Moo Shu Pork
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Moo Shu Pork
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Moo Shu Pork (Simplified Chinese: 木须肉; Traditional Chinese: 木須肉; Pinyin: Mù xū ròu; also written 木樨肉 / 木犀肉; English mu shu pork) is a northern Chinese home-style stir-fry, classed under Shandong cooking and common in Beijing, of thinly sliced pork, softly scrambled egg and wood-ear fungus, usually with cucumber, dried daylily buds or bamboo shoots. The name is generally explained through muxi (木樨), a literary word for sweet osmanthus: yellow-and-white scraps of egg were likened to osmanthus blossoms, and the flower word also let speakers avoid saying dan (egg), a syllable found in coarse expressions. Other explanations of the spelling circulate and remain disputed. In Chinese kitchens the dish is eaten with rice; the American Chinese version, which appeared on New York and Washington menus in the mid-1960s, uses cabbage and carrot and is rolled in thin pancakes brushed with hoisin sauce.[1][2]
Characteristics
Pale, savory stir-fry with fluffy egg, tender pork slivers, crunchy wood ear and cucumber; lightly seasoned with soy, rice wine, ginger and scallion rather than heavy sauce.
Ingredients (overview)
Pork loin or tenderloin; eggs; wood-ear fungus; cucumber, daylily buds or bamboo shoots (by region); soy, rice wine, scallion, ginger. American version: cabbage, carrot, pancakes, hoisin. Overview only.
History and culture
Chinese sources describe a Confucius-mansion style in Shandong with bamboo shoots, a Beijing style with daylily and cucumber, and a Hebei variant with water chestnut. The dish crossed to the United States with post-war northern Chinese restaurants; it became one of the best-known non-Cantonese items on American Chinese menus. Compare Peking Duck for another pancake-wrapped northern dish and Chinese Tomato Egg for another egg stir-fry.[1]
Serving and variations
Rice accompaniment at home; pancake-wrapped in American Chinese restaurants. See Chinese Tomato Egg, Yuxiang Shredded Pork, Peking Duck and Egg Foo Young.
See also
- Chinese Tomato Egg
- Yuxiang Shredded Pork
- Peking Duck
- Egg Foo Young
- Shandong Food
- List of dishes (A-Z)