Jinhua Ham: The Leg That Waits Three Years

A rock-hard leg of pork, salted seven times and hung through two summers until the meat turns garnet red — one shaving perfumes a whole pot of soup.

Daughter's Wine: The Jar Buried the Day She Was Born

In Shaoxing a family brews a jar of huangjiu the winter a daughter is born and digs it up at her wedding. What eighteen years underground do to the wine, and how to tell an aged bottle from a story with a red box.

By Zhouyang · Shanghai

How to Cook Dongpo Pork: The Poet's Recipe

Editor’s Note: Since launching this column, we’ve heard one request more than any other: the stories are great, but how do we actually …

Dongpo Rou: The Poet Who Braised Pork Better Than God

The clay pot lid lifts and the smell hits you like a wall: Shaoxing wine reduced to syrup, caramelized sugar gone dark as old wood, star anise and …