Donkey meat: the most traditional way to get a piece of ass

Headed home from a long day at work, suddenly you detect a delicious scent, one you follow to the subway entrance, where you find a vendor selling what looks like a bread roll stuffed with shredded meat and veggies. You're so hungry you order one – okay, two – and chow down, happy to have something resembling a sandwich.

But what exactly did you just scarf? Probably donkey meat. Yes, you read that right: you've been eating ass sandwiches.

The buns are freshly baked, bready pastries, coated in crispy sesame seeds on the outside, steaming hot and soft on the inside. Stuffed with braised, shredded donkey meat, fresh coriander and sometimes green peppers, this delicious (if salty) street snack, lü rou huoshao, sells for anywhere from 3 to 6 yuan.

Supposedly originating from Hebei Province, the eating of donkey meat has a 300-year history; methods of cooking and parts involved vary as greatly as the origin myths. One legend states that during the Ming Dynasty, Prince Zhu Di rebelled against the emperor, his nephew. He lost his first war and was so short of food that his soldiers started to serve him horsemeat-stuffed bread rolls. Later, when he became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the popularity of these bread rolls spread. However, horses were still valuable, so donkeys were used instead.

Nowadays, speciality restaurants offer donkey hot pots of braised meat and vegetables, with or without the skin, the gelatine of which is said to enhance flavor, replenish energy, improve blood circulation and enhance beauty. Many Chinese women believe that the Chinese medicine (ejiao) made from donkey skin will make them more beautiful; as such, donkey skin is a common cold dish enjoyed by the vain in many Chinese restaurants.

The well-known Chinese saying, "Dragon meat in the sky and donkey meat on earth," simply means that since there are no dragons on earth for eating, donkey meat is the next best thing. It's said to have a great taste, with less fat than other meats, and to be high in proteins and minerals such as calcium, iron and phosphorus due to the donkey's diet of mostly grass.

The poetic names given to Chinese dishes don't always allow foreigners to fully understand exactly what they are eating, and there are times when one's Chinese dining counterparts may be too embarrassed to disclose what meat is nervously quivering between chopsticks. The "Donkey's Three Treasures" is just such a dish, consisting of sliced meat from the donkey's penis, testicles and kidneys. Good luck working out which bit is which. If you want to take all uncertainty out of the equation, order "donkey coin money," which describes circular slices of donkey penis, renowned by Chinese men for its aphrodisiac effects.

Slow cooking donkey meat in soy sauce with a variety of seasonings, such as Sichuan pepper, fennel, cinnamon, ginger and salt for as long as 24 hours, is the most common way to ensure the meat is tender, reddish-brown in color and bursting with flavor. The meat can then be thinly sliced and served as a cold dish or shredded and stuffed into bread rolls.

Next time when chowing down on street food or enjoying a meal where you let your friends do the ordering, you may want to double-check that what you are eating is, in fact, what you think it is.

Source: Global Times

16:23, March 30, 2010