Unknown meat

[abcdefg]

Am posting to ask if anyone recognizes the name of this meat.

 

I ate some today shredded in a bowl of 米线 and it tasted OK, not very distinctive, just some kind of nondescript boiled quadruped mammal. Small shop featuring food made Dali style 大理风味。

 

The dictionaries that I normally use, plus a few others that I tried on line don't recognize the character when I write it by hand. It appears to be a composite of 火 and 巴。

 

Any ideas? Today they were real busy, but if nobody knows, tomorrow or the next day I can ask the 老板。

 

[imron]

Looked up via Unihan database.

 

zdic gives the definition as:

 

pā - 1. 〈方〉指食物熟透而柔软。

 

So not sure if it's the animal, but rather the way it's cooked.

[abcdefg]

Thanks, Imron. That makes sense. "Chinese Mystery Meat that has been cooked tender." I'll ask someone if it's a Dali thing (might well be.)

 

And it sounded like the 老板 was saying "ba rou" with a first tone. Allowing for the common "b and p confusion," makes sense for it to have been pā. 

 

Incidentally, it never occurred to me to use the Unihan database (or a paper dictionary.) So I learned a new trick of the trade. Always appreciate that!

[abcdefg]

Looks like it is a Dali specialty. Not really surprising.

 

http://www.people.com.cn/GB/paper39/14396/1280250.html

 

http://www.dalitravel.gov.cn/news/60198.html

 

[imron]

Incidentally, it never occurred to me to use the Unihan database

Unihan database is typically my first port of call for any character that doesn't appear when I try looking it up.  It's basically a list of every printable (on a computer) Chinese character.

[Lu]

"Chinese Mystery Meat that has been cooked tender."

Isn't pork usually the default meat/meat not otherwise specified?

[Demonic_Duck]

Agree with Lu. The default 肉 is 猪肉 (cf. 肉夹馍、肉饼、京酱肉丝、回锅肉、五花肉、红烧肉 etc.)

[abcdefg]

Yes, @Lu and @Duck, you both are correct. Good catch; thanks for pointing that out. It must have been pork now that I think back on it more carefully.

 

Watched one of the 龙门客栈 movies the other night, and their grim comic references to the desert inn's use of 人肉 must have still been on my mind.