Today, my dad bought half a pig from the town
It weighs about 55kg
It’s freshly killed this morning. We’ll make some larou (腊肉 Chinese bacon) from it
One Two Go!
We are going to buy some salt for curing the meat
as we're going to use a lot of salt
Can I have 3 packs of salt?
In the local countryside, we make larou with spices
Add some star anise. Add some galanga.
Add a handful of Sichuan green peppercorn.
Green peppercorns remove the bloody smell and enhance aroma.
Sichuanese can’t cook without them.
People here roast the salt and spices together before curing the meat
That’s our traditional recipe
to make super tasty larou
Finish roasting when the salt has slightly changed its color and the aroma is released
The salt is still too hot. We’ll use it after cooling down
That’s a big piece of fat
I’ll put it in a big bowl
This is the most delicious part
This is the right tenderloin. Those big chunks we commonly see are not.
It's really tender for a stir fry
Wang Gang: Are we also using the leg meat for larou? Dad: Yeah!
My dad used to be a famous local butcher
so that’s why he’s pretty skilled in that
This is the part around the tail. Best for Huiguo Rou (回锅肉 Double-Cooked Pork)
It almost bit my hand
5kg meat and 100g liquor. The better liquor, the better larou.
How often do we flip the meat?
Flip once for every 3 days. Wash with water after 6 days.
Then smoke with leaves. Cypress leaves are the best
We are done curing. We’ll smoke it a few days later.
For today, we’ll get some of this vegetable for a pork liver stir fry
Don’t know how you call it. We call it Xuepi Cai (血皮菜 “blood skin vegetable”) here (in English: Okinawa spinach)
It’s pretty good in a pork liver stir fry
Should be rare in other provinces
Today, we cured the meat in the morning
And now I’ll be the kitchen helper. Dad is the chef.
The meal is ready, Sibo (4th uncle)!
This “Xuepi Cai” goes really well with the pork liver stir fry. It’s been a long time that I haven’t had this dish
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