In the long years without refrigerators, it is difficult to preserve fresh pork, so smart Xiangxi people usually choose to kill the pigs that have been kept at home for a year in the cold winter. Except for the fresh meat to be eaten in the New Year, the remaining meat will be salted first, and then hung on the stove to dry into bacon for the next year. Today, bacon is not only a favorite of Hunan people, but also a favorite of many diners. Today, Ayi will teach you how to make bacon, and there are two special dishes made with bacon at the end. Don't miss it!

Production of bacon:

1 When curing bacon, two pieces of meat, that is, the meat near the hind legs, are generally selected.

2. Cut the meat into long strips, stir-fry the sea salt on fire, grind it and apply it evenly on the surface of the meat, rubbing the pork while applying it to make it fully absorb the salt.

3. Burn the wok red, put the meat in the wok and roast it, so that the meat can fully absorb salt through the heat until the skin is burnt, and then put the meat in a plastic bucket and cover it for 4-5 days.

4. Put the marinated meat on a rope, smoke and bake in a smoking room at half temperature 100℃ for 24 hours, stop cooling 1 day to remove oil; Smoked and roasted at 80℃ for half a smoke and half a fire 12 hours, stopped cooling 1 day until the wax oil dripped naturally, at this time, the fat has appeared translucent; Finally, smoke at 30-40℃ for 5-6 hours to make the meat smell smoky. In this step, the temperature should not be too high, otherwise the fat will melt easily.

There are many fuels for smoked bacon, such as branches, sawdust and chaff, among which rice bran is the best, because rice bran is alkaline, and the smoked bacon is full of aroma and brighter in color, while the smoked bacon with sawdust and branches is often darker in color, and the aroma only floats on the surface of the meat.

Preservation of bacon:

Wash the bacon, absorb the moisture, seal it with plastic wrap, and store it in the freezer.

Identification of cured meat:

The quality of bacon sold in the market is mixed, how can we identify it? Good bacon has a dry surface and is firm and elastic when pinched. After cutting, lean meat is bright red or dark red, and fat meat is transparent or milky white. On the other hand, if the meat is soft, inelastic, with mucus on the surface, the meat color is dull, the fat is yellow, there are mildew spots, and it smells bad, it means that it is defective and has deteriorated.