Chapter 11 Treasure-like Sichuan-flavored sausage

Walking out of the office building on a rainy night in early autumn, I saw various scenery on the way.There was a woman standing on the side of the road scolding her boyfriend loudly. The tone of the screaming could not be heard clearly, but the exhaust smell was a bit stinky.There was a young couple standing at the bus stop. The girl grabbed the man's arm tightly with tears in her eyes. The man stubbornly turned his face away, creating an awkward atmosphere.Just about to hum and sing "Why is there no one in this world who loves each other", I saw Shi Shiran, a big man in pants and slippers, walking out of the supermarket with a cured duck leg in his hand, um, indifferently.Autumn is here, love is a burden, it is not as good as cured meat.

When the autumn wind blows, eat cured meat.In my mind, the highest courtesy for all kinds of sausages and sausages is to boil them thoroughly in white water, then slice them and serve them with white rice.After the impact of the steam of the hot rice, the fat in the sausage will be stimulated, and the salty smell will soak every grain of rice, which is very beautiful.If you want to imitate the extravagant style of the landlord’s son, it’s a waste to just eat sausages without rice, and it’s even more wasteful to mix them with other ingredients for stir-fry.Really good baby sausage with white rice, you are even reluctant to eat a little faster, take a bite of the sausage and eat a few mouthfuls of rice, unconsciously eating like a donkey staring at a carrot, rushing and rushing and can't stop.

In my husband's family in Chengdu, every household still retains the habit of making sausages at home every year.After New Year's Day, a large box of Sichuan-flavored sausage delivered by my mother-in-law was my spiritual pillar for the entire first half of the year. Every November, the parents-in-law’s weekends are all spent on the way to the countryside. They are all delicious people, and they pay attention to the selection of ingredients. After so many years of experience in fighting the world, they are willing to spend more time. Let yourself and your family eat better safe food.The so-called "local pork" in the farmer's market is out of sight. It must be a farmer's self-raised pig that has never eaten a single grain of artificial feed before it can be included in the plan.After finding a healthy native pig in the countryside, the two elders happily went to collect the pork when the farmer opened it. Finding beautiful and good pork is the most critical first step in making good sausages.

Sausage meat, the best is the "crack" part. The "crack" is about the ribs, back and hips, peeled and washed, cut into thin strips, and then the fat and lean meat are prepared in a ratio of 37 or 28.I am a person who hates fat meat. While picking sausages at the dinner table, I asked why I don’t use pure lean meat. My mother-in-law didn’t say a word, and helped me pick a piece of pure lean meat—ah, it’s really salty, dry and hard. , Eat so hard.Only then did I know that the fat in the sausage is used to moisten the taste and provide aroma, and it would be impossible without it.

The choice of meat slices is also a matter of knowledge. Mass-produced sausage manufacturers will use machines to chop pork. Rough and irrational cutting methods will break the fibers of the pork, and the finished product will naturally be a little bit worse.If they eat it at home, the second elder’s method is to find a few honest peasant women in the countryside on the outskirts of Chengdu, and ask them to cut pork with their hands, and adjust the direction of the knife by observing the texture of the pork with their eyes.Treating the best pork with enough patience is the second step. After that comes the step of seasoning. Top-quality sea pepper noodles and pepper noodles are indispensable. Salt and old ginger are also regular ingredients. The mother-in-law will also add some rice wine and sugar.Stir these ingredients and meat strips to marinate evenly, and after an hour or so, they can be poured into the casing.In the early years, the parents-in-law still poured water by themselves, and had to put two large pots in front of them, one with marinated meat strips and the other with filled sausages.Every time a section of sausage about 15 centimeters is filled, the mother-in-law will tie a knot with a cotton rope, divide the sausage into small sections, and then carefully check whether there are air bubbles or gaps.Now, the filling process is done by the machine, which is hygienically cleaner.

After a pot of meat is moved into the casing, it is the step of drying.Winter in Chengdu is always cloudy and humid, and there is very little opportunity to see the sun. Although the temperature is very low, there is still a possibility of damage, so choose a ventilated place to hang all the sausages.Most people will choose their own balconies and requisition clothes poles and hangers—by December, almost every household has sausages hanging on their balconies, which is also a very interesting scene.I also found a practice full of folk wisdom. You can often see a piece of paper cut into a 20 cm square stuck on the neck of the hanger. It turns out that this piece of paper is to prevent mice from crawling along the bamboo poles and hangers. The sausage is really a method of four or two, which shows how skillful the people of Sichuan are!

Wait about 3 weeks for the sausage to be almost dry.The weather was cold, and the sausages didn't dry quickly, and we were not in a hurry, so the sausages slowly absorbed the aura of heaven and earth.With the help of the breeze, 70% of the water in the sausage was taken away, and the soft sausage turned into a hard nunchuck.A variety of spices and a long time of marinating allowed the meat to ferment slowly in the casing. When you pick it up and smell it, there is a smell of cheese, which is stinky and stinky.In the earlier past—when everyone was still living in bungalows, the sausages would be hung on the stove, and the fire of the firewood burned during cooking would naturally smoke the sausages, giving the sausages a unique smell of bacon, that is A stronger nostalgia for the closeness to nature and the primitive yearning for firewood in the blood.

Friends who are used to eating Cantonese-style sausages, once they try this Sichuan-style sausage with spicy, delicious, and full-bodied meat, they will all be overwhelmed and unforgettable.For this kind of beautiful sausage that money can’t buy, I can only get dozens of sausages every year. The "bad daughter-in-law" who is afraid of hardship and tiredness also wants to learn this craft from her in-laws.The precious essence of this diet must not be buried by industrialized practices. Those who are lucky enough to eat it have the responsibility to remember it.