§ 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.