Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork  (Mao Shi Hong Shao Rou)  Red-
braised pork is a dish that in Hunan is inseparably bound up
with the memory of Chairman Mao: many restaurants call it "The
Mao Family's red-braised pork." Mao Zedong loved it, and
insisted his Hunanese chefs cook it for him in Beijing. It's a
robust concoction, best eaten with plain steamed rice and simple
stir-fried vegetables, but the sweet, aromatic chunks of meat
are irresistible, and it's always a favorite at my London dinner
parties.  In keeping with traditional Chinese gastronomy, which
seeks to make a medical virtue out of every dietary
predilection, the people of Mao's home village, Shaoshan,
recommend red-braised pork as a health food: "Men eat it to
build their brains," Chairman Mao's nephew Mao Anping assured me
when I met him there a few years ago, "and ladies to make
themselves more beautiful." His friend and neighbor, the
Shaoshan communist party secretary, told me he ate two bowlfuls
a day to keep his intellect in shape.  Note: Veg