Rice-flour steamed pork

Public reference · Home adaptation At a jiudouwan there is no feast without the three steamed dishes. The three began as taro, aubergine and potato — field crops — and only became rice-flour pork, savory and sweet shaobai once households had chickens, ducks and pork to spare. The local-history account puts it plainly: with more fat on the table, the feast gains its standing. The “bowl” here means the steamed bowl specifically: a large earthenware bowl rarely used in ordinary homes, brought by the village cook, and the vessel in which the three steamed dishes are made. The account also records eight slices of pork per bowl, one slice per guest, regardless of age, sex or wealth — everyone at the table eats the same portion. The encyclopedia's own list of “three steamed dishes” is a different set (soft-fried steamed pork, steamed spare ribs, rice-flour beef, steamed soft-shell turtle and so on), which shows there is no single national standard menu for a jiudouwan. This version takes only the rice-flour pork recorded in the seat account and does not claim any jiudouwan-specific formula. **The seat record names the dish but not the method**: the local-history account lists rice-flour pork as one of the three steamed dishes but gives no formula. This version's method is taken from method two of the public encyclopedia entry (pork cut into strips and marinated 5 minutes; rice dry-toasted 5 minutes to yellow, then 3 minutes more with cassia, clove and star anise, ground to a fish-roe grain; meat coated in spiced flour and packed skin-down, steamed 1 hour over high heat; steamed lotus root underneath, meat inverted on top). It has no exclusive correspondence to jiudouwan. **The “eight slices per bowl” rule is applied**: the account records that the three steamed dishes are made strictly at eight slices of pork per bowl, one slice per guest. This version works to six servings, so eight slices per bowl, about 600 g of meat in total, and makes the eight-slice count a firm constraint on the bowl itself. **Steaming time is downgraded and disclosed**: the entry's method two specifies one hour over high heat. Because a domestic steamer runs cooler, this version gives a 60–90 minute range and a doneness test (a skewer slides into the thickest part with no resistance; the skin looks glossy). The upper bound is an editorial setting, untested. **Rice flour is downgraded**: this version defaults to shop-bought steamed-pork rice flour, and also gives the toasted-and-ground method for making it; the entry notes the pan scorches easily, so this version requires oil and constant stirring. **Heavy and sweet by nature**: the dish uses lard, sweet flour paste and brown sugar, and belongs to the rich, “oily” side of the feast; noted here and in the allergen note. **Technique only, no therapeutic claims**: the cited entry contains slimming and beauty claims, none of which is adopted. Contains soy (light soy, sweet flour paste, fermented bean curd), wheat (rice wine; sweet flour paste contains flour) and sesame. Contains rendered lard and a great deal of fatty pork, so this is a high-fat dish — those monitoring blood sugar or lipids should eat it in moderation. Sweet flour paste and fermented bean curd may carry other allergens; check labels. Contains meat; not a vegetarian dish. 阿坝州地方志办公室：传统川菜“九斗碗”（发布 2013-08-09） — Menu source 1. It records jiudouwan as also called tianxi and san-zheng-jiukou-xi; the three steamed dishes as rice-flour pork, savory and sweet shaobai (jiasha rou); the braises as braised or steamed pork elbow, pork with bamboo shoots, mixed braise (shaoshijin), re-cooked chicken and fish with chili-bean paste; the cold dishes as rice-flour pork, savory shaobai and sweet shaobai (jiasha rou); the stir-fries as bamboo shoots fried in lard, gong bao diced pork and shredded pork with yellow chives; the stew as stewed tuotuosu pork; spinach and flash-fried cabbage as table fillers. It also records that a feast without the three steamed dishes is not a feast, that each bowl holds eight slices of pork, and the serving order of cold dishes, steamed dishes, stir-fries, braises, stews and soup. https://dfzb.abazhou.gov.cn/abzdfsbgs/c104049/201308/e7ab6e8e28a04dc9836c6b82d420b5c9.shtml 中文百科全書：九斗碗（又称坝坝宴、九大碗） — Menu source 2. It records jiudouwan as a Sichuan feast whose “dou” means a large vessel in Sichuan speech, with nine bowls as a minimum and versions of seven or eleven; its contents as home-style dishes made from whatever chicken, duck, fish, pork, eggs and seasonal vegetables the household has, listing rice-flour pork, sweet shaobai and savory shaobai as representative dishes, served in farmyards on improvised stoves. https://newton.com.tw/wiki/%E4%B9%9D%E6%96%97%E7%A2%97/2750801 中文百科全書：粉蒸肉（方法二） — Core method (method two): 500 g pork belly, 250 g lotus root, 75 g rice, with 20 g sweet flour paste, 3 g sugar, 1 g pepper, 10 g wine, 3 g cassia, 2 g star anise, 5 g scallion, 2 g clove, 2 g ginger, 4 g salt, 2 g MSG, 15 g soy and 20 g fermented bean curd juice. The pork is cut into strips 4 cm by 2.5 cm by 1 cm, blotted dry, then mixed with salt, soy, sweet flour paste, bean curd juice, ginger, wine, MSG and sugar and left 5 minutes. The rice is dry-toasted 5 minutes over low heat until yellow, then 3 minutes more with cassia, clove and star anise, and ground to a fish-roe grain to make spiced flour. Lotus root is cut into 3 cm by 1 cm lengths, salted and seasoned with spiced flour. The marinated pork is coated in spiced flour, packed skin-side down in the bowl with lotus root lengths at the sides, and steamed 1 hour over high heat together with the lotus root; the lotus root is laid on a plate and the pork inverted onto it, finished with pepper and scallion. Notes: blot the meat dry before marinating; grind the flour only to a millet grain; season the lotus root with 1 g salt; steam until the pork collapses and gives up fat. https://newton.com.tw/wiki/%E7%B2%89%E8%92%B8%E8%82%89 FDA: Food Allergies — Basis for declaring soy, wheat and sesame allergens. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition/food-allergies AI-generated illustration; not kitchen-tested.

Source: WorldBite · public-reference adaptation · Source-attributed editorial adaptation; AI illustration; not an authenticated original recipe.