Roujiamo

Introduction

Roujiamo or rougamo (simplified Chinese: 肉夹馍; traditional Chinese: 肉夾饃; pinyin: ròujiāmó/ròugāmó; lit. 'meat sandwiched in bread') is a street food originating from the cuisine of Shaanxi Province[2] and widely consumed all over China.

Overview

The meat is most commonly pork, stewed for hours in a soup containing over 20 spices and seasonings. Although it is possible to use only a few spices (which many vendors do), the resulting meat is less flavourful.

Some alternatives are also available. For example, in Muslim areas in Xi'an, the meat is usually beef (seasoned with cumin and pepper), and in Gansu Province it is often lamb. The meat is then minced or chopped and stuffed in "baijimo", a type of flatbread. An authentic baijimo is made from a wheat flour dough with yeast and then baked in a clay oven, but now in many parts of China, baijimo is made in a frying pan, giving a taste that diverges significantly from the authentic clay oven-baked version. Depending on the types of spices used to cook the meat and the way the bread is made, the taste of roujiamo can vary greatly from vendor to vendor. Roujiamo is not a full meal and is often sold in the form of combo with liangpi. It is found with regional modifications across China.

Roujiamo is considered the Chinese equivalent to the Western hamburger and meat sandwiches. Roujiamo is considered to be one of the world's oldest types of hamburgers, since the bread or the "mo" dates back to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and the meat to the Zhou dynasty (1045–256 BC). However, since people have been stuffing meat inside bread all across the world for centuries, it is unknown where it was done first.

Ingredients

(Makes 4 sandwiches)

• 500 g pork belly or pork shoulder, cut into chunks
• 4 baijimo flatbreads (or sturdy pita / homemade yeast flatbreads)
• 2–3 slices ginger
• 2 scallions, cut into sections
• 2 star anise
• 1 small piece cassia bark (or cinnamon stick)
• 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt, to taste
• Water, enough to cover the meat

Recipe

1. Blanch the pork briefly in boiling water; rinse and place in a pot with ginger, scallions, star anise, cassia, Sichuan peppercorns, soy sauces, wine, sugar, and salt. Cover with water.
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 1.5–2 hours until the meat is very tender. Cool slightly, then chop or pull the meat finely; moisten with a spoonful of the braising liquid.
3. Warm or bake the baijimo until the crust is crisp and the inside soft. Split open (do not cut all the way through).
4. Stuff generously with the chopped meat. Serve hot; pair with liangpi if desired.

Related

• Shaanxi Food
• Chinese Snack

See also

• Chinese Snack
• Shaanxi Food
• Donkey Burger
• Doubanjiang
• Mapo Tofu
• Sichuan Food
• Types Of Taste