Bamboo Shoot and Fatty Pork

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.  

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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.

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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). 

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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?