Chinese Hamburger (Rou Jia Mo)

Rou jia mo (also spelled as “roujiamo”) is a meat sandwich specialty from China’s Shaanxi Province. Pork, lamb, beef, chicken or another filling is stewed with spices (such as ginger, cloves, coriander and star anise) and placed inside a flatbread.
 
Rou jia mo has been dubbed the ‘Chinese hamburger” since at least 2007. However, it is sometimes claimed that the ‘Chinese hamburger” is the oldest “hamburger.”
 
 
Wikipedia: Rou jia mo
Rou jia mo, sometimes spelled roujiamo (Chinese: 肉夹馍; pinyin: ròu jīa mó), meaning “meat burger” or “meat sandwich,” is a street food originating from Shaanxi Province and now widely consumed all over China. The meat is most commonly pork, stewed for hours in a soup containing over 20 spices and seasonings. Although it is possible to use only a few spices (which many vendors do), the resulting meat is less flavourful.
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Rou jia mo costs around 6 yuan in most parts of China and is considered the Chinese equivalent to the Western hamburger and meat sandwiches. In fact, rou jia mo could be the world’s oldest sandwich or hamburger, since this bread dates back to the Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC) and the meat to the Zhou Dynasty (1045 BC to 256 BC). Contrary to popular misconceptions, rou jia mo is not a street food unique to Muslims. It was invented first by the Han Chinese, while Muslims simply substituted pork with barbecued beef or lamb due to Islamic restrictions on eating pork.
         
Laowai Chinese
Bighead
2007 June 3 at 8:33 pm
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肉夹馍 – rou jia mo – a Xian snack that’s something of a chinese hamburger. The best ones come from street stalls, with cumin and coriander. Yum!
 
eGullet Forums
liuzhou
Posted 29 September 2007 - 06:48 PM
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(Niu rou zi ran jia mo) Cumin Fried Beef and Chilli in a Pitta-like bread. Of Xinjiang origin , but especially popular in the Muslim quarter in Xi’an where it is often referred to as a Xia’n Hamburger by foreigners.
 
Google Books
Frommer’s China
By Simon Foster; et al
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
2008
Pg. 271:
This is the most famous vendor of Shanxi’s most widely consumed snack—rou jia mo, finely chopped pork pressed between two halves of a solid steamed bun. Xi’an’s answer to the hamburger makes a perfect snack on the run, but you can almost feel your arteries clogging up as you wolf it down.
   
WildChina
Dunhuang – Silk Road
Posted October 14, 2008 by Fan Na
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The first day, our guests liked the lively market at Muslim quarter and amazing dumpling banquet; yesterday, the second day, our guests were so impressed by Terra Cotta Warriors and the Chinese hamburger “rou jia mo”.
   
The Beijinger
Re: 7 hour layover in Beijing
Posted Jan 7, 2009 1:50pm by longdongsilver
Yeah, count me in for hating donkey meat as well.
It’s disgusting.
Tried it once, by accident, thought one of those donkey burgers was rou jia mo (chinese hamburger thing), one bite told me it was not.
 
Eater—Los Angeles
Qi and Ma of Shaanxi Gourmet
by Kat Odell Nov 4, 2011, 8:46a @kat_odell
To close out Chinese Food Week, Eater presents the most exciting Chinese restaurant in America right now. Fueled by the fame of Xi’an Famous Foods in New York, Shaanxi Gourmet has caught on like wild fire in the West SGV. Shaanxi Gourmet is poised to do for Shaanxi cuisine what Jitlada has done for Southern Thai food in America. Here, we speak to chef Ma and restaurateur Qi about authenticity, expansion plans, and how to eat those spongy, cubed flatbreads.
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And the Americans? Qi: The “Chinese hamburger” is an easy sell. Mostly though, they’re just not accustomed to the flavors. The intestines [??, fei chang]? They aren’t going to order that.
   
The World of Chinese
ROU JIAMO: THE CHINESE HAMBURGER
Saturday, March 3, 2012 | BY: JULING HE (何菊玲)
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Rou jiamo is a popular snack in northwest China, and is usually found in one of two varieties: Shaanxi Province’s lazhirou jiamo (腊汁肉夹馍), which is made with pork in gravy, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region’s yangrou roujiamo (羊肉肉夹馍), which is made with lamb. The former is more common, and is one of the most famous snacks out of xiaochi heaven Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province.
 
As indicated by its name, lazhirou jiamo is composed of two elements—lazhirou (腊汁肉), which literally means “gravy-ed meat” and mo (馍), the flat bread on which it’s served.
   
YouTube
The Chinese Hamburger~Rou Jia Mo
Flavours Of Asia
Published on Dec 12, 2014
So, this is my take on popular Chinese Hamburger ~ Rou Jia Mo. It’s a sandwich made with Chinese-style hamburger bun and filled with braised pork belly. They are simply delicious!
 
Curried Cantaloupe
How To Make a Chinese Hamburger (aka Rou Jia Mo)
MARCH 6, 2015 BY: SIRCSERREB
These Rou Jia Mo sandwiches are sometimes called a Chinese hamburger. They’re made using a versatile flatbread recipe and a braised pork belly filly. Don’t forget cilantro and chilies! #chineserecipes 607
 
Or a Rou Jia Mo. Or a Chinese pulled pork sandwich. Whatever you choose to call it, I can guarantee your comfort food repertoire will never be quite the same again.
   
The Huffington Post
What Are Chinese Hamburgers And Why Aren’t You Eating Them?
By Alison Spiegel
Posted: 04/08/2015 10:14 am EDT Updated: 04/08/2015 10:59 am EDT
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The rou jia mo originated in the Shaanxi Province of China, and is now eaten all over the country. It’s typically prepared and eaten on the street. The dough for the bun, or mo, consists of a simple mixture of wheat flour, water and maybe yeast. Of course recipes may vary, but this basic equation makes for a chewy and subtle pillow for the delicious filling. While the mo is traditionally baked in a clay oven, today it’s often fried in a pan. They may look a little like Chinese steamed buns or baos, but the dough for those are, of course, steamed, not baked or fried.
 
The meat filling might consist of chopped pork, beef, lamb or chicken that has been stewed with a variety of spices, like ginger, cloves, coriander and star anise. You might also find herbs like cilantro or greens like lettuce garnishing the sandwich.
 
Eater—New York
10 More of the Craziest New York Sandwiches
by Robert Sietsema, Jun 30, 2015, 2:00p
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Chinese Hamburgers — First popularized by the Xi’an Famous Foods stall at the Sunshine Mall in Flushing, but also simultaneously by David Chang at Momofuku in the East Village, these sandwiches deploy a northern Chinese steamed or baked bun called a bao and use it to cradle a filling of stir-fried beef or pork. Calling the thing a hamburger was an attempt to ingratiate it with Western diners, but it’s really more of a sandwich. Find them at: Biang!, 41-10 Main St, Queens, (718) 888-7713