China · Fujian

Anhai Rolled Pork Trotter

The first cold dish at a Quanzhou wedding banquet, often plated together with Anhai tiangendong. The banquet source records that Anhai rolled trotter uses the trotters of a front leg of the pig, deboned, packed with lean pork and seasoned with sugar, sorghum wine, fine salt and spices, then wrapped in gauze and slowly steamed; when eaten it is cut into thin slices and is fragrant, springy and well seasoned. This version follows the publicly documented rolled trotter recipe: the shank is deboned, salted overnight with the fried seasoning mix and tied with string; it is then boiled in water with wine, ginger and scallion for 2 hours; lifted out, wrapped in cling film and chilled overnight, ready to be sliced and plated. Public reference · home adaptation.

180 minutes · 8 servings · advanced

Anhai Rolled Pork Trotter

Public reference · Home adaptation The banquet source records that Quanzhou's snacks and small dishes are routinely used as the cold opening plates of a banquet. It names “caitou suan, Anhai rolled trotter, tiangendong and other cold dishes”, and gives the rolled trotter in detail: the trotters of a front leg, deboned, packed with lean pork, seasoned with sugar, sorghum wine, fine salt and spices, bound in gauze and slowly steamed; cut into thin slices when eaten, fragrant, springy and well seasoned, and often plated with Anhai tiangendong as a wedding cold dish. The same source records Honglai chicken feet as a distinctly Quanzhou refreshing cold dish, and notes that on the published *Quanzhou Banquet* (popular edition) menu, Anhai tiangendong, Chongwu fish rolls, Jintao dried tofu, Honglai chicken feet, Lingshui dried radish and Anxi salted duck are all good cold-dish choices. Those cold plates are the face of the table before the hot courses begin. The table's rules stand: steamed fish last among the savoury courses for “a head and a tail”, and a sweet course to close. This version claims no historical original and no secret formula for rolled trotter. **Source and method come from two different places**: The source records only the dish name and its position on the table, not the method; this version's technique comes from the published Xiachufang recipe “rolled trotter”, and has no dedicated correspondence to the Quanzhou banquet table. **The banquet source is unusually detailed here but still not a cookable formula**: it records the main ingredient (the trotters of a front leg), the preparation (deboned), the filling (packed with lean pork), the seasonings (sugar, sorghum wine, fine salt, spices), the wrapping (bound in gauze), the cooking (slowly steamed) and the eating (cut into thin slices), and records that it is “often plated with Anhai tiangendong as a wedding cold dish”. This is the most complete the seat source gets towards method among these nineteen, but it still gives no quantities, no timings and no temperatures. This version's technique comes from the publicly documented rolled trotter recipe on Xiachufang and has no dedicated correspondence to the Quanzhou banquet table. **“Steamed” and “boiled” are not the same, and this version says so**: the banquet source records gauze-wrapping and slow steaming; the cited public recipe puts the shank straight into water with wine, ginger and scallion for two hours, with no gauze and no steaming. Rather than blending the two into one, this version writes the boiling method from the cited recipe and gives a separate alternative step for anyone who wants to follow the seat record by steaming, noting that this is a different route and untested. **The salt is fried before use**: the cited recipe says to salt the shank overnight with the “seasoning fried into the salt”. This version makes frying the seasoning a separate step — fried salt is aromatic, plain raw salt left overnight gives a flat result. **Deboning is the most laborious step of the dish**: this version asks the butcher to bone the shank, or to buy it whole and take it apart along the bone. You cannot tie a shank that still has bone in it, and a loose tie falls apart during boiling. **The overnight chill is not a shortcut**: the cited recipe says to wrap the shank in cling film and chill it in the fridge, ready to slice the next day. This version keeps and explains it — sliced without chilling, the meat falls apart and the juices run out; the chill is what lets you cut clean thin slices. **Allergens**: sorghum wine usually contains wheat. If you follow the gauze-wrapping route instead, cotton string can be used and no gauze is needed. **Technique only**: the cited page is a user-submitted recipe; only its ingredients and steps are used. Contains wheat (sorghum wine usually contains wheat; to avoid it use cooking wine or sake and check the label). This is a high-protein, high-fat cured meat containing pork skin, so it is rich in collagen and fat — those monitoring blood lipids should eat it in moderation. The pork must be thoroughly cooked, to at least 74 °C at the centre. Not a vegetarian dish. AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of a kitchen-tested dish. 泉州人的一生，离不开“吃桌”！·寻味泉州（泉州市人民政府 世界美食之都网站，发布 2024-08-30） — Banquet seat evidence. It records that Quanzhou's snacks are routinely used as the cold opening plates of a banquet, naming “caitou suan, Anhai rolled trotter, tiangendong and other cold dishes”; that Anhai rolled trotter uses the trotters of a front leg of the pig, deboned, packed with lean pork, seasoned with sugar, sorghum wine, fine salt and spices, then wrapped in gauze and slowly steamed; that when eaten it is cut into thin slices and is fragrant, springy and well seasoned, and is often plated with Anhai tiangendong as a wedding cold dish; that on the published *Quanzhou Banquet* menu Anhai tiangendong, Chongwu fish rolls, Jintao dried tofu, Honglai chicken feet, Lingshui dried radish and Anxi salted duck are all good cold-dish choices; and that the last savoury course is steamed fish for “a head and a tail” while the final course must be sweet. It gives the main ingredient, preparation, seasonings, wrapping, cooking and eating — but no quantities, timings or temperatures. https://www.quanzhou.gov.cn/gastronomy/ch/msdh/xwqz/202411/t20241122_3107926.htm 下厨房：捆蹄（公开食谱） — Core method. Ingredients on the cited page: pork shank, salt, Sichuan peppercorns and spices. Steps: (1) bone the shank, cure it overnight in salt with the seasoning fried into it, and tie it with string; (2) put it into water with wine, ginger and scallion and boil for 2 hours; (3) lift it out, wrap in cling film, chill in the fridge, and slice and plate the next day. https://m.xiachufang.com/recipe/101693515/ FDA: Food Allergies — Basis for declaring wheat (sorghum wine here usually contains wheat), soy and sesame allergens. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition/food-allergies

Ingredients

  • pork front shank with hoof, deboned, about 1.2 kg1200 g
  • lean pork, cut into strips, optional300 g
  • fine salt40 g
  • sugar30 g
  • sorghum wine60 ml
  • five-spice aromatics (star anise, cassia, peppercorn, fennel)10 g
  • ginger, sliced30 g
  • scallion, in lengths40 g
  • oil for frying the seasoning salt30 ml
  • cotton string for tying; the gauze wrapping recorded on the seat source is a different route1 piece
  • water for boiling2500 ml

Directions

  1. 1

    Bone the shank: ask the butcher to remove the whole bone when you buy it, or take it apart along the bone at home. A shank with bone in it cannot be tied tight and will certainly fall apart when boiled. Pat the shank dry inside and out with kitchen paper once the bone is out.

  2. 2

    Fry the curing salt: heat oil in the pan, add the aromatics and ginger slices over medium-low heat and fry slowly until the spices give off their aroma and the ginger is lightly scorched, then lift out the ginger and spice bits. Tip the salt into the pan and stir for about a minute until it heats through and darkens slightly, then turn off the heat and let it cool. This is the “salt with the seasoning fried into it” the cited recipe calls for.

  3. 3

    Rub the cooled fried salt evenly over the shank inside and out, add the sugar, pour over the sorghum wine, fill with the lean pork strips, then tie with cotton string from one end to the other. Tighten at both ends and tie a knot every two or three centimetres along the middle, so the whole thing is an even roll.

  4. 4

    Put the tied shank, with the remaining wine, in the fridge to cure overnight, as the cited recipe specifies. This cannot be shortened: the salt has to penetrate, and the tie tightens and sets during it.

  5. 5

    Bring a pot of water to the boil with ginger slices, scallion lengths and the remaining sorghum wine, lower in the cured shank and keep it at a gentle boil for 2 hours. Do not lid it tightly and do not let it boil hard: high heat breaks the meat down.

  6. 6

    Test with a skewer in the thickest part: when it goes in with little resistance and the meat is clearly yielding, turn off the heat; if it still resists, give it another 20 minutes. Lift out and drain off the liquid.

  7. 7

    Wrap the shank tightly in cling film and chill it overnight — the cited recipe says it is ready to slice and plate the next day. The chill is what makes thin slicing possible: sliced without it the meat falls apart and the juices run out, and the cold plate cannot be assembled.

  8. 8

    Take it out, remove the string and cut it into thin slices, thin enough to be translucent. Arrange the slices on a cold plate; they can be plated with tiangendong and taken to the table whole before anyone starts.

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