IT is hard to link three makeshift wooden houses hidden in a grove of trees in a remote corner of Gongming Subdistrict in Bao an with a century-old store. But this simple and crude workshop is where a famous local specialty, Gongming Roast Pig, has been made for generations by the Chen family.
Gongming Roast Pig enjoys the same long-standing reputation as Gongming Roast Goose, and is regularly served at local government banquets, according to a subdistrict government official.
Chen Zhongming, 59, who inherited the 100-year-old business in Xiasha Community, is well known in the trade locally and in neighboring cities such as Dongguan, according to a Southern Metropolis Daily report Thursday. He has four employees.
After coating the pigs with the Chen family s own special sauce, the chef roasts them in a giant oven for 35 minutes. The half-cooked pigs are then cooled with cold water and then roasted again for another 45 minutes. This gives them their golden appearance, crispy skin, strong flavor, and fat but not greasy meat, he said.
Chen said he was strict about choosing which pigs should be roasted.
Pigs that are too fat or thin taste bad, he said. Eligible ones must weigh between 30-40 kg.
Chen said his business was robust two years ago, with most orders placed by government agencies.
Once we worked all night roasting 250 pigs to make sure the delivery was on time, he said.
Chen said he was worried the business would be lost because his 32-year-old son, Chen Hehui, has no son to inherit the business. (Mu Zi)
