Jinhu Traditional Meat Sauce Introduction
"Ah Jiao Grandma" Lin Jiao (born in 1951) started selling pan-fried buns with her husband when their son was in the fourth grade of elementary school to help support the family. Later, they changed to selling meat soup, meat rice dumplings, and flatfish soup, eventually gaining popularity for their traditional meat soup, which became a specialty snack in the Jinhu area. The method of making "Ah Jiao Grandma" meat soup is divided into two parts: the pork and the soup. For the pork part, pork is shredded and mixed with seasonings and fish paste, then cooked in boiling water in pieces until done and cooled for later use. For the soup, when the water is boiling, shredded bamboo shoots, seasonings, rock candy, dried fish, and garlic bits are added, followed by a swirl of beaten egg. If there are no bamboo shoots, they can be replaced with Shandong cabbage. When customers order, the prepared pork is blanched in the soup pot, served in a bowl, and topped with vinegar before being brought to the table. The soup noodles are made by ladling the meat soup over blanched fried noodles. In addition to meat soup, "Ah Jiao Grandma" also sells meat rice dumplings and flatfish soup. The filling of the meat rice dumplings consists of pork, scallions, and glutinous rice, wrapped in bamboo leaves. The flatfish is locally sourced, and "Ah Jiao Grandma" personally removes the fish bones, so their flatfish soup is served without bones.
