The Sinosphere · Volume 28, The Pulled Noodle, the Vinegar Jar and the Corridor That Carried Islam East
Roujiamo (肉夹馍/腊汁肉夹馍)
Xi'an, Shaanxi
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 12 hours
- Researched
- No outside sources linked
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Precision matters here more than almost anywhere else in this chapter: the classic, most widely sold Xi'an roujiamo uses pork, braised in a "cured-style juice" method that is not actually a cure at all, which makes the standard version explicitly not qingzhen. Hui-run shops in Xi'an's Muslim Quarter substitute beef or lamb shoulder, treated identically.
As tradition built it
Serves 4 to 6. Braise at least 4 hours, then steeps overnight.
Ingredients
- 500g well-marbled pork, or beef or lamb shoulder for a qingzhen version
- enough to cover Sichuan-pepper salted water, for soaking
- 3 star anise
- 1 piece cassia
- a small handful fennel
- as available the rest of the braising spice mix
- 4 to 6, split baiji mo, a griddle-and-oven-baked flatbread
Method
- Cut well-marbled pork, or beef or lamb shoulder for a qingzhen version, from a well-marbled section, soak in Sichuan-pepper salted water, then cold-blanch and skim.
- Follow "three parts boiling, seven parts braising": bring to the boil with the star anise, cassia, fennel and the rest of the braising spice mix, then reduce to a gentle simmer for at least four hours until tender without collapsing.
- Leave to steep overnight in its own braising liquid so the flavour fully penetrates.
- Split the baiji mo and stuff with the chopped meat, often moistened with a little of the braising liquid itself.
What a modern chef changes
Sous vide meat, a Big Green Egg crust, and a reduced glossy jus
Rung 1
Method
- Cook whichever meat is used in the sous vide bath first at a precisely held temperature to render fat and collagen fully without any risk of drying, then finish for a short spell in a reduced, chinois-clarified version of the same braising liquid to pick up colour and glaze rather than simmering inside it for hours.
- Bake the bread on the Big Green Egg rather than a flat griddle, the dome's radiant, slightly smoky heat giving a genuinely better crust than a domestic hob can manage.
- Toast and freshly grind the braise's spice mix, star anise, cassia, fennel and the rest, rather than buying it pre-mixed.
- Reduce and strain the leftover braising liquid through the chinois into a small glossy jus specifically for moistening the bread, a restaurant move applied to a street sandwich without changing what the sandwich actually is.