老饕 and 東坡肉

，老饕 and 東坡肉



In one of his recent e-mail messages, our classmate D.J. mentioned
that while he was in Taipei, he had the best 東坡肉 he ever had
tasted in a restaurant called “上海鄉村”.

This reminds me of a post “蘇軾是個老饕嗎? “ he once posted in
our class website. He also attached one of the 蘇東坡’s poems:

蘇軾〈浣溪紗〉

細雨斜風作小寒，淡煙疏柳媚晴灘，入淮清洛漸漫漫 。
雪沫乳花浮午琖，蓼茸蒿筍試春盤，人間有味是清歡 。

He raised the question: "蘇軾是個老饕嗎?" and his answer to his
own question was “definitely a yes”

What is the definition of "老饕"?

According to 台灣教育部國語字典，老饕 is:

1.貪吃的人 宋˙蘇軾˙老饕賦：蓋聚物之夭美，以養吾之老饕。
2.講究美食的人。如：他這個老饕，一聽到那裡有好吃的東西就馬上
跑去品嚐一番。

I had then revealed more evidences:

羅浮山下四時春，盧橘楊梅次第新。
日啖荔枝三百顆，不妨長作嶺南人。

And:

我昔在田間，寒皰有珍烹；常支折腳鼎，自煮花蔓菁。
中年失此味，想像如隔生；誰知南嶽老，解作東坡羹。
中有蘆菔根，尚含曉露清；勿語貴公子，從渠醉膻腥。

I especially like this 打油詩:

凈洗鐺，少着水，柴頭罨煙焰不起。
待他自熟莫催他，火侯足時他自美。
黃州好豬肉，價賤如泥土。
貴者不肯吃，貧者不解煮，
早辰起來打兩碗，飽得自家君莫管。

In his famous 老饕賦, 蘇軾 had actually confessed being a 老饕.
(.......蓋聚物之夭美，以養吾之老饕。......)

I believe our classmate D.J. is also a 老饕.

Now the "Dong Po Pork", or 東坡肉.

According to the expert, the pork is cut to 2 inches square in
dimension, consisting of half fat and half lean meat. It was made
famous by 蘇東坡when was banished to 杭州. He improved the
traditional process by adding fermented wine, then pan-frying,
“red-braising”, and then slowly stewing it on a low heat.

It is a dish known to have the aroma and the tenderness, and it is
oily but not greasy. The fat of the meat would simply “melt” in your
mouth without the feeling of greasiness.


Yeh Tze