Chapter 121: Preserved Food in the Twelfth Month
Here, horizontal wooden strips with gaps are nailed at both ends above the kitchen stoves to hang bamboo poles, on which are hung strings of bacon and sausages.
Cooking and frying food every day, the smoke makes the sausages and bacon prepared in this way especially fragrant.
There were many people at home, so they quickly washed and put the meat away, waiting for divination the next day.
The highlight is the sausage.
To make sausages, you need to cut the meat into thumb-sized pieces, put them in a large bowl, and add various seasonings.
The taste of sausages and bacon made by each family is different, it all depends on the seasoning.
The Zhao family had no experience in cooking so many dishes without any problems, so they had to rely on Luo Shuyan. Luo Shuyan's seasonings were always amazing and never went wrong.
Cutting 160 kilograms of meat was no easy task, but it was a simple one, so all the women in the family came together to cut it.
As a result, there were not enough kitchen knives and chopping boards, so I had to run to my neighbor to borrow some.
The guys put two octagonal tables together in the yard, which was just right for everyone to sit around.
Zhao Liya and Zhao Lin, the younger brother and sister, thought it was fun and wanted to play too. Who would dare let them hold a knife? Only when Zhao Xiang took them out fishing did they give up.
Zhao Liya wanted to eat sausages with more flavors, so she smiled and said, "There's so much meat. Just making five-spice sausages is a bit too simple. Why don't we make a few more flavors?"
Aunt Li Shiyi and Widow Qu couldn't help but laugh when they heard this.
"Aren't these sausages all five-spice flavored? What other flavors can they be made into?"
"Of course, the salt and other seasonings must be added in sufficient quantity, otherwise the food won't taste good, won't be fragrant, and won't last long."
"But Xiaoya has a lot of ideas. Let's listen to them."
"Haha, yes, we are in for a treat! Let's try it and see if it tastes good. If it does, we'll learn to make some next year."
"That's right!"
Luo Shuyan was the happiest. Her eyes lit up instantly and she said with a smile, "Xiaoya, tell me what else you want to do. I'll give it a try!"
Everyone couldn't help but laugh. Luo Shuyan was like this in her daily life, completely obsessed with her craft.
Zhao Liya smiled and said, "I also saw this in some random book before, and I've never eaten it myself, so let's try it. There's one that adds chili powder and crushed Sichuan peppercorns, and it's said to have a spicy flavor, which is quite good. There's also another that uses a little soy sauce and salt, and a bit of sugar, and it tastes a bit sweet."
Oh, and there's also delicious pork jerky and pork floss! I'll make some later, I'm sure everyone will like it.
Widow Qu and Aunt Li Shiyi were stunned.
"With chili?"
"Can you add sugar? Is it really okay to have something both sweet and salty?"
"You know what, I'm actually quite curious about the taste!"
"Me too!"
Everyone was talking about it, and Luo Shuyan suddenly felt enlightened. She smiled excitedly and said, "Let's do it, I think it sounds good too! Really, why hasn't anyone thought of this? We can add chili peppers to other dishes, so of course we can add it to sausages. It's sweet and salty, isn't it? The sweet and sour pork tenderloin and sweet and sour pork we had a few days ago were both like that. As long as the salty and sweet flavors are well balanced, it will be delicious! Maybe it will have a unique flavor!"
"Yes, yes, that's exactly the truth!"
“We must all try it when it’s ready!”
Everyone was talking and laughing, excited and full of anticipation.
Luo Shuyan was particularly enlightened. She had originally thought that sausages should be five-spice flavored, but now she was completely enlightened.
She really felt that she had learned a lot from following Sister Zhao Liya.
Her cooking skills have improved by leaps and bounds, and sister Li Ya has definitely contributed a lot to this!
Today, I cut the meat and divided it into three parts while seasoning and marinating it.
The five-spice flavor still accounts for the majority, and I estimate that there are about 80 to 90 kilograms of it.
Divide the rest into two parts, one for spicy flavor and the other for sweet flavor.
This is a crucial step, and only Luo Shuyan can do it alone.
Season the meat in large pots, cover them and marinate for two or three hours, then you can stuff the sausages in the afternoon.
The intestines have been prepared, and with so many people working together, the efficiency is still very high.
It doesn’t matter if you can’t finish it before dinner. You can continue after dinner or tomorrow morning.
The weather is getting cold in the twelfth lunar month, so there is no problem leaving the marinated meat overnight.
In addition to cured meat, Aunt Li Shiyi also instructed and helped to make a jar of sour meat and sour spare ribs.
Cut the meat or bones into pieces the size of two or three fingers, season and marinate overnight. The next day, fry the rice in a dry pan with salt without adding oil until slightly yellow and crispy, then add a little cooking wine and mix well.
After the fried rice has cooled, mix it with the marinated meat. You can add some sliced garlic, shredded ginger, shredded chili peppers, etc. After mixing evenly, put the fried rice and the meat or bones covered with fried rice into the jar in layers.
After the jar is filled, cover it with the lid and pour water around the edge to prevent air from entering.
After about half a month, the sour meat and sour spare ribs can be eaten.
When you want to eat it, scoop out a bowl of it and stir-fry it over high heat. If you think it is not spicy enough, you can add chili peppers and a handful of chopped garlic sprouts. It is fragrant, spicy and sour. After being cooked in this way, the meat has a very special sour and crispy taste and a unique flavor. People who like it will be so greedy for it when they can't eat it that they can't sleep.
After two days of hard work, all the cured meats were finally produced.
There is too much to hang in the kitchen, so a considerable part of it has to be air-dried.
When that batch is almost smoked, hang the air-dried ones up and smoke them.
The sausage must be smoked to have that flavor.
Zhao Liya originally planned to make some cured fish and cured duck, but then she thought that there were no large fish specially raised at the moment, and the fish caught by fishing nets in the river were of varying sizes and were not suitable for making cured fish.
The fish used to make cured fish must have thick flesh, so that it doesn't dry out and become just bones and skin. If it's just bones and skin, with nothing but salty taste, what's the point of eating it?
How about digging a big pond and raising some fish next year? Then we can make cured fish next winter.
It is also more convenient to eat fish on weekdays.
As for the cured duck, I thought fresh ones would taste better, so I gave up the idea.
We have made so much bacon and sausage this year, I will make the others later.
Just two days after making the sausages and bacon, Aunt Li Shiyi's daughter Li Xiaoying and her husband Pan Erzhu came to pick her up.
The Chinese New Year is coming soon, so I picked her up and asked her to help clean the house, inside and outside, and in front of and behind the house.
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(End of this chapter)
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