Braised pork rice ( Taiwanese: ''khòng-bah-pn̄g'', ) is a

gaifan ''Gaifan'' () or ''gaijiaofan'' () is a type of dish in Chinese cuisine typically offered in low-cost establishments. It consists of a fish, meat, or vegetable topping served over rice. The dish can be either freshly cooked or previously cooked, ...

dish found in

Fujianese cuisine Fujian cuisine or Fujianese cuisine, also known as Min cuisine, is one of the native Chinese cuisines derived from the cooking style of China's Fujian Province, most notably from the provincial capital, Fuzhou. "Fujian cuisine" in this article ...

and

Taiwanese cuisine Taiwanese cuisine ( or ) is a popular style of food with several variations, including Chinese cuisine, Chinese and that of Taiwanese indigenous peoples, with the earliest cuisines known of being the indigenous ones. With over a hundred years of ...

. Although subject to regional variations, dishes are typically made of

pork belly Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless, fatty Primal cut, cut of pork from the Abdomen, belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in American cuisine, American, British cuisine, British, Swedish cuisine, Swedish, Danish cuisine, Danish, ...

cooked in a process known as lǔ 滷 (boiled and marinated in soy sauce and sugar) and served on top of rice.

Chinese pickles Chinese pickles or Chinese preserved vegetables consist of vegetables or fruits that have been fermented by pickling with salt and brine (), or marinated in mixtures based on soy sauce or savory bean pastes (). The former is usually done using hi ...

are often eaten with the dish. Braised pork belly likely originated from

Quanzhou Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China, People's Republic of China. It is Fujian's largest most populous metropolitan region, wi ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and was brought to Taiwan by immigrants during the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. Along with the similar

ló͘-bah-pn̄g ''Ló͘-bah-pn̄g'' ( Taiwanese: ló͘-bah-pn̄g), also called ''bah-sò-pn̄g'' in southern Taiwan, or translated to minced pork rice in English, is a rice dish that is commonly seen throughout Taiwan and Southern Fujian, China. The flavor m ...

(minced pork rice), khong bah png gradually became an integral part of Taiwanese

xiaochi ''Xiaochi'' () is an important category of Chinese street food, commonly found in Chinese populated communities around the world. ''Xiaochi'' are substantial snacks, which can be eaten together or with more substantial dishes like the Spanish t ...

culture, commonly found at food stalls or

bento A is a Japanese-style single-portion take-out or home-packed meal, often for lunch, typically including rice and packaged in a box with a lid (often a segmented box with different parts of the meal placed in different sections). Outside Japa ...

stores. Similar dishes can be found within

Hakka cuisine Hakka cuisine is the cooking style of the Hakka people, and it may also be found in parts of Taiwan and in countries with significant overseas Hakka communities. There are many restaurants in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mala ...

Singaporean Singaporeans are the citizens and nationals of the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is home to a people of a variety of ethno-racial-religious origins, with the city-state itself being a multi-racial, multi-cultural, m ...

, and Malaysian cuisine. Braised pork rice is one of the most notable Taiwanese foods. Braised pork rice is a popular comfort food in Taiwan, with many street vendors and night markets offering their own secret recipes and variations.

Etymology

Although "焢" and "爌" are both

variant characters Chinese characters may have several variant forms—visually distinct glyphs that represent the same underlying meaning and pronunciation. Variants of a given character are ''allographs'' of one another, and many are directly analogous to allog ...

, the two are more commonly used in the name of the dish than "炕". Additionally, even though all three characters each have different pronunciations in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, the

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien ( , ), or simply Taiwanese, also known as Taigi ( zh, c=臺語, tl=Tâi-gí), Taiwanese Southern Min ( zh, c=臺灣閩南語, tl=Tâi-uân Bân-lâm-gí), Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively ...

pronunciation ''khòng'' is colloquially used in place. Therefore, the dish is commonly referred to as ''kòngròufàn'' in Mandarin. In

southern Taiwan The regions of Taiwan are based on historical administrative divisions. However, most of the definitions are not precise. Division into two regions * Eastern and Western Taiwan: the Central Mountain Range separates Taiwan into east and west. :* ' ...

, braised pork rice is referred to as ló͘-bah-pn̄g (), which in northern and central Taiwan refers to minced pork rice. Minced pork rice is instead named bah-sò-pn̄g () in the south.

Braised pork rice in Changhua

Braised pork rice is one of the three essential dishes in

Changhua Changhua (Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: ''Chiong-hòa'' or ''Chiang-hòa''), officially known as Changhua City, is a county-administered city and the county seat of Changhua County in Taiwan. For many centuries the site was home to a settlement of ...

cuisine, along with

bah-oân ''Bah-oân'' ( zh, t=, p=ròuyuán, w=jou4-yüan2, poj=bah-oân, l=meat circle) is a Taiwanese cuisine, Taiwanese dumpling made of starch and rice flour, filled with meat and vegetables. It is gelatinous and translucent, and often considered ...

and cat-mouse noodles (similar to tàⁿ-á-mī). The main difference is that rear leg pork is chosen instead of pork belly. Since the fat and lean meat from this cut often separates during preparation, vendors usually connect the two with a toothpick. The dish is eaten throughout the day, even including breakfast and

siu yeh ''Siu yeh'' (), also called Night-time snack/meal, Night snack/meal, Mid-night snack/meal, Late-night snack/meal, or Xiao ye, is a late night meal in the food culture of southern China. It is particularly associated with the cuisine of Hong Ko ...

. In 2011, Changhua hosted a braised pork rice festival. Eighteen local vendors were invited to serve the dish, and the event was visited by President

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, t=馬英九; pinyin: ''Mǎ Yīngjiǔ''; ; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and legal scholar who served as the sixth president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT ...

. In 2012, Changhua set the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for the largest braised pork rice at .

Gallery

Food 焢肉飯台北 (24735872013).jpg, With fermented bamboo shoots Braised pork rice in Taichung.jpg, Braised pork rice from

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Ce ...

, with

bitter melon ''Momordica charantia'' (commonly called bitter melon, cerassee, goya, bitter apple, bitter gourd, bitter squash, balsam-pear, karela, karavila and many more #Uses, names listed below) is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitac ...

References

{{Singaporean cuisine Chinese rice dishes Chinese pork dishes Taiwanese rice dishes

Etymology

Braised pork rice in Changhua

Gallery

See also

References