The Chinese New Year was less than two weeks away. During dinner that day, Lin Yan asked about the family's bacon and pork ribs from previous years. Li Yuemei said, "In previous years, we only cured three to five pounds, which was enough to eat. This year, we can cure more."
Zhao Qiming continued, "I heard from the aunt who bought tofu today that the village head's family is going to slaughter a pig tomorrow. Shiyun, you and Yan'er go buy some meat and ribs."
Zhao Shiyun nodded: "We still have fish at home, do you want some cured fish?"
Li Yuemei picked up a piece of winter bamboo shoots with chopsticks and said, "Don't salt the fish, eat fresh ones." After saying that, she did not forget to praise Lin Yan, "Brother Yan, these winter bamboo shoots are really delicious."
Tonight we had fried winter bamboo shoots with bacon. This was the last piece of bacon left in the house.
After washing the bacon, Lin Yan put it in a pot and boiled it for about half an hour, then took it out and cut it into thin slices. Boiled bacon is not only easier to slice, but also reduces the salt content of the bacon, making it less salty.
Peel the winter bamboo shoots, slice them thinly, and blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes. This will remove the astringency. Remove from the water and drain.
Put a spoonful of lard in the pot, and when the oil is hot, add the shredded ginger and minced garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Then add the bacon slices and stir-fry until the bacon slices become transparent, slightly curled, and you can see the fat oozing out. Then add the winter bamboo shoots and continue to stir-fry until the bamboo shoots and bacon are fully mixed.
Add a handful of chopped red pepper and green onion before serving, stir-fry evenly and it is ready to serve.
Lin Yan did not add salt because the bacon itself was salty. Although it was boiled before frying, the taste was still good.
Lin Yan smiled sheepishly. "Mo, this winter bamboo shoot is what Brother Shi Yun and I found in the mountains. It's very tender, but this is the only one we found. The bacon oil complements the natural fragrance. I'll pick some good pork to make bacon tomorrow."
*
The next day, Lin Yan and Zhao Shiyun arrived at the headman's house early.
When they arrived, the headman's house was bustling with activity. A pig had been pressed onto a large table in the yard by several men. The butcher was rubbing his butcher knife and slowly approaching the pig. The pig's miserable screams resounded through the sky. With a "swish", the white knife went in and the red knife came out, and the pig's screams stopped.
Everyone quickly got busy, some collecting the pig's blood, some preparing hot water, some scraping the hair, all in an orderly manner.
After slaughtering a pig, a feast is usually prepared to entertain relatives, friends, and those who came to help. Lin Yan and Zhao Shiyun didn't help, so they didn't join in the fun. After the butcher finished slaughtering the pig and unloaded the meat, they lined up to buy the meat. The pork was still sold by the village headman. The butcher helped cut and weigh the meat, and the village headman's wife collected the money.
When it was their turn, there was still quite a bit of pork belly and ribs left. The people ahead had bought more pork fat and fat, but Lin Yanjia preferred pork belly, so he carefully selected a large piece of pork belly with a nice mix of fat and lean, and plenty of ribs.
Pork belly was twelve cents a pound, spare ribs eight cents a pound, and pork fat fifteen cents a pound. As the New Year approached, the town would sell pork for a cent more than usual. Now, without having to go to town, you could still buy fresh pork at the usual price. Everyone was delighted, and more or less bought some to satisfy their hunger. Those preparing to make bacon would buy several pounds more.
Lin Yan picked out eight pounds of pork belly and ten pounds of ribs. He asked the butcher to cut off two pounds of pork fat, which totaled two hundred and six coins. The village head's wife saw that he bought a lot and gave him some change. Zhao Shiyun took out two strings of copper coins and handed them to her. The two of them took the meat and went home.
When they got home, the tofu had already been made. Li Yuemei was selling it while the others helped make the cured meat.
Lin Yan found coarse salt and Sichuan peppercorns and gave them to Zhao Shiyun to grind. He had a small mortar at home, which came in handy. However, the amount was quite large, so using the mortar might take a while. The stone mill at home was used for grinding tofu, so he was worried about the Sichuan peppercorns adding flavor. Lin Yan also had Zhao Shiyun grind some cinnamon bark.
[I’ll have to trouble my husband] Lin Yan smiled secretly in her heart.
Once the seasonings are ground, you can start frying. Add salt to the pan and stir-fry for a while, then add the Sichuan peppercorns and cinnamon. Stir-fry until they turn yellow and serve. Lin Yan bought 20 kilograms of meat and ribs, so he only needed 2 kilograms of salt and about 2 taels of Sichuan peppercorns and cinnamon.
They place the cleaned meat in a large basin, pour in the seasonings and rice wine (use more rice wine if you want) and evenly spread it over the meat and ribs. Salt preserves the meat, while Sichuan peppercorns add flavor and repel insects. Cinnamon enhances the meat's aroma and mellows the flavor of the cured meat.
After applying the paste in strips, they need to be marinated in a basin for three or four days. They need to be turned over in the middle to ensure that they are thoroughly flavored before they can be hung up.
Zhao Shiyun and Zhao Qiming found some bamboo poles and prepared to build a rack. In previous years, when there weren't many taro, they could just hang it under the eaves or on a clothes drying rack. But this year, there were many taro, so they had to build a long rack.
*
After four days, the pork belly and ribs were marinated. The family pierced the marinated meat and strung it with hemp rope. They washed off the excess fat on the surface of the meat with hot water and then hung it on a rack to dry.
The racks are placed in the well-ventilated yard early in the morning. They'll be ready to eat after about half a month of drying. The longer they dry, the more fragrant they become. One piece is eaten during Chinese New Year, and the rest are stored under the eaves or in the kitchen after drying for about a month. They won't go bad for a year.
This is how they make bacon in the south. I heard that some people in the north smoke it in special smoking rooms or simple sheds, using smoke produced by burning pine and cypress branches, bamboo leaves, sugarcane peels and other materials. This way the bacon will have a unique aroma.
Lin Yan had never tried it before, but he had heard about it from the vendors while selling vegetables. He had wanted to try it, but it was difficult to set up a scaffold in his kitchen at the time, so he gave up.
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