Thick squares of pork belly, tied with string and braised slowly in Shaoxing wine, soy and sugar until the fat trembles.
What makes it dongpo pork
Pork belly in thick squares, skin on, often tied with string.
Braised a long time in Shaoxing wine, with soy and rock sugar.
Soft enough to cut with chopsticks, with a dark, glossy sauce.
Where it comes from
Named for Su Dongpo, the eleventh-century poet and official who served in Hangzhou. The story goes that he was sent pork by grateful townspeople after dredging West Lake, and had it braised and handed back to them; there are other versions, and his own short verse on slow-cooking pork is often quoted.
It's usually cooked with almost no water — the wine does the work — and each piece comes in its own small pot.