🍽️ Huizhou Preserved Mustard Pork

Dongpo-style pork with preserved mustard greens, rich and savory.

Huizhou preserved-mustard pork shares its root with the Meizhou Hakka version, but Huizhou's preserved greens are especially renowned. Huizhou mei cai is best from the Aibo and Hengli areas, made by salting fresh greens and repeatedly sun-drying them until golden and fragrant. Pork belly is boiled, fried until the skin wrinkles, sliced thick and arranged in a bowl, topped with the greens seasoned with soy, rock sugar and rice wine, then steamed until the fat turns translucent. The skin comes out glossy, wrinkled and melting on the tongue, while the greens have soaked up all the meat juice, savory with a sweet finish and a strong preserved-vegetable aroma. Huizhou people must serve this dish at festivals and feasts, and it is best eaten with rice. It carries on the Hakka tradition of pickled greens and steamed pork, yet stands out because of Huizhou's own geographic specialty, and is a signature of the Dongjiang school of Cantonese cooking.