Rou Jia Mo

Welcome to July! How was your Fourth of July? I hope you didn’t see too many people but still enjoyed a grilled hot dog or two. Maybe even potato salad for good measure? For the first time in YEARS we had a warm Independence day. Ever since we left the city, we have experienced consistently sunny days and I actually wear shorts again. That might not sound too earth shattering to you, but if you’ve ever lived in San Francisco then you know that ladies in shorts are a rare sight.

July kicks off our birthday month and also the first official month in our house! We are finally starting to feel settled as the cardboard boxes slowly get broken down and all the random knick-knacks find their home on our shelves. I’m already brainstorming ideas for our joint birthday cake (Reuben’s birthday is 7/22 and mine is 7/25) and leaning towards a Chinese style fruit cream cake! I’ve made so many for the cookbook but I feel like it's time to make one for a real occasion outside of recipe testing. I’m thinking of a plum and peanut butter mousse cream cake, what do you think?

While the days are warm and sunny, the evenings tend to cool down quite a bit, which I’m totally fine with because I love staying cozy. I also can’t get rid of all of my SF summer sweaters, you know? So that means even while it’s Summer, I can still enjoy all of my beloved noodle soups and cozy braised dishes… all while in shorts (lol).

What is Rou Jia Mo?

Have you ever had Rou Jia Mo before? It’s a Xi’an style sandwich loaded with juicy tender pork, spicy peppers, herby cilantro, and pungent chopped onions. The meat, which is sometimes pork shoulder, pork belly, and even lamb, is braised in a super flavorful liquid of aromatics and sauces for a couple hours until the meat falls off the bone tender. Braising anything is so easy. It gets a connotation of only being prepared during the fall or winter, but it’s such an effortless way to cook that it really should be made all year. Braising has a leave it and forget about it magic to it.

When I lived in Beijing for a summer after college I ate at least one Rou Jia Mo a week after a co-worker introduced them to me. The fellow expats would call them “Chinese Hamburgers” but I never felt like that name gave it enough credit. RJM tastes so much more complex, and honestly more delicious than any hamburger I’ve ever eaten.

Rou Jia Mo is typically served on Mo, which is a leavened flatbread that is really similar to an english muffin. I’m actually developing a recipe for Mo in my cookbook, but you know what? Good old classic english muffins totally work as a replacement! Especially Dave’s Killer Bread Killer Classic English Muffins. You want a bread that will sop up all the juices and pork fat from the braised pork. Their english muffins are full of little craters just for that very purpose! I love toasting them up first so that the exterior gets nice and crunchy and the interior softens and gets a really good chew. The Killer Classic English Muffins also have 8g of whole wheat per muffin and their Rockin’ Grains variety is packed with 20g of whole wheat… lots of health points there!

Anyways, happy Summer!

Rou Jia Mo (Xi’an Style Pork Sandwiches)

Serves 6

materials:

1 ½ to 2 lb bone in pork shoulder
2 tsp salt, divided
1/4 cup neutral oil
2-inch sliced ginger
½ tsp whole cumin seeds, crushed
½ tsp sichuan peppercorns, crushed
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 bay leaves
¼ cup Shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine)
¼ cup soy sauce
4 cups water
1 serrano pepper, mince
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup white onion, chopped
1 1/2 cup reserved braising liquid
6 Dave’s Killer Bread Killer Classic English Muffins

steps:

1. Salt the pork shoulder all over with 1 teaspoon of salt and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a heavy bottom dutch oven or pot over medium high heat. Add the pork to the pan and sear on all sides until golden brown. Add remaining teaspoon of salt, sliced ginger, cumin seeds, sichuan peppercorns, brown sugar, bay leaves, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and water. Stir to combine and bring the mixture to boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover with a lid. Allow the pork to braise for 2 hours. The meat should be very tender and fall off the bone.

3. Remove the pork from the braising liquid and shred the pork using 2 forks. In a medium bowl, combine shredded pork, serrano, cilantro, onion, and reserved braising liquid. Mix to combine and set aside until ready to serve.

4. Place a scoop of the pork between toasted english muffins and enjoy!

Thanks, Dave’s Killer Bread, for sponsoring this post!