I was browsing a Chinese painting treatise by Jin Noon (金農, 1687-1763 A.D.), a member of the famed “Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou” (揚州八怪),
and came across this
picture of a bamboo shoot painting. What
caught my eyes was not the painted object but Jin’s unique style of calligraphy (every paint stroke had a uniform
width, with points at the beginning and end) and the inscribed poem about “bamboo shoots sprouted
all over the hills the morning after the first Spring thunder, and the artist bought a bundle to ask an
old monk to braise them with fatty
pork for him.”
Mr. Jin used
bamboo shoots that were dug up that morning because those were most tender and
delicate. Japanese prize them too,
calling them asahori takenoko (朝掘筍), and use them for special
dishes. Bamboo shoots and fatty pork
pair well. To Chinese, fatty pork (花豬肉) usually means pork belly. To Japanese, it is referred to as ton-toro, or pig jowl.
It may sound
strange that Mr. Jin asked a monk to cook his bamboo shoot and fatty pork. Legend says that an old monk in a famous
temple near his home was known for the dish
and he would cook it only for special people such as Mr. Jin the artist.
* * *
I could not find fresh
bamboo
shoots in the market (it was not in season), but that did not stop me from braising pork belly. I bought a nice piece that was tied up into a roll, and braised
it in a Le Creuset enameled cast iron pot.
Here's my cooking method:
(1)
I prepare the braising liquid with an equal amount of Japanese soy
sauce and junmai sake (純米酒, the
kind not brewed with distilled alcohol).
I heat it up and dissolve some rock sugar in it. I do not use mirin (味醂)
because I cannot find naturally fermented
hon-mirin; otherwise I would. (Note:
the key is to use high quality naturally fermented soy sauce that is rich and flavorful
instead of salty.)
(2)
Bring the braising liquid in the Le Creuset pot to
a boil on the stove. Add the pork belly
roll and cover the pot. There should be enough liquid to cover half
way up the roll. Add hot water if
necessary.
(3)
Put it in a convection oven at low heat (300°F) for 30 minutes. Check the color of the rind. It should have acquired a nice reddish brown
color. Turn the roll over. Braise it a bit longer for the rind of
the other side to pick up color. The pork belly will be tender and the
rind soft.
(4)
For
crispy skin, broil it skin side up.
* * *
Bamboo shoot is also good by itself.
Japanese calls it takenoko (竹の子), the young of bamboo. When
it is in season, from winter to spring
depending on location, people dig up young bamboo shoots that are still below
the ground surface and ship them to markets and restaurants. Usually they are boiled with rice bran
(komenuka) to get rid of their
bitterness. But asahori takenoko (朝掘筍) from
premier growing areas can be served raw as takenoko sashimi, and the thin slices are tender, crispy and sweet. Other Japanese ways to eat takenoko include tempura and takenoko
gohan (seasoned bamboo shoot rice).
* * *
Chinese also harvests
bamboo shoots in winter and spring.
The most
memorable Chinese bamboo shoot dish I have eaten was an old-fashioned 炒雙冬 – a stir
fry of winter bamboo shoots and Chinese black mushrooms in a Shanghai-style rich brown sauce. Only the tips of the bamboo shoot were used,
and they
were cut into thin sections about two inches long.
Biting into these tender and crunchy pieces, my taste buds
experienced the rich sauce at first. After
the sauce was gone, delicate flavor of bamboo shoot filled my mouth. If I closed my eyes, I could visualize being alone in a spring bamboo grove. The almost
Zen experience was counter-balanced by the earthy texture and flavor of meaty black
mushrooms between pieces of bamboo shoot.
When a vegetable dish is so well made, who needs fatty pork to go with
it?
