The right stuff

[Photo provided to China Daily]

In order to get the best stock to help highlight the flavors of bao shen chi du, Bao had been looking for pigs and chickens in the nearby Yangtze River region for the stock for two years. Then he visited a private pig farm in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, a city that is famous for its cured ham.

Because of the distance, what he called the best pig farm he ever visited could not be his regular supplier.

So Bao invested in a pig farm on nearby Chongming back in 2015, and one year later a chicken farm about 5 kilometers away on the same island. Chongming, one of the country's largest islands, is an unpolluted back garden treasured by many Shanghai natives.

He also decided to "copy" from the best－using a local black-haired breed of Chongming, with a fat-to-lean meat ratio that is very close to Jinhua's breed. His pigs are bred in stables where they are nurtured for six months, then they roam free-range for another six months, getting exercise on a daily basis.