet and salty flavour and the steaming method. It is believed to be stemmed from the Hakka (客家) culinary culture. Hakka traditional preserved food such as fermented vegetables like preserved cabbage (梅菜), dried seafood like dried squid (土魷) are common components found in steam minced pork varieties to increase its flavour.[3] As it has widely spread around China, its flavour differentiates in different areas (e.g. less salty and more sweet in the Foshan area) and was mixed with different Southern China crops such as water chestnut and Chinese fermented black beans (豆鼓), dried scallops creating different varieties.[1]

Characteristic

A characteristic of this homemade dish is the rhythmic pounding of the cleaver against the chopping board during preparing the hand-minced pork. Steam minced pork is popular and common among cantonese families because cantonese people find it goes well with rice, and the preparation and ingredients are also simple. For this reason, it is familiar to hear this hand-mincing sound from each home during lunch or dinner time in Hong Kong.[4]

Steamed minced pork with salted egg.
Steamed Meat Patty with Salted Egg

Variation

Steam minced pork can be divided into two types. One is a mixture of grind pork with other ingredient, they includes:

  • Steam minced pork with shiitake mushrooms and dried scallops (冬菇瑤柱)
  • Steam minced pork with dried squid (土魷)
  • Steamed minced pork with preserved cabbage (梅菜, “moi choi” in Cantonese)

Another type is steam minced pork with some additions, usually intensely savory and flavorful food placed on the patties, because Cantonese thinks it can “lift” up the pork. The examples are:

  • Steamed minced pork with salted fish (鹹魚蒸肉餅)
  • Steamed minced pork with salted egg (鹹蛋蒸肉餅)

Cooking method

Preparation

The preparation usually starts with mincing the pork, traditionally by hand. A technique for yielding a denser and chewier meat texture is lifting the minced pork and thrusting it back into the bowl.[4] The meat typically contains fatback and lean meat in a 1:2 ratio.[1] Fatback is added to keep the moisture of the pork.[5] However, this ratio depends on individual preferences. Seasoning such as soy sauce and other ingredients are added to the minced meat and mixed thoroughly by hand or using chopsticks.

There is no standard recipe: a variety of ingredients can be added for different flavors. Salted fish,[6] Chinese water chestnut,[7] and mushrooms are common additions.

Steaming

Traditionally, steamed minced pork is cooked by steaming. It is put on top of the steaming stand over a pot of boiling water. However, in Guangdong area, it is also steamed in rice cookers during rice cooking process. The cooking time usually last for 10 to 30 minutes until it is fully cooked.

Nutritional value

Research done by Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (2006)[8] said that steamed minced pork and dried squid with rice contains 210 kilo-calorie, 22 g of carbohydrate, 7.7 g of protein, 9.6 g of total fat, 21 mg of cholesterol, 4 g of sugar and 8.4 mg of calcium, in each 100 g. It is suggested that the elderly should not eat too much.

For steam minced pork with salted egg, according to SkipThePie.org,[9] salted egg contains 622 calories, 52 g of total fat, 8531 mg sodium, 4 g total carbohydrate, 32 g of protein, 54% of vitamin A, 26% of calcium and 47% of iron. Association for Hong Kong Catering Services Management showed that Chinese dry mushrooms has 247 calories, 61.7 g of carbohydrate, 31.6 g dietary fiber,1.2 g of fat, 20 g of protein and 11.2 mg of sodium.[10]

See also

References
  1. (in Chinese)江獻珠, "粵菜真味1肉食篇". 萬里機構出版有限公司 2010年. 頁80-81. ISBN 978-962-14-4087-7
  2. (in Chinese)李慧君, et al." 金牌小菜王". 萬里機構出版有限公司, 2013. 頁.137. ISBN 978-962-14-5094-4
  3. (in Chinese)陳紀臨、 方曉嵐, "特級校對陳家廚坊: 追源. 尋根客家菜". 萬里機構出版有限公司, 2011年.頁6-8
  4. "Food-locker.blogspot:steamed-pork-patty".Retrieved 29 October 2014
  5. (in Chinese)陳紀臨、方曉嵐, "特級校對陳家廚坊：回家吃飯.萬里機構出版有限公司", 2012年.頁12
  6. (in Chinese)何京寶. "阿寶師傅的私房美味". 橘子文化事業有限公司, 2007年.頁37
  7. (in Chinese)蔡美娜. "自煮飯堂：靚餸". 圓方出版社 (香港) 有限公司, 2009年.頁10
  8. Nutrient Values of Indigenous Congee, Rice and Noodle Dishes, Risk Assessment Studies Report No. 22., Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, HKSAR government, 2006.
  9. "Nutritional Data for Egg, yolk, raw, frozen, salted".Retrieved 30 October 2014
  10. (in Chinese)Association for Hong Kong Catering Services Management.Retrieved 30 October 2014
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