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Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork
毛氏红烧肉 · Máo Shì Hóngshāo Ròu
Hunan-style slow-braised pork belly in soy, Shaoxing wine and chilli — the dish Mao Zedong reportedly ate weekly in Zhongnanhai.
Hunan red-braised pork (hóngshāo ròu) differs from its Shanghainese cousin in several ways. The Hunan version uses fresh red chillies or dried chilli paste in the braise, adding a heat layer absent from the sweeter Shanghai style. Pork belly is blanched to remove blood, cut into generous cubes (sān céng ròu, three-layered pork) and browned in a little oil, then braised slowly in soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, rock sugar, chilli, star anise and cinnamon. The story that Chairman Mao favoured this dish from his native Shaoshan in Hunan has made it a fixture on the menus of Hunan restaurants across China, often listed as Máo Shì (Mao-style) to emphasise the regional identity. The fat should melt completely into the sauce; the lean should remain moist but slice cleanly.
Where to try
Changsha: Hunan restaurants in the Wuyi Square and Taiping Street food areas. Shaoshan: tourist restaurants near Mao's birthplace market this specifically. Available at any Hunan restaurant nationwide.
Dietary notes
Pork, soy, wheat (Shaoxing wine). Contains chilli. Not suitable for pork-free diets.
Cities to try Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork
Other central dishes
- Doupi (Wuhan Tofu Skin)豆皮
Wuhan breakfast: layered pan-fried tofu skin and rice cake with mushroom, ham and bamboo shoots inside.
- Fish Head with Chopped Chilli剁椒鱼头
A whole silver carp head blanketed with fermented chopped red chilli and steamed until the flesh is silky and fiery.
- Hunan Chilli Fried Pork小炒肉
Thin-sliced pork belly wok-fried with fresh long green chillies and fermented black beans — Hunan's most-ordered everyday dish.
- Hunan Spicy Fish with Pickled Cabbage酸菜鱼
Fish slices with sour pickled mustard greens in a sour-spicy broth. Originated in Sichuan, perfected in Hunan.