Introduction to Maple Jingdingti
Shanghai Maple Jingdingti is a traditional Han cuisine in the Shanghai region. It has a unique flavor of being fragrant when eaten cold and sticky when steamed. The soup is rich and thick with bright red sauce, heavy sugar and a well-balanced taste. The selection of ingredients emphasizes freshness and quality; the seasoning is good at using salt, sugar, wine, and vinegar. The famous dish "Red Braised Hui Fish" cleverly uses heat to highlight the original taste, with a bright red color, thick sauce, and tender texture, hence highly recognized by people.
What is the Nutritional Value of Maple Jingdingti?
Pig's elbow: The pig's trotters are very nutritious, containing a lot of protein, especially collagen protein, which, like the skin, is a food therapy for plumping, moistening, and firming skin, and increasing weight. Pig's elbow is sweet and salty in taste, with a neutral nature; it has the effect of harmonizing blood vessels, nourishing the skin, filling kidney essence, and strengthening the waist and feet.
What are the Characteristics of Maple Jingdingti?
The color is dark red and shiny, crispy when hot, fragrant and delicious when cold, with fine and tender meat, thick but not greasy soup, very delicious, and can be eaten for a long time without getting tired of it.
What is the History of Maple Jingdingti?
1. "Maple Jing" is a small town in Jinshan District, Shanghai, originally called "Bainiu Village." It is said that during the Song Dynasty, a scholar named Chen, who had previously served as the magistrate of Shanyin County, was later dismissed from office and retired to this place, passing himself off as "Bai Zhongjushi". Because he lived a clean and upright life, after he died, people changed the name of Bainiu Village to "Qingfeng Jing" and then to "Maple Jing."
2. "Maple Jingdingti" is associated with the "Ding Yixing Hotel" in this town. In 1852 (the second year of the Xianfeng reign of the Qing Dynasty), the two brothers surnamed Ding opened a hotel called "Ding Yixing" in the Zhangjiaqiao area of this town. The business was moderate but not enough to satisfy their desire to make big money. In order to further develop their business, they set their sights on Maple Jing pork trotters. Maple Jing pigs are a famous breed of Taihu Lake, with thin skin and white meat, moderate fat, tender flesh, and is cooked when boiled. The Ding brothers took the hind trotters and cooked them with Jiaxing Yaofu Sun Soy Sauce, Shaoxing Laojiao Pinnacle Wine, Suzhou Guiyuanzhai Crystal Sugar, and appropriate amounts of cloves, cinnamon, and ginger, and cooked them slowly over a firewood stove. After being cooked, they were complete in appearance, with dark red and shiny color, crispy when hot, fragrant and delicious when cold, tender meat, and thick soup, very delicious, and not getting tired of it for a long time. Hence, they became very popular, and people called them "Ding Ting". Ding Ting, which is the "Red-Braised Pig's Trotters" specially made by Ding Yixing delicatessen, was named after the owner's surname.
How to Make Maple Jingdingti?
Maple Jingdingti uses the four trotters of local Maple Jing pigs as raw materials, which need to undergo 8 processes including hoof shape trimming, blanching, plucking hair, simmering, seasoning, and deboning. Each step is carefully done.
1. Remove the prickly hairs on the Maple Jing pig elbow (pig's elbow), scrape and wash it clean, remove the bone marrow, and trim it neatly;
2. Put the pig's elbow into a pot, pour in water or old brine, add soy sauce, rock sugar, yellow wine, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger slices. First, boil it over high heat, then simmer it over low heat, which is commonly known as "three texts and three flames, with an emphasis on gentleness" to make the pig's elbow crispy outside and cooked inside, and to immerse the thick juice of the original brine into the inner layer of the elbow;
3. When it is out of the pot, after being boiled and cooked by a strong fire, add monosodium glutamate when the broth is thick, and remove the residues of cloves, cinnamon, and ginger pieces to make the broth tightly wrapped in the elbow and flavored;
4. When serving, slice and arrange it on a plate and serve.
Craft Tips:
1. In the cooking process, the oil film and debris must be skimmed off to keep the elbow clean and prevent the bottom of the pot from forming crust;
2. The soup should be enough to cover the pig's elbow;
3. The spices can be wrapped in a cloth bag, put into the pot, and removed before simmering;
4. The old brine should be kept and boiled regularly during storage to prevent it from spoiling and deteriorating.
Awards and Honors of Maple Jingdingti
From 1852 (the second year of the Xianfeng reign of the Qing Dynasty) to 1899 (the 25th year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty), the market for Maple Jingdingti was widespread in the Shanghai-Hangzhou area. It was sold to markets in Southeast Asia and Europe and America, and won more than 20 awards and certificates from countries and regions; in 1910 (the second year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty), "Ding Ting" won the Silver Award of the Nanyang Industrial Exposition and the Award Certificate of the Zhejiang Governor. It also won the Gold Medal at the Panama International Exposition and the Leipzig International Fair in Germany.
In 1909, the Qing court issued an edict approving the first Nanyang Industrial Exposition sponsored by China, encouraging merchants from all over the country to "carefully select quality products and actively participate in the competition." Maple Jingdingti participated in this grand event and won the Silver Award of the Nanyang Industrial Exposition in 1910, the Gold Medal of the Panama International Exposition in 1915, the first-class award of the Philadelphia World Exposition in 1926, and the Gold Medal of the Leipzig International Exposition in Germany in 1935. It has participated in exhibitions in more than 20 countries. It was awarded the title of "Chinese Time-honored Brand" by the Ministry of Domestic Trade of the People's Republic of China in 1993, and the Silver Medal at the 25th Geneva International Invention and New Technology Exhibition in 1997, among others.
