Butchering and curing meats in China

by Carl Oscar Levine

§ 79. Pickled Beef

Cut the beef into pieces weighing about four or five taels. Rub each piece thoroughly with salt. Place the meat in a jar and cover with salt. In one or two weeks, the meat is cured and ready to use. Soak in water for one-half hour before using in order to remove part of the salt.

§ 80. Dried Rice Bird (Laap Woh Fa Tseuk 腊禾花雀)

Remove the feathers, internal organs, and brain. Then treat same as in making sun dried pork.

§ 81. Pork Stuffed Liver (Kam Ngan Yun 金銀潤)

Use the liver of hogs. Cut into strips about one inch wide. Use wine and ginger for flavoring. Half dry it in the wind. It should not be overdried, as it will then be hard to digest. Prepare fat meat by cutting strips of it into such sizes that they can be inserted into the liver. Soak the fat meat in a solution of salt, saltpeter, and sugar, in proportions of 3-2-1. Finally, half dry the fat by hanging in the sun for several hours. With a wooden stick, make pockets in the strips of liver from one end to the other, and insert the strips of fat meat into the pockets. The strips of stuffed liver should then be hung up to dry for a half day.

§ 82. Lo Mei (Lo Mei 鹵味)

The tongue, bladder, intestine, and liver, are used in making lo mei although any part of the carcass may be used. It is made by cooking the meat for ten minutes and then plunging it while still hot into cold water, cooking for ten minutes again, and then plunging into cold water. The process should be repeated at least twelve times. The expansion and contraction of the meat by such handling makes it very tender, and firm. The process of preparing this meat is called “crossing the river.”

The boiled meat should be put into a strong solution of spices prepared before hand, which is the same as the mixture of spices used for making the pickle for sausages. After remaining in the solution of spices over night, the meat is ready to be eaten.

§ 83. Roast Meat (Shiu Yuk 燒肉)

Poultry, or pigs weighing up to one hundred catties, frequently are roasted. Two methods are used. Poultry and small pigs may be roasted in pans in an ordinary oven. The other method, which is the one commonly used, is to roast in a special oven. The latter method requires more skill than roasting in the ordinary oven. The oven is in the form of a cylinder stood on end, thirty to forty inches in diameter, and five or six feet high. The poultry or pig is hung on iron bars across the top of the stove, and the stove or oven is then covered with an iron lid. Fire is built at the bottom of the cylinder through an opening at one side. Dry hard wood or charcoal, which give but little smoke, are generally used for fuel. The meat being roasted needs constant attention and shifting so that it will roast through uniformly. It is said that when the meat gives off a white smoke, it is an indication that it is done. A solution made up of one part honey and one part water is rubbed on the meat, both inside and outside the carcass, before the roasting. This honey solution gives the outside of the meat a desirable rich reddish brown color when roasted.

§ 84. Dried Duck (Laap Aap 腊鴨)

For one dressed bird, use five taels of salt, which should be well rubbed into the meat. Then pack in salt for one day. Take up, wash off the salt, and put between two bamboo mats. Apply pressure for a few days, and hang up to dry.

The Canton climate is not very favorable for drying duck, as during the meat curing season it frequently rains. If the meat does not dry fairly rapidly, it is likely to spoil. In Naam On, Kwong Sai province, where it is generally dry during the curing season, the ducks are packed away after two days exposure to the sun. In Canton, it often takes two weeks. Ducks’ heads, kidneys, feet and other parts of the bird are also cured in the same way.

§ 85. Puffed Pig Skin (Chue P’ei 豬皮)

In making puffed pig skin, the pig skin is first cooked, and then thoroughly scraped with a knife in order to remove the oil and fat. It is then hung up in the sun to dry for about ten days. When it is ready for the puffing or blistering process, which is accomplished by roasting the dried skin in hot gravel in a shallow pan over a slow fire This process whitens and puffs, or blisters, the skin.

The puffed pig skin is cut into small cubes and used in soups. It has a spongy appearance with very little taste.

The skin on the hams, shoulders, and sides will puff the best, while the skin on the back, legs, and belly will not puff well on roasting in the hot gravel, but can be puffed by roasting in peanut oil.

On account of dampness and cloudy weather which interfere with proper drying, puffed pig skin is best made during the dry, sunny winter months. The product is on sale, however, throughout the year, as it keeps well if hung in a fairly dry, airy place. It is commonly seen hanging in the front of meat shops in Canton.

[1] For further details on smoking, see sections 55 to 61.

[2] Note: 1 mace = 1⁄100 ounce; 16 ounces = 1 catty.

AGRICULTURAL PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
CANTON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

The following agricultural bulletins and publications may be obtained at the price indicated from College Bookstore, Canton Christian College, Cantor, China.

Bulletin No. 5. Groff, G. W., Agricultural Reciprocity between America and China. Illustrated. 40 pp. $0.20.

Bulletin No. 12. Groff, G. W., The Papaya for South China. Illustrated. 8 illustrations, 7 pp. $0.10.

Chinese edition under title 木瓜. 8 pp. $0.10.

Bulletin No. 18. Levine, C. O., and Cadbury, W. W., A Study of Milk Produced in Kwangtung. 9 pp. $0.10.

Bulletin No. 20. The 1917–18 Journal of the Lingnaam Agricultural Society (in Chinese). Illustrated. 150 pp. $0.20.

Bulletin No. 23. Levine, C. O., Notes on Farm Animals and Animal Industries in China. Illustrated. 8 illustrations, 54 pp. $0.40.

Bulletin No. 25. Graybill, H. B., Lawn Grasses for South China. 6 illustrations, 6 pp. $0.20.

Bulletin No. 27. Levine, C. O., Butchering and Curing Meats in China. Illustrated. 7 illustrations, 41 pp. $0.20.

Groff, G. W., The Lychee and Lungnan. Canton, 1920. 60 illustrations, 149 pp. Cloth bound. $2.20.

CANTON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE
CANTON, CHINA

ADMINISTRATIVE AND AGRICULTURAL STAFF

Charles K. Edmunds, ph.d. (Johns Hopkins University), President.

Chung Wing Kwong, Chu Jen, Vice-President.

Owen E. Pomeroy, b.a. (Harvard University), Bursar.

Kenneth Duncan, m.a. (University of Wisconsin), Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

George Weidman Groff, m.s. (Pennsylvania State College), Professor of Horticulture and Director of Agricultural Work.

Charles Walter Howard, m.s. (University of Minnesota), Professor of Biology.

Clinton N. Laird, m.a. (University of Pennsylvania), Professor of Chemistry.

Carl Oscar Levine, m.s. in Agr. (Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts), Associate Professor of Animal Husbandry.

Taam Sik Hung, b.s. in Agr. (Kansas State Agricultural College), Instructor in Animal Husbandry.

Walter Leon Funkhouser, b.s. in Agr. (Pennsylvania State College), Instructor.

Floyd A. McClure, b.s. in Agr. (Ohio State University), Instructor.

Fu Po Kwong, m.s. in Agr. (Michigan Agricultural College), Instructor.

Edmund A. Gilbert, Instructor.

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Pennsylvania State College Mission
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W. Henry Grant, Secretary