“Tianfuhao 天福号” braised pork hock
“Tianfuhao” braised pork hock with soy sauce is quite unique, oily but not greasy, lean but not bony, savory and mellow, with tender skin. Although this dish is called sauced pork hock, no sauce is used. The pork hock is in sugar color. The skin sticks to the meat so that the pork hock will not be broken or fallen apart when held up by the chopsticks. The skin is in dark violet color, glistening with oil. With fresh and inviting flavor, the meat in the mouth will not cause any greasy feeling and the flavor will linger in your mouth for a long time.
“Tianfuhao” braised pork hock with soy sauce is one of the dishes awarded as “China’s time-honored brand 中华老字号” that has a history of more than 270 years. It founded as a small shop in Beijing in the third year of Qianlong’s reign in 1738 during the Qing Dynasty. The owner of the shop named Liu Fengxiang 刘凤翔 was originally from Shandong Province, Liu and his grandson set up a store in Beijing selling pork hock,their business was so so, one day in a bazaar outside of Yongdingmen Gate, they got a piece of wooden plaque with three characters “Tian Fu Hao 天福号”, literally as “Great Fortune’s”, they used it as their trade mark, their business turned out to be very successful.
Normally they braised the pork at night, and sold it in the daytime, so someone had to be on the night shift, but one night, the grandson fell into sound sleep when looking after the kitchen at night. Then, the pork hocks were over cooked but fortunately it was very delious, by accident, a servant in the Forbidden City bought the pork hock, the servant enjoyed it so much, and even gave some to the Empress Dowager Cixi, she gave high praise on it, saying that it was crisp and tender, not greasy or stuff the teeth.
From then on, the Liu’s braised pork hock was accepted as tribute by the imperial family, which gave a great fame and promotion to Tianfuhao. Puyi, the last emperor of China, was yearning for Western-style life. He wore suits, had western food and disdained the traditional food of the Qing Dynasty. However, the sauced pork hock of Tianfuhao was an exception, which was an indispensable dish on Puyi’s Western-style dining table.
And the company’s food products make it a profitable concern even to today. As a single product, about 2,000 kilograms per day of hock is sold. During traditional Chinese festivals, this number soars to 20 or 30 tons per day, as eating Tianfuhao’s food has become a traditional part of festival observances.
“In the pork market, we’re undoubtedly number one,” said Feng Juntang, an eighth generation of Tianfuhao’s braised pork- making craft said.
Now, a modern factory makes it possible to produce more food for the market, which includes more than 400 outlets and sales networks covering Central Beijing and its suburban areas. The company’s modern packaging techniques make storage easier and its sanitation more reliable. Stylish packaging is an outward sign of the company’s attempt to change with the times.
