Roger Moore / Rou Jia Mo

The other week I went to visit my friend who lives in a beautiful converted traditional courtyard in the centre of Beijing. The building is located only a couple of hundred metres away from one of the city’s biggest and flashiest department stores and steps away from Jianguomen, the wide central avenue that splits Beijing into north and south – much like the Thames I guess, but less wet.

Her neighbourhood is one of those which has become rarer by the day in Beijing. Narrow streets, barely wide enough for a car to travel down, alleys leading to what could just as likely be a tasty little noodle shack or a boutique café, old men sitting on low stools, vests hoisted up to cool their bellies in the hot Beijing sun, smoking and playing cards or majiang and, most interestingly for me, dozens of tiny food stalls dotted around, serving a wide selection of insanely cheap and equally delicious snacks and meals.

肉夹馍 (rou jia mo) is a food traditionally associated with Shaanxi province in central China but is something I had never tried before either there or anywhere else. It is often described as the closest thing to a traditional Chinese burger, or even a sandwich, but that would be a dis-service to this mouthwateringly delicious snack. Its SO good.

As with most foods in China, there are dozens of regional variations. In Hangzhou in China’s Zhejiang province it is common to mix the filling with big handfuls of lettuce, in Xian the meat is spicier, in other areas the meat is not tainted with the addition of vegetables, but two features of the ‘burger’ are always the same – big chunks of fatty pork, stewed for hours in a broth of water and spices and a round, floury bing cut two thirds of the way through and stuffed with the meat and juices until it is spilling out every which way.

The Beijing versions I ate benefited from the addition of chili sauce, chopped red chili and fresh coriander. All the ingredients stuffed into the bread and handed over in exchange for 3 Kuai (25 pence), a bargain in any language.

It is impossible to eat this without the pork juices running down your chin and a good quarter of the succulent filling falling on the floor, but it doesn’t matter, its all part of the fun.

This recipe below comes courtesy of some dude on the internet should anyone want to make this for themselves, but I wouldn’t bother personaly, just get yourself down to any traditional area of any Chinese city and ask around...

肉夹馍

Bing – you can use any type really, Chinese round bing, Indian naan, Pita bread, hell you could even use ciabatta, why not.
Fatty pork, ideally belly pork
Spices (star anise, cinnamon bark)
Dark soy sauce
Sugar and salt
Chinese cooking wine of Japanese mirin
Sesame oil
Fresh red chilli
Lettuce
Any other vegetables you fancy, tomato, peppers etc.

Cut the pork into small pieces & put into a pot. Add ground star anise, one piece of cinnamon bark, some dark soya sauce, a few drops of sesame oil, 1-2 crushed whole garlic cloves & some Chinese cooking wine or Japanese mirin.

Mix well and add enough water to just cover the meat.

Bring to a boil and then cover the pot & simmer for about 25 minutes. If there is still too much water, you can reduce down the gravy until thick by further boiling. The meat should be very tender by now.

Just slice the bread almost into 2 to form pockets and stuff pieces of meat inside with a bit of gravy and assorted vegetables. Enjoy!