Killing pigs during Chinese New Year
Yang Xiu didn't know whether Hu Yufeng discovered that Qin Wenli had bought tobacco leaves.
After she finished making cotton shoes for her two children, she still had some uppers and cotton left over. Yang Xiu took apart a torn cotton-padded jacket, added some old cotton and made a pair of shoes for Hu Yufeng.
Hu Yufeng took the shoes with no expression on her face.
However, Yang Xiu always felt guilty for no apparent reason and became extra active in his work.
Soon it was almost the end of the year and things started to pile up, so Yang Xiu had no time to think about anything else.
As soon as the twelfth lunar month begins, you can slaughter the New Year pig.
The Qin family had two big fat pigs this year, and Hu Yufeng decided to slaughter the pigs on the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month.
The day before, Qin Wenli came back from the market. He and Qin Shengtian set up a stove and put on a large iron pot borrowed from Qin Wenzhen's house.
A tall rack was erected outside the yard.
Before dawn on the 20th, Qin Shengtian lit two pots with firewood and boiled two full pots of hot water.
Just after eight o'clock, the butcher Yang Xiaogang came with the furniture.
He was a famous butcher in the neighborhood. He was always accurate in butchering pigs. His movements were clean and neat, without any delay.
After putting the furniture away and looking at the place Qin Wenli had cleaned up and the helpers he had called in, Master Yang nodded with satisfaction and said, "Now we can go into the pen and catch the pigs!"
Several young men rushed into the pigsty and quickly pinned down the big fat pig, some raising its head and some pulling its legs. As the pig howled, they pressed the pig onto a chopping board supported by two long benches.
Several people tied the pig's four legs tightly and held it down hard.
Master Yang then rolled up his sleeves, took a sip of liquor, and spat it out on the blade that was glowing with cold light.
Then he held the knife in one hand and looked at the pig's neck with the other.
There was a "puff" sound, and the knife went in and out in a flash, stirring inside for a few times, and then bright red blood rushed out.
Yang Xiu was already standing by with a basin in hand.
Seeing the blood gushing out, she hurriedly caught it in a basin, and the blood filled most of the basin.
The old lady dragged Qin Yu over tremblingly and said, "Wash Yu Yu's hands."
He coaxed Qin Yu and said, "Put your hand here on the wound and wash it, and you won't get frostbite. Come on..."
Qin Yu's eyes were red with fear, so she hid back, crying and shouting, "No, no..."
Qin Wenli couldn't bear to see Qin Yu's miserable appearance, so he persuaded the old lady that it was okay for the child to be scared, and they could just think of other ways to treat the frostbite.
The old lady then reluctantly let go of Qin Yu.
Qin Yu ran to find her mother, only to see a basin of pig's blood in her hand. She sobbed and went to find her grandmother.
After the pig's blood had been drained, Master Yang asked everyone to carry the dead pig into the big iron pot, and then they would start plucking the pig's hair.
Qin Wenli and a few others pulled the pig and turned it over continuously. When it was almost scalded, they each held an oil stone and began to remove the pig's hair with a grunt.
Qin Shengtian tested the water temperature from time to time and added hot water.
Everyone plucked the hair quickly and soon the pig was clean.
Master Yang made a cut on each of the two hind legs and removed the iron hooks to hang them up.
Everyone stood on benches and hung the other end of the iron hook on the built high frame, and the pig was hung in the air and swayed slowly.
Master Yang asked two people to pull the pig's legs, while he stood in front and cut open the pig's belly neatly.
Soon all the intestines and stomachs were taken out. Everyone was busy searching and packing up the stall.
Master Yang used a knife dipped in clean water to scrape the pig's body over and over again until the entire pig was clean and without a single hair.
After all the internal organs were removed, the pig's head was cut off and hung up. Master Yang then split the headless pig's body into two along the spine and lifted it onto a clean chopping board.
"Wow, the lard is thick and tender. Wenli, your pigs are really good!" Master Yang praised while pulling the lard.
After pulling out the oil, Qin Wenli called on two young men to help carry the two pieces of pork and the lard to the kitchen.
Qin Wenli and his team continued to slaughter the second pig.
Yang Xiu and Hu Yufeng started to prepare the pig-killing dishes in the kitchen.
Hu Yufeng first cut off the collar meat about a foot wide from the pig's neck with a knife cut and wrapped it in plastic paper.
This is a thank-you gift to Master Yang.
Yang Xiu asked Hu Yufeng for instructions and cut a piece of meat with alternating fat and lean parts into thick slices.
Steaming buns were already on the stove, and Yang Xiu quickly scooped out the hot water from the small pot.
Put the cut fat slices into the pot first.
As soon as the meat slices touched the hot bottom of the pot, a sizzling sound was made and a fragrant aroma of oil wafted out.
After the oil was refined, Yang Xiu poured the remaining meat in and stirred it quickly with a spatula.
Wait until all the meat slices have changed color. Yang Xiu sprinkled pepper, star anise and other seasonings into it, poured in half a ladle of water, covered the pot and started stewing.
Hu Yufeng poured out a small amount of pig blood, added some water to it, stirred it with a rolling pin in one hand, and sprinkled flour in with the other hand.
When there are no lumps in the pig blood batter in the bowl, add pepper, star anise and ginger powder, continue to stir and let it stand.
She asked Yang Xiu to bring out an old iron stove, took a burning piece of wood from the stove and lit the stove.
Put a small iron pot on the stove and start to spread the pig blood.
The only two cooking skills that Hu Yufeng is good at are: stir-frying pig blood and stuffing blood sausage.
Hu Yufeng scooped up a spoonful of batter deftly, poured it evenly along the edge, then lifted the pot and shook it twice, and a round piece of pig blood was formed.
Hu Yufeng picked up the pancake from the pan with her iron hands and put it on a plate. She then began to spread the second one skillfully, and soon she had piled up a thick layer.
By the time Hu Yufeng had spread all the pig blood, the meat in the pot was cooked.
Yang Xiu shoveled the meat and washed the pot in one go.
I also fried a few vegetarian dishes.
Yang Xiu scooped some lard and melted it in the pot, added chopped green onion and stir-fried it until fragrant, then added potato slices, sprinkled with chili powder and other seasonings, added water and started cooking.
When the potato slices are half cooked, add tofu vermicelli into the pot. After boiling, add today's protagonist: pig blood cut into diamond-shaped pieces by Hu Yufeng.
This is the famous pig-killing dish in Yang County: pig blood stewed with tofu.
Hu Yufeng has gone out to call the butchers for dinner.
Several people washed their hands and sat down, taking two mouthfuls of the pig blood stewed with tofu, and couldn't help but praise the good cooking.
Qin Wenli invited everyone at the table to eat meat.
After having a good meal and a few drinks, the group continued to clean up their unfinished stalls.
After the two pigs were turned into four pieces of meat on the chopping board, everyone went home carrying the strips of meat given by the Qin family.
The Qin family is still not idle.
Qin Wenli and his son were cleaning up the pig-slaughtering stall.
Hu Yufeng and her mother-in-law started their first major project: oil refining.
To refine the oil, you first need to wash the pork fat and cut it into thin slices. It took the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law nearly half an hour to cut the fat from two pigs.
Then pour cold water into the pot, add the cut lard, and start cooking.
Yang Xiu learned a trick from her grandmother: put green onions in the pot to make the lard more fragrant.
Don't be impatient when refining lard. Bring it to a boil over high heat and then simmer over low heat. Stir it with a spatula while simmering to prevent it from burning.
When all the water is boiled out and the oil residue turns golden and floats on the lard, the oil is ready.
After it cooled down for a while, Yang Xiu took out the jar that he had prepared long ago and scooped the lard into it.
Once completely cooled and solidified, the lard becomes white, fragrant and durable to store.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
