A pot of dark old stock simmers while a hand lifts a whole braised chicken out of it on a hook, sliced sauced beef fans out on the board, and a salted duck lies on a wooden platter beside it.
Flavour from the pot
Introduction
Meat and poultry simmered in a seasoned sauce or brine stock until the flavour is in, ready to eat as they are.
Braised and sauced cooked meats are meat and poultry products simmered in a seasoned sauce or brine stock until they take on its flavour, and ready to eat as they are; the national standard GB/T 23586-2022, a general quality standard for sauced and braised meat products, covers them. Dezhou braised chicken is brushed with honey and fried, then boiled over a strong fire and simmered over a low one in old broth, and in Beijing a long-established shop also sauces beef and lamb in an old broth whose liquid is used again and again. Nanjing salted duck is cured with salt, scallion, ginger and spices, soaked in a master sauce, dried and then cooked at a low heat. They are not made mainly by drying or smoking, which separates them from the ham, cured pork and sausage, dried meat, smoked foods and salted fish in the same group. Slicing them and dressing them cold is a way of serving that does not change where they belong, and lu and jiang as cooking methods belong to Cooking Techniques.