China Ham Stadium is mainly concentrated in two major competition areas, namely, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Anhui, Jiangxi and Hubei represented by Jinhua Ham and Rugao Ham, and Yunguichuan represented by Yuntui Ham, Weining Ham and Panxian Ham.
Although the climate in the north can't make it have superb skills in curing ham, in Longxi, Gansu, the northern ham has also made a track by itself.
1. The essence of taste is the contest between pigs.
Material is the essence of taste, and beautiful legs are in good pigs.
Wang Xiaobo once pitied, "If nobody cares, the pig, an animal, really knows how to live. They will wander freely, eat and drink when they are hungry, and fall in love when spring comes. After people came, they made arrangements for their lives: every pig's life has a tragic theme-long meat. "
Every ham is made from local materials, and the origin of this taste is the contest between pigs. In order to highlight the tight encirclement on the field, every pig has made efforts with feed, exercise and time on the road of cultivation.
Yunnan Xuanwei ham comes from the local "Wujin pig"-the only free-range domesticated pig in China Plateau system. Ham pigs in Nujiang Laowo eat wild vegetables, green leafy vegetables, corn and drink mountain spring water. After four seasons in the Canyon Mountains, it can decompose the fresh flavor of fermented cheese.
Zhejiang people think that the "double-headed black" with thin skin and fragrant meat is the only thing that will not be done. In the Xianfeng period of Qing Dynasty, Rugao Ham in Jiangsu Province began to use local oriental kebabs as the main raw material to make a leg stack called Tonghetai.
Western Hubei black pig (later renamed Enshi black pig) is the source of Xuanen ham. Anfu ham in Jiangxi is made of Anfu pig, with small head and thin bones. Huizhou ham comes from South Anhui Flower Pig.
When you become a qualified pig, you will enter the process of ham making, which is about in winter, and spring is the best season from winter to the future.
To make exquisite legs, it is necessary to shave and trim the leg embryos. According to the leg shape, it can be divided into "bamboo leaf shape", "pipa shape" and "circle". The size of legs, meat quality and climatic conditions determine the frequency and quantity of salt used. After that, the salt legs were washed with water or smoked to continue dehydration, creating conditions for fermentation. The topography and climate in different places affect the fermentation time. Cooked ham can be eaten as a dish or raw after smelling and setting.
2. Competition situation in Yunnan-Guizhou Division
(1) Every cloud leg of the Yunnan team has a name.
Yunnan is a strong team in the ham project. Ham-producing places abound, but the climate, altitude and terrain are different, and a thousand legs also have a thousand flavors.
Qujing Xuanwei ham in northeast Yunnan is the most famous, according to Xuanwei county annals. "Xuantui is famous all over the world, which is due to the climate." After fermentation, the surface of ham is covered with green mold, even black. Insert bamboo needles into three different parts of ham to identify the quality of ham. The three needles are fragrant and odorless, which is the top grade.
The cut ham is like a fine knitted work of art, and the transparent fat as white as jade shuttles through the red and rose-red lean meat. One-year-old ham smells delicious, while more than two-year-old ham is rich and provocative, and it is great when eaten as a dish or raw.
Ham is essential in crossing the bridge rice noodles, and cloud-legged moon cakes occupy a high position in the world of moon cakes because of their uniqueness. There are also local ham and milk cakes. Mr. Wang Zengqi, a gluttonous man who has lived in Kunming for seven years, has his own taste memories. "The part where Kunming people eat ham from the extra-large calf to the elbow stick is called' money leg'."
In central Yunnan, Luquan Saba ham should be nominated, and Chuxiong ham should be produced in central and western Yunnan. There are also some remote mountainous areas, such as Ailaoshan pig ham and Wuliangshan ham.
Bai people in western Yunnan have three famous legs-Dali Heqing Round Leg, Yunlong Nuodeng Ham and Lushui Laowo Ham.
Legend has it that the "rich wine and fat legs" recorded in Heqing Fuzhi is about Heqing ham. After curing and spraying Heqing dry wine, this alpine ham was taken out of the jar and dried to maturity.
The climate and terrain of Nuodeng are suitable for deep fermentation of ham. The difference in salt determines the subtle differences in the color and taste of ham. The high potassium salt in curing Noordon ham comes from the ancient Noordon well salt, and the salt is fully penetrated, giving the ham the most agile taste. Pickled ham has sallow skin and reddish brown meat. The rose-red muscle segment is wrapped in milky fat, which is suitable for fat and thin, moderate in salt and light, sweet and delicious.
The ham in Nujiang's old nest was marinated with salt, pepper and wine for a few days, hung on the farmer's fire pit and smoked with firewood and litsea cubeba. After one or two years, the surface is black, its meat color is pink, the meat is tender, the taste is soft, the oil is not greasy, and there is a faint smoky smell in the rich meat flavor.
Sanchuan ham in Yongsheng, Lijiang, northwest Yunnan has the highest technical score. When the ham sausage is warm, it needs to be smeared with salt and white wine. After cooling, it should be rubbed into every corner of the front and back of the leg, and the salt should be piled in the jar to complete dehydration in about 20 days. Then wash the salt accumulated on the ham with salted brine, and hang the ham with wrapping paper to dry.
Finally, the ham that has been hung for two months is poured into a bamboo basket filled with kitchen ash and fire pit ash, and the remaining water in the ham will be fully absorbed, so there is no need to "press the water out", so Sanchuan ham is also called "soft ham".
Cooked ham is bright red in color and fragrant, and can be eaten raw after half a year, but the longer it takes, the more fragrant it will be.
It coincides with the chicken fir harvest season, and the fat and thin slices of ham are embedded in the chicken fir. Salty ham permeates it without any seasoning, and it is fresh, tender and pure. Every flavor is a gift from the mountains and jungles, and it is the fermentation result of time.
Zhaotong Ham, Qin Long Ham, Dongshan Ham, Laco Ham, etc. This track is crowded with players from Yunnan.
(2) Guizhou team has been dormant for many years and finally won the championship.
Yi compatriots in Weining, Guizhou have the custom of grazing in the mountains. Pigs often exercise, and their leg muscles are strong and full. When pickling with salt, rub some spices such as fennel and pepper on the fresh legs to adjust the flavor. After curing, hang your legs in a ventilated place to dry. Or hung on a fire pit for smoking for at least one year, ham will have a special smoking taste. After five or six years' storage, the bacon will be richer and more fragrant, without losing oil and taste.
The record of curing ham by Panzhou people dates back to the Yuan Dynasty. In the early Qing Dynasty, Panxian ham was "popular in Yunnan". At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it was approved by one vote. Although curing ham is a winter interest and necessary skill for every family, the appetite of early adopters is not affected by the season.
Ham and fish head soup, mandarin fish ham, roasted cabbage soup ham ... Panzhou (formerly known as Panxian), a small town in the southwest, has rubbed its respect and love for ham into the joy of home cooking.
(3) The natural flavor of Sichuan team in the mountains.
In Mianning Village, Sichuan, which is about 2000 meters above sea level, killing pigs and curing ham is the most rustic spring scenery in the coming year of 65438+February. Every household has a few years of ham hanging under the tile house. When they propose marriage, they bear the heavy responsibility of adding new year flavor and showing wealth. The natural flavor of this mountain has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts.
3. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Hubei competitions
(1) Jiangsu and Zhejiang teams and star teams
"South Leg" Jinhua Ham and "North Leg" Rugao Ham should be the star players on the field.
According to research, Jinhua folk pickled ham began in the Tang Dynasty. Tang Kaiyuan's Materia Medica records that "ham is the best in Jinhua". Founded in Xianfeng period of Qing Dynasty, "Xuefangjiang" is a century-old brand in ham industry, with tender meat and red as a rose. Fat is as bright as crystal and was once listed as a royal tribute.
There is a folklore that "China ham comes from Jinhua, Jinhua ham comes from Dongyang, Dongyang ham comes from Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek treasures snow boat Chiang Kai-shek." Rugao ham with thin skin and thin claws is famous at home and abroad for its "four wonders" of color, aroma, taste and shape.
Fried ham with green pepper and steamed pumpkin with ham are home-cooked dishes in ham producing areas. The "honey ham" recorded in Suiyuan Food List is a stunner in the leg. Add sugar and lotus seeds to the top of ham, then add lard and pine nuts and fry until golden brown. Finally, thicken with honey and sweet-scented osmanthus, and decorate with sweet-scented osmanthus of green plum. That kind of sweetness and tenderness melts perfectly in the mouth.
(2) Anhui-Jiangxi-Hubei team is a traditional strong team, teaching people skills.
Speaking of Huizhou ham, Jinhua ham has to be called a "master". There is Jixi ham in Jixi, and there is a picture of a civilian army holding ham in both hands engraved on the waist plate of Hu's ancestral hall, which is the direct evidence that Jinhua ham came out of Huizhou.
Huizhou merchants who did business in Jinhua and Lanxi after the Ming Dynasty brought the local style of curing ham in southern Anhui, opened a ham shop and sang Jinhua House with the traditional Huizhou ham curing process. Specifically, Xiuning is called Wanhua Ham and Huangshan is called Tangkou Ham.
Up to now, local villagers in Huizhou in southern Anhui still have the tradition of drying ham. The pig legs hanging in front of and behind their houses are the most unique scenery in winter and spring with bright meat color, unique fragrance and transparent luster.
During the Spring Festival, parents in rural areas will bring strips of ham to their children who are working hard in the city. Ham turned into tears, conveying parents' thoughts and memories, and also entrusting children in the city with unforgettable memories of the countryside.
Yuan Mei, a poet and gourmet in Qing Dynasty, once praised Jiangxi Anfu Ham, saying that it is "fresh and sweet, and every household has a fragrance". Anfu ham is thin and tender, thin and fat, and its white fat is like marbling, swimming between fiery red muscles.
Selenium is an important feature of Xuanen ham, because Enshi is rich in selenium resources and has the only independent selenium deposit in the world. Ham made by combining the curing process of Tujia Miao village has the unique characteristics of Xuanen.
Bamboo shoots dug in the bamboo forest in the morning are poured into well water and stewed slowly with ham, which is soft but not rotten, dense and sweet. The fat and suppressed meat flavor of ham that has been hidden in snow for a long time can only be awakened after repeated stewing. The mellow aroma that has been fermented for a long time and the freshness of the land naturally condense into a pot of stew, where the wild interest of the twelfth lunar month and the warmth of hometown are all here.
4. Beijing Normal University: Loneliness of Longxi Ham
Liang Shiqiu once wrote that in the past, northerners didn't know how to eat ham or how to deal with it, because ham had a stale, greasy and astringent taste. Because the northern winter is cold, food can be naturally frozen and kept fresh, so there is no need to marinate to keep the shelf life of food.
Gansu Longxi ham is a natural product of northern China. Its main raw material is "Potentilla anserina pig", because it often eats wild medicinal materials such as Potentilla anserina, Radix Codonopsis, Radix Angelicae Sinensis and Radix Astragali. The meat is tender and the taste is fragrant. When curing ham, the "snowflake salt" produced by Jingyuan Qiaocheng is often used, and various spices such as fennel and ginger peel are added to improve the taste.
Mature Longxi ham muscles are as bright as Xia, thin but not firewood; Fat is crystal clear, like agate. Cut into thin slices and eat with steamed bread and pot helmet to keep the original flavor of ham.
Lanzhou Manji once praised Longxi ham: "Longxi ham has a unique flavor ... compared with Jinhua ham and Yunnan ham, it is not inferior at all." There is only one player in the Northern Division, which is quite lonely.
That ham hangs in my memory, with a reddish luster and a long salty fragrance. After the sun and winter wind blowing, microbial fermentation, fat oxidation, protein decomposition, the visible surface layer gradually moldy, but the invisible meat is more red and mellow. This is the fresh meat that really stands the test of time.
References:
1. Dare to be random, Yunnan ham map, banana green, bonus, Hunan Science and Technology Press, 20 18.
2. Liang Shiqiu, "Eating Ham", "Yashe Talking about Eating", Wanjuan Publishing Company, 20 15.
3. CCTV Nongguang Tiandi, production technology of Sanchuan ham, 205438+0338+0.