It was a cloudy day on the twenty-eighth day of the winter lunar month, with no wind, but it was not too cold.
The Song family has decided to kill a pig for the New Year today, and invites two people from every household in the village to come and eat pig-killing rice.
That early in the morning is quite lively.
Even if you don't have a share of the pig-killing rice, there are families in this village who kill pigs for the New Year, and everyone wants to join in the fun.
Therefore, all the adults and children in the village who had nothing to do came to join the Song family.
During this free time, the Song family didn't have time to greet the villagers, so Old Yuan asked everyone to do as they pleased, standing if they couldn't sit down. He also moved stools and put pumpkin seeds on them for everyone to peel and eat.
All members of Yuan Shuanzi's family came, except Yuan Cheng and his wife Yuan Hua, who were working at home. Hu and Yuan's family also came, except for their second son and his wife who were taking care of their children.
It was lively and lively, and he was busy helping old Yuan in and out.
Butcher Wang, who was in charge of killing pigs today, also went there very early in the morning to bring over the fat pigs he ordered. They weighed three to four hundred kilograms and cost a small amount of three taels of silver!
The pigs raised by the Song family are much smaller. After all, they have only been raised for half a year and only weigh more than a hundred kilograms. It is good to be able to kill seventy or eighty kilograms of meat.
The fire was burning brightly in the stove and boiling water was being prepared. The cleaned big yellow bucket and pig-killing bench were placed in the yard, waiting to be used.
After the busy butchers have had enough rest after drinking hot sugar water, they will start to kill the pigs.
Butcher Wang gripped the butcher's knife tightly and was ready to take action at any time. His son Wang Dabao was responsible for doing the killing, and Yuan Shuanzi, Hu Changshan and others helped to slaughter the pig.
The villagers gathered around and cheered lively, and the atmosphere was full of excitement.
Song Qiu squeezed in front of the crowd. It was the first time he saw pig killing in this era, and he was very interested.
Since it is the Year of the Pig, the pig's blood cannot be spilled and must be kept for eating, so a basin is used to catch it, which is commonly known as "catching the pig's blood".
Because it is reserved for home consumption, there is also a certain amount of care in collecting the pig blood.
First, put cold water and salt in the basin, otherwise the pig blood will not be edible.
After preparing the basin, Yuan Shuanzi and others caught the pig, tied the pig's trotters with a rope, and pressed it on the pig-killing bench. The pig's howl was loud and deafening in the yard.
However, the louder the sound, the more auspicious it sounds to rural families, because the louder the New Year pig screams, the more prosperous it will be in the coming year!
Therefore, the villagers were not afraid of the fat pig's squealing. On the contrary, they became more and more excited. The dozen or so little kids were clapping and jumping, and they couldn't hold it back.
But the adults were afraid that the bloody scene would frighten the children, and when they saw that they were about to take action, they drove them away to play elsewhere.
After the pig was held down, under the lively onlookers of the villagers, Butcher Wang took action himself, quickly and accurately. He pressed the pig's mouth hard with one hand and inserted the butcher's knife into the pig's neck with only one hand. Suddenly,
Blood flowed like a stream.
After the butcher knife is pulled out, let the blood flow for a while and then use a basin to catch the pig's blood. This way the pig's blood will be clean and solidify quickly. Then boil it in boiling water until the blood clot becomes honeycomb-shaped and has a chewy texture.
After draining the pig’s blood, it’s time to start “blowing the pig”.
I saw Butcher Wang making a small opening on the pig's hind leg and inserting a stopper made of an iron rod through the small opening until it reached the pig's neck.
Then, he faced the small opening with his mouth, puffed up his cheeks, and blew air into it hard. Wang Dabao beat the pig's belly with a wooden stick several times until the pig's belly was round and painfully bulging like a big balloon.
The small gash on the leg was tied up.
Then, sprinkle a little dust on the pig's back and start plucking the bristles.
Then, it’s time to scald the pig and remove its hair.
As the saying goes, a dead pig is not afraid of being scalded by boiling water. The boiling water poured into the yellow bucket must be at a suitable temperature.
Yuan Shuanzi and several helpers lifted the whole pig and put it into the yellow bucket, rolled it and burned it all over the body, and then took it out and placed it on the pig-killing bench.
Use a small pumice stone and an iron scraper to scrape wildly, and most of the hair on the pig's body will fall off.
In some areas where the hair is difficult to remove, grab a handful of pig hair from the yellow bucket, cover it and scald it for a while, then hammer it with a pumice stone, scrape it a few times with a scraper, and sweep it over with a hair sweeper.
Then, a hairy pig turns into a chubby and white color, which is pleasing to look at.
Finally, it’s time to “solve the pig”.
Several people lifted the pig together, hooked one of its hind legs with an iron hook, and hung it upside down on the hook hanging on the eaves steps.
Butcher Wang took a sharp knife to remove the pig's head, and then cut off the pig's tail.
Show the pig's head and pig's tail to Old Yuan. This is called having a head and a tail.
Then they disembowel the pig, remove the internal organs, take out the large and small intestines, etc., then use a knife and a pear to cut it in half along the spine of the pig, and then hang it upside down and cut it into pieces from bottom to top.
Having been killing pigs for more than 20 years, Butcher Wang’s pig-killing skills made the villagers applaud him!
The knife skills were good, and it was a real skill. In just a moment, the pig's four front and rear legs, elbows, ribs, buttocks... were cut into countless pieces.
Yuan Shuanzi and others joined them nearby, threaded each piece of unloaded meat with bamboo leaves made of palm leaves, and put them together in a large earthenware jar specially used for meat.
After the pork is divided, marinate the bacon quickly while the pork is still warm, so that the salt can infuse the flavor.
Lao Yuan and others who were waiting quickly rubbed salt, pepper and other seasonings on the pieces of meat, spread them evenly, and then placed them.
In this way, the big fat pig was killed, and the internal organs were taken care of by Lao Yuan and Lao Meng. Now that the meat was out, we could start preparing the pig-killing rice.
There are more or less six or seven tables, but it takes a lot of preparation.
The men then started to kill the second pig.
After Song Qiu watched the first pig being killed, he saw that it was similar to how they killed the New Year pig in later generations, so he stopped watching the second pig and went into the kitchen to see how to make pig-killing rice.
The boiling water in the pot was emptied, and the water was boiled to boil the pig's blood.
The pig's head and tail were kept for the New Year as offerings to gods and ancestors, so they were hung aside.
Song Qiu and Lao Yuan had discussed today's pig-killing rice, and they were not stingy.
In addition to the must-have pig blood stewed tofu for pig killing rice, five other dishes are also prepared: one stewed pork ribs with sauerkraut, one stewed pork ribs with radish, one stewed cabbage with pig heart and lungs, one twice-cooked pork, and one pork liver with pickled peppers.
It is served in a large earthenware pot, ensuring that those who come open it and eat enough.
Lao Meng was a good cook, as was Hu Yusheng's daughter-in-law Peng. They were left to cook, while Lao Yuan, Hu Yuan, and Lao Deng and Miao helped wash, cut, and light the vegetables.
The kitchen was buzzing with activity.
The pigs raised by the Song family are small, easy to press, and fast to kill, and the meat is ready in a short time.
The people who were busy killing pigs cleaned up the yard, cleaned the yellow buckets, and tidied up again, and sat around the fire, resting and talking.
He was talking about how much meat the two pigs had killed today, and the fat meat was good.
The villagers who were watching had finished watching the excitement of the pig killing. Those who wanted to stay and eat the pig killing rice stayed to help arrange the tables and benches.
Naturally, the Song family didn't have six or seven tables, so they went to borrow one nearby. The family brought one and quickly put it in the yard.
At this time, several dishes of pig-killing vegetables were prepared in the kitchen.
Everyone sat around the table, waiting for the meal to begin, while smelling the aroma of the meat, and they were really happy.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Today is another update. There are many relatives and many things to do during the New Year.