🍽️ Cured Pork Ribs

Naxi cured-rib hotpot, savory and rich.

Cured pork rib hotpot is a Naxi specialty of Lijiang, Yunnan. Fresh ribs are salt-cured and air-dried until richly cured, chopped and simmered with ginger and black cardamom. The broth is salty-white and mellow; the ribs carry cured aroma deep in the bone, firm yet tender, growing more fragrant as it cooks. Lijiang versions prize highland air-drying, savory without being over-salted, best matched with local potato, celtuce and wild greens that soak up the broth. A popular warming winter hotpot in Lijiang: eat the ribs first, then vegetables, finish with rice. It is the most substantial pot in old-town eateries, with the honest dry-cured flavor of Naxi homes.