An ensemble cast
There’s a good reason why the stewed pork has remained for so long the star of the biandang show.
“There are a lot of environmental factors to take into account when putting together a biandang,” says Xie. The pork used in TRA biandang is marinated, fried, and stewed, with the aim being to produce a pork cutlet that stays mouth-watering even at room temperature.
The recipe for TRA stewed pork cutlets is basically this: after tenderizing, the cutlet is steeped for two hours or more in a marinade containing scallions, ginger, garlic, salt, sugar, sesame oil, rice wine, white pepper, and five-spice powder; next, it is dredged in sweet potato starch and shallow-fried at about 160°C; and finally, it is stewed for 20 minutes, completing the process.
Of course, the side dishes are also no place for carelessness. Xie Binghong explains that when picking side dishes, he looks to things with lower water content like cauliflower, mustard greens, pickled vegetables, and cabbage. The reason is that vegetables that contain too much water tend to make the rice overly moist, giving the whole biandang an unappealing mouthfeel.
Going international
Today, TRA’s biandang business pulls in almost NT$400 million a year. Sales long ago expanded out from the trains and train stations to include anywhere within three kilometers of the five producing stations, with any purchase of NT$1000 or more also enjoying free delivery. According to Dennis Ju, the TRA is now considering setting up a chain of retail outlets, and plans are underway to take the biandang international this year.
In March 2013, Ju says, the TRA will begin selling a seafood and pork cutlet biandang in Hokkaido, Japan, in cooperation with Japan Railways; this new combination will also be sold in Taiwan.
The plan is to have long, rectangular boxes that are one half TRA biandang and one half Japanese bento; the Taiwanese half will be headlined by a pork cutlet, while the Japanese half will be salmon and fried egg. Excitement among the train-taking public erupted almost immediately on the announcement of the plan, and many people have already begun calling the TRA to ask when they’ll finally go on sale.
The TRA stewed pork cutlet biandang has been a local favorite for more than half a century, going from train carriages to full-fledged stores, and now to another country. Truly the story of the TRA biandang is one not only of fond remembrance of times past, but also of innovating for the future.