Chapter 48 bacon

Revisiting the childhood memories of living in my hometown in Jiangsu, the most heartwarming thing is related to food-Jiangsu seems to be a natural place to cultivate gourmets.This naturally reminds me of the strings of bacon hanging under the eaves of every household or on the balcony.The bacon in Jiangsu is far less famous than the ham in Jinhua, Zhejiang, and the workmanship is definitely different; although it chooses the same high-quality pork, it is not limited to the legs, and it is marinated in jars and jars with coarse salt (add a little home-made spices), take it out after a certain period of time, put it on a string and hang it in the open air to dry.When talking about the bacon in my hometown with people from other provinces, it is easy to cause misunderstandings: they think it is similar to the bacon in Hunan.It must be carefully explained that because the bacon has not gone through the smoky series of processes, the bacon should appear more natural, and it does not taste like smoke and fire.

I discuss bacon by comparing it with ham and bacon.I don't know if the explanation is clear?Bacon is a kind of food cured in salt water. After drying, you can see shiny salt particles condensed on it-the salty taste has penetrated deep into its interior.Therefore, bacon is easy to preserve.My grandmother's house cleans all kinds of jars every early winter to marinate bacon, enough to last for a year.No matter when, as long as there is still bacon hanging on the window sill, there is no need to worry about receiving guests or reuniting with relatives and friends.Cut a piece and soak it in clear water. It can be sliced ​​and steamed in a rice cooker (oily), or it can be fried (diced bacon) or soup.In my hometown, there is a popular clam stew with bacon, which is stewed with freshly dug mussel meat and bacon slices. The soup is as white as milk, and you can find it after drinking a tablespoon.And there is saltiness in freshness, and freshness in saltyness.Cantonese are good at making soup. I have tasted all kinds of soup in Guangdong, but none of them can overwhelm the aftertaste of the clam and bacon stew I drank in my hometown.I have been alienated from this smell for many years.Missing a good soup is sometimes the way an alcoholic misses a good wine.This kind of hunger will make people itch.

The bacon in my hometown is not only eaten by oneself, but also given to relatives and friends, but it seems to be unrefined—at least it is not sold in stores.My parents are scholars and don't know how to pickle. Every Spring Festival, when I pay New Year's greetings to relatives and friends in my hometown, I can always harvest a few skewers of salted meat.I further imagined that in the era of Confucius, the strings of dried meat offered by his disciples (as tuition fees) might be this kind of bacon, right?In fact, the production of bacon is also a common knowledge.This taste can also be found when I read good articles.Memories of the bacon in my hometown made me taste some folk traditions and customs.

People in my hometown also pickled salted fish and salted salted duck according to the method of curing salted meat—the salted salted duck in Nanjing is a famous delicacy, and it is said that it has been around since the Qing Dynasty.The jars and jars are cleaned every early winter, the small earthen jars are used to marinate meat, and the big jars are used to marinate vegetables (some people even use water tanks half the height of a person).The pickled vegetables are mainly green vegetables or potherb mustard, commonly known as pickled vegetables.If you can add one or two heads of pickled cabbage into the rib soup, the taste will be more mellow and it will no longer feel greasy.Stir-fried edamame with chopped potherb mustard, it is most suitable for congee.I think, from whether they are good at pickling food, we can get a glimpse of whether the people in a place will live. At least, Jiangsu people are famous for their lives.In the past years, the people in their hometown spent their whole lives in the middle of the ancestral altars and pots.It is soaked in their poverty, but also soaked in their wealth.