Lou Mei

Alternative names	Lo Mei; Lu Wei; Luwei; 卤味; 滷味; 卤菜; master-stock braised meats; Chinese braised-marinated dishes
Pinyin	Lǔ wèi
Type	Family of foods braised or steeped in a spiced soy master stock (lou sauce)
Course	Cold or warm side plate / snack / rice and noodle topping / night-market snack
Place of origin	China
Region or state	Chaoshan (Teochew) and Hokkien traditions, Hong Kong, Guangdong, Taiwan, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei and nationwide Chinese deli counters; Southeast Asian Chinese communities
Other	Braised master-stock category — not roasted siu mei; spicy duck neck is one mala sub-type

Lou Mei (Simplified Chinese: 卤味; Traditional Chinese: 滷味; Pinyin: Lǔ wèi; Cantonese: lou mei; Taiwanese Mandarin: lu wei; also written lo mei) is the broad Chinese family of foods cooked by simmering or steeping them in a master stock (卤水 / 滷水, lou sauce)—a dark, aromatic liquid usually built on soy sauce, rock sugar, rice wine and warm spices such as star anise, cassia, licorice root, tangerine peel and Sichuan pepper. Meat, poultry, offal, eggs, tofu, kelp and vegetarian gluten are all common. Lou mei is served cold and sliced, warm from the pot, or as a topping for rice and noodles. Shops often treat their long-kept "old stock" (老卤) as a trade secret; claims of stocks kept alive for many decades are part of shop lore and are hard to verify. Lou mei is not Siu Mei (烧味), the Cantonese family of roasted meats such as Char Siu and Roast Goose, even though the two often share a deli counter; Spicy Duck Neck is one popular mala (numbing-hot) branch of the lou mei world rather than a synonym for it.^[1]^[2]

Characteristics

Glossy mahogany or reddish-brown surface; savory-sweet, spice-scented flesh; textures range from tender braised goose and pork hock to chewy gizzards, tripe, tofu and kelp. Regional styles differ sharply: Chaoshan stock leans on soy and galangal (南姜) and is famous for braised goose; Sichuan red stocks (川卤) add chili and numbing peppercorn; Taiwanese night-market lu wei lets diners pick skewers of tofu, rice-blood cake, kelp and vegetables for a quick simmer.

Ingredients (overview)

Typical items: goose, duck, chicken wings and feet, pork hock, pig ear and tongue, beef shank and tripe, gizzards, eggs (卤蛋), firm and puffed tofu, kelp, wheat gluten; the stock itself uses soy, sugar, rice wine and a spice bundle. Overview only—not a stock recipe.

History and culture

Encyclopedic sources describe braising in lou sauce as a core technique of Teochew and Hokkien cooking, later spread through Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities; Chinese culinary writing also groups Sichuan red braise, northern jiang-lu (酱卤) and Chaoshan lou as major regional styles. Individual shop origin stories are commercial folklore. English menus may say "lou mei," "lo mei," "lu wei," "soy-braised platter" or "marinated cold cuts." Related pages: Tea Egg (tea-and-soy steeped eggs), Daokou Braised Chicken and Dezhou Braised Chicken (famous regional braised chickens), and Lu Rou Fan (Taiwanese braised pork over rice).^[3]^[1]

Serving and variations

Sliced cold platter with a ladle of warm stock or vinegar-garlic dip; rice or noodle topping; snack bags by weight; vegetarian zaai lou mei with gluten and tofu. See Siu Mei, Spicy Duck Neck, Phoenix Claws and Tea Egg.

References

[wp-1] 1.0 ^1.1 English Wikipedia: Lou mei

[zhw-2] Chinese Wikipedia: 滷味

[zhlu-3] Chinese Wikipedia: 卤水

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