Seasons mean things to do and things not to do. Summit 23S.
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Just like spring planting and autumn harvest in ancient times, this is a law set by nature.
When it comes to cured meat, the first thing that comes to mind must be ham.
Ham, also known as orchid smoke in ancient times, refers to the hind legs of animals that have been salted, shaped, smoked, turned over, washed and dried for several months. It has a pretty appearance, bright flesh color, and unique aroma.
According to the season, the ham Lin Chou wanted to make should be called "early winter leg", but Lin Chou chose Montenegro wild boar as the main material, which can also be called "Xiaozhen leg".
The production of ham is so simple that there is no standard process. It can be clarified in a few words. The production methods are different, but it is extremely difficult to understand the essence.
Although Lin Chou didn't get his father's true inheritance, and he couldn't even reproduce Ludai Fengxin, he thought that he had been exposed to it since he was a child and had already mastered the art of making ham.
Black Mountain wild boar is a meat that can even be enjoyed by poor people in Mingguang Base City. In the minds of hunters, it is similar to fat-headed pigeons.
Because Montenegro wild boars are lazy by nature, they are so lazy that ordinary people can keep them in captivity with complete confidence and provide them with enough food to eat them without even bothering to move.
Therefore, its meat contains a lot of fat, making it so fat that it is oily. Its muscles are not as firm as those of other exotic animals, but instead have a rare soft texture.
But in fact, the Black Mountain wild boar that Lin Chou bought from hunters is a pure wild boar that lives on mountains above three thousand meters above sea level all year round. Compared with its crude domesticated counterparts, it is more active, has a wider range of recipes, and has better meat quality. The level and connotation are completely different.
It’s around the time of the Autumn Festival, when Montenegro wild boars have just begun to put on their autumn fat, so we choose to slaughter them at this time to make ham, which has just the right fat content and the most delicious taste.
The Black Mountain wild boar in the cold storage was half-processed by Lin Chou. The head and internal organs were removed, the hair was shaved off, and the pig was split into two halves.
Make a floor in the yard with banana leaves, remove the pig legs with hooves, and remove the ribs. Each pig is divided into four parts: front and rear elbows, ribs, and waist.
The unloaded pig hind legs weigh about fifty kilograms. Cut off excess fat and skin, find the main blood vessels in the pig legs, and squeeze them hard to squeeze out the blood.
Massaging ingredients is nothing new. There is a unique rhythm of beating and squeezing, which can make the ingredients "same on the outside and inside" and transparent inside and out. This plays an important role in the deep fermentation of ham in the future.
Then spray high-strength white wine, continue massaging the pork legs for more than half an hour, then cover them with green salt, and repeat the simple and boring process of squeezing, beating and kneading.
Although the price of Mingguang's green salt is not acceptable to most ordinary poor people, its aroma and mellowness are undeniable. The saltiness is lower, but the molecules are more active. Ordinary sea salt can marinate six layers of meat, but green salt can easily marinate it. Through seven layers.
The reason why green salt appears green is that it contains more minerals and has a slightly green taste. However, this "green" taste can be stimulated by heating it slightly or mixing it with meat. Fragrant.
After an hour, the enjoyment of this pork leg was finished.
Although there is more than one ham left from the bottom of the sea, it is an extraordinary quality. It has not been fermented into an empty "ham skin", which has proven its quality. The oil is perfect, the meat is crystal clear, bright and bright. It is magnificent and can be eaten raw.
The freshly made ham needs at least three years of fermentation before it can initially meet the standard of raw food. Lin Chou was reluctant to waste that one and a half ham anymore, hoping that the support team could help before the two hams were used up.
"do you understand?"
Shan Ye, who said he wanted to help, and others stood in a row, looking a little stunned.
"Uh...I see."
"It's a massage, it's simple."
It's so simple.
Mr. Shan couldn't help but let out a laugh like a barbell, and massaged the pig's leg. Mmp, I have to pay for the massage, you know?
With the messy help of a group of people, the preliminary processing of two hundred pig legs and other parts was barely completed.
The giant sequoia trees and the shady areas under the eaves have become a place for pig legs, and the salted pig legs are hung up one by one.
Lin Chou chose a more time-consuming method, only air-drying without smoking. Apart from regularly replenishing salt, no manual intervention was required.
In this way, mold will grow on the surface of the ham, slowly fermenting as the ham breathes, oxidizing the fat and meat, and eventually turning into a perfect ham.
The pork ribs, elbow and loin meat are hung together and smoked with hard fir and lychee wood. The charcoal fire is not extinguished during the process. Banana leaves, orange peels and tea branches are added to make the fire emit thick smoke.
Keep smoking.
It took a full night to remove them, simply wipe off the excess grease, and hoist them all to the kitchen roof.
In the days to come, they will be enshrined by human "incense" day and night, completing their own sublimation and transformation.
Days and nights without rest will have basically no impact on an awakened person.
Lin Chou was still in high spirits, but he was a little embarrassed looking at the remaining 100 pairs of pig hooves.
These are the finest wild boar trotters, all plump and tender, so it is a pity to just throw them away like this.
Shan Ye, who also didn’t sleep all night, gave me some advice:
"Braised pig's trotters, what a great dish to go with wine."
Lin Chou rolled his eyes, and suddenly his eyes lit up.
He has a better way than marinating it, and it is just right as a cold dish with wine in hot weather.
Legend has it that in the late Ming Dynasty, there was a "Jingkou Restaurant" on Jiuhai Street in Zhenjiang.
The husband is both a chef and a waiter, and the wife is both a boss and a cashier.
One summer day, my husband went to the street and saw that pig's trotters were cheap, so he bought four pig's front hooves and planned to eat them in a few days.
Because the weather was too hot, pig's trotters would go bad easily, so he salted the pig's trotters, but accidentally used the saltpetre his wife bought for his father-in-law to make firecrackers to salt the trotters.
The next day when my wife went to look for saltpeter, she discovered that she had used the wrong salt. She quickly opened the pickling vat and saw that not only had the meat quality changed, but the meat had become hard and rosy in color, and the hoof skin had become whiter and more tender.
I'm afraid it's poisonous, so I'm reluctant to throw it away.
So the couple discussed soaking the pig's trotters in salt water several times, then boiling them over low heat for a while, and prepared them for themselves.
Unexpectedly, after adding some five-spice seasoning and simmering it for an hour, a strange aroma came out of the pot and could be smelled all over the street.
Zhang Guolao, one of the Eight Immortals, was invited by the Queen Mother to attend the peach fair in Yaochi. He passed by Zhenjiang and smelled the aroma of "salt meat". He quickly got off his donkey and turned into an old man to come to the mortal world to taste this delicious food.
Although the couple did not dare to give the old man the pig's trotters to eat and tried every possible means to explain it, Zhang Guolao insisted on eating it and had no choice but to give it to him.
Zhang Guo held the pig's trotters in his hand, dipped them in shredded ginger and balsamic vinegar, and praised them while eating.
After eating, he walked out of the store, laughed loudly, rode his donkey backwards, and flew into the sky, forgetting to attend the peach party.
The news that Zhang Guolao ate salted pork spread quickly. Since then, the reputation of salted meat has become famous, and people have come to taste it. The business of Jingkou Restaurant is particularly prosperous.
Later, because the name "salt meat" was considered inelegant, it was changed to "vegetable meat".
"The scenery is infinite and there are countless golden burnts,
I love Jingkou meat more,
Not greasy, slightly crispy and fragrant,
Bright red and tender frozen crystal dish."
This is a poem written by local talents praising the meat of their hometown nearly seven hundred years ago.
And the meat dish is a dish worthy of the legend of this poem.