Bazi Rou (Braised Pork Slab)

Bazi Rou takes skin-on pork belly with even layers of fat and lean, cuts it into long slabs, binds each with a reed cord or hemp string and slow-braises it in soy sauce, rock sugar and spices, until it gleams red-brown and grows so tender that the fat never cloy.

Locals trace Bazi Rou to the ancient rite of sharing "sacrificial meat" after worship, when the offerings were tied with reed cord or hemp string and divided among the people—hence the name "bazi," meaning a tied bundle; it shares its roots with Jinan's Bazi Rou yet has its own century-old Xuzhou line.

Served as one big slab set over rice and drenched in its braising liquid, with pan-fried buns, rolled tofu or kelp on the side, it is the signature combo of a Xuzhou roadside Bazi Rou stall; the sauce spooned over rice is what truly makes the meal.

Its rustic reed-tied form, the melt-in-the-mouth richness that never cloys, and the street-stall ritual of pouring the sauce over rice are the unmistakable marks of Bazi Rou.