Stir-Fried Artemisia with Cured Pork

The dish stir-fries the tender stems of wild artemisia from the Poyang Lake shores with Jiangxi's smoked cured pork over high heat; the artemisia stays bright green, fragrant and crisp, while the cured pork renders its savoury fat, making it the headline dish of a Nanchang spring table.

Artemisia is a wild green growing on the Poyang Lake meadows, and Nanchang folk say "the grass of Poyang is the treasure of Nanchang"; since the Ming dynasty locals have gathered it to stir-fry with cured pork, making the dish one of the most regionally distinctive of Gan cuisine and a member of the ten great Jiangxi dishes.

Served hot and eaten at once, the crisp artemisia and savoury cured pork suit both rice and wine, the most seasonal home dish of a Nanchang spring and often a visitor's first taste of Gan cuisine.

The contrast between the artemisia's faint-bitter fragrance and crisp stems and the smoky salt of the cured pork is the dish's clearest signature.