A round white porcelain plate holds about ten short, glossy red-brown rolls of layered pork intestine, a little dark brown sweet-sour sauce pooling below, chopped cilantro and scallion on top, and wooden chopsticks beside it.
Represented by the cooking of Jinan and the Jiaodong coast, strong in quick-fire and braising methods, with stock-making as its hallmark.
Jiuzhuan dachang is a Shandong dish of pork large intestine that is boiled, fried and braised, with a sweet, sour, salty and hot flavor and coriander on top. Accounts including a 2023 article trace it to the Jiuhua Lou restaurant in Jinan during the Guangxu years of the Qing, originally named red-braised large intestine, though none cites a dated primary text. In September 2018 the China Cuisine Association rated it one of the top 10 traditional Shandong dishes.
What
Jiuzhuan dachang is a Shandong dish made of pork large intestine: it is boiled, then fried, then red-braised into a sour, sweet, salty and hot flavor, and finished with coriander.1,3,4
When
Jiuzhuan dachang is said to have appeared in the early Guangxu years of the Qing, though some accounts specify only the Guangxu era (1871 to 1908). These origin accounts are retellings without dated primary texts and remain weakly supported.1,2,3,4
Where
Jinan, Shandong. The accounts place its origin at the Jiuhua Lou restaurant in Jinan, owned by the Du and Zou merchant families of Jinan.1,2,3,4
How
The intestine is cleaned and simmered with spices until soft, cut into pieces and fried, then red-braised with sugar color, wine, vinegar and soy sauce and spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and amomum, and turned repeatedly in the pan before coriander is added at the end.1,3,4,5,6
Why
The name is said to reflect the owner's fondness for the number 9 or the 9 turns given during cooking. The listed materials give no other reason for why the dish is made this way.2
Impact and influence
The China Cuisine Association rated it one of the top 10 traditional Shandong dishes in September 2018. A clip from a television cooking show made it a talking point in 2023. No time-honored-brand or intangible heritage listing was found.1,3
Legend has it that Mr. Du, the owner of the Jiuhua Lou, loved the number nine. At a banquet he gave, a well-read guest tasted the red-braised large intestine, praised it, and named it jiuzhuan dachang. The name pleased the owner and praised the cook's skill, and as it spread it replaced the earlier name, red-braised large intestine.
Told in: A folk tale, found in Chinese Wikipedia and in a Phoenix News (ifeng) article of February 5, 2023. Neither gives a dated text.
The Nine-Turn Elixir and the Nine Turns in the Pan
Legend has it that the guest compared the dish to the Daoist nine-turn elixir, likening its nine stages of work to refining the elixir that is said to make an immortal. Phoenix News (ifeng) also gives another account: the name simply reflects the nine turns the cook gives in the pan.
Told in: A folk tale. The nine-turn elixir account is found in Chinese Wikipedia, and the nine turns in the pan appear in the 2023 Phoenix News (ifeng) article. No dated text was found.
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
In a restaurant this dish takes three steps, boiling, frying and braising. My version at home is simpler: I buy large intestine that is already cleaned, simmer it until soft, then pan-fry it until lightly golden instead of deep-frying it, and braise it in a sugar-color sauce until it thickens. The amounts and timings below are my own choices at home, informed by two published recipes.
Ingredients
Pork large intestine, already cleaned 500 g
Salt, for scrubbing 1 tablespoon
Rice vinegar, for scrubbing 30 ml
Ginger 4 slices
Scallion 2, cut into sections
Cooking wine, for simmering 30 ml
Dried chilies 2
Star anise 2 pods
Sichuan peppercorns 1 teaspoon (about 2 g)
Cooking oil, for pan-frying 30 ml (2 tablespoons)
Sugar, for the sugar color 30 g
Simmering liquid, strained 150 ml
Cooking wine, for braising 15 ml
Dark soy sauce 10 ml
Rice vinegar, for braising 30 ml
Cinnamon 1 small piece (about 3 cm)
White pepper a quarter of a teaspoon
Coriander a small handful, chopped
Steps
Scrub the intestine well with 1 tablespoon of salt and 30 ml of vinegar, rinse it in several changes of water, and drain.
Put the intestine in a pot, cover it with cold water, and add the ginger, scallion, 30 ml wine, dried chilies, star anise and peppercorns. Bring it to the boil and simmer on low heat for 90 minutes to 2 hours, until a chopstick slides in easily and the meat is cooked through.
Lift out the intestine, let it cool for a few minutes, and cut it into pieces about 2.5 cm long. Strain the cooking liquid and keep 150 ml.
Heat 30 ml oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat, pan-fry the pieces until the surface is lightly golden, and take them out.
Pour off the extra oil, leaving about 1 tablespoon, add the sugar, and cook it over low heat until it turns amber. Stand back, because hot sugar spatters, and pour in the 150 ml of liquid, then add the wine, dark soy sauce, vinegar and cinnamon.
Return the pieces to the pan and braise on low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, turning them a few times, until the sauce is thick and coats the intestine. Sprinkle on the white pepper and coriander and serve hot.
Tips
I always scrub the intestine well with salt and vinegar and rinse it in several changes of water; this is my own way.
I add the liquid as soon as the sugar turns amber and do not wait for it to go dark; this is my own timing.
