Crystal meat, also known as crystal trotters or Zhenjiang meat, is a traditional specialty dish in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province, which belongs to the Suzhou cuisine. It is made with pig's trotters as the main raw material, and when cooked, it has a smooth and crystalline appearance with red skin and white skin, reminiscent of the beauty of crystal.
In the mouth, the lean meat is crispy and delicious, the fat is not greasy, the taste is crispy and tender, and the combination with ginger shreds and Zhenjiang balsamic vinegar adds a unique flavor. In the production process, pig's trotters are pickled and salt, green onions, turmeric, rice wine and other condiments are added, and simmered in wide soup until crispy, and finally coagulated by freezing. Crystal meat is famous for its beautiful appearance, mellow fresh fragrance, oily taste and fatty but not greasy characteristics, and is a traditional flavor dish in southern Jiangsu.
It is rumored that there is a hotel in Jiuhai Street, Zhenjiang, which is famous all over the world for its special production method and unique taste. It is said that the story of this legend took place more than three hundred years ago.
One day, the owner bought four pig's trotters and planned to eat them in a few days. However, due to the hot weather, he was worried that the pig's trotters would spoil, so he decided to salt them to extend the shelf life. Little did he know, however, that his wife had mistaken a packet of nitrate (the chemical used to make firecrackers) for refined salt and accidentally added it to the pickled pig's trotters.
The next day, when the wife took out the nitrate and prepared to make the firecrackers, she discovered the mistake. She hurriedly opened the marinating vat to take a look, but was surprised to find that the meat of the pig's trotters had not deteriorated, but was firmer, ruddy in color, and the hoof skin was white. In order to remove the smell of nitrate, they soaked it in clean water several times in a row, blanched it with boiling water, and rinsed it with clean water.
Afterwards, they put the marinated pig's trotters into a pot, add spices such as green onions, ginger, peppercorns, cinnamon and fennel, and simmer them in water. The owner and his wife, who had planned to cook it at high temperature to detoxify the smell, never imagined that after boiling for more than an hour, an extremely attractive aroma would come out of the pot.
Coincidentally, Zhang Guolao, one of the Eight Immortals at that time, passed by here and was attracted by this fragrance, so he turned into a white-haired old man and came to the door of the small hotel and knocked on the door. As soon as the store opened, the fragrance immediately wafted into the street, attracting everyone's attention. Everyone came to inquire, and the owner's wife told the truth: "This hoof is misplaced with nitrate, and it can't be eaten as a dish." The white-haired old man who heard this said, "I don't want to eat, so I eat tea." So he bought all the remaining four trotters and ate them with tea on the spot.
People were very curious about this white-haired old man, but it wasn't until after he left that they learned that he was the legendary Zhang Guolao. The shopkeeper and the people present tried the remaining half of the hoof, and were amazed by its unusually delicious taste.
Since then, the hotel has been famous for its "meat". As a result, the method of preparing meat has been widely disseminated. It is said that in order to commemorate Zhang Guolao's gluttonous food, the method of preparing the meat gradually evolved and became a traditional famous dish with special significance and deliciousness.
In short, the meat was born from a single curing error, but unexpectedly created a unique delicacy. Its story is full of legends and is part of China's gastronomic culture.