In the last issue, we watched the "grandmother's house" that shows the core of the Mosuo matriarchal "home" restored by the Mosuo Museum, and learned about the picture of the mother dominating everything in the Mosuo family and the lofty status of women in the family. Today we are going to visit the mysterious Mosuo culture of "pork belly".
The exhibits in the Mosuo Museum are really rich, especially the daily necessities, utensils and costumes produced by Mosuo. Why, how come there is a pile of dried whole pork at the door of my grandmother's house? The skin is lustrous and textured. The museum explained that the meat had been around for more than 10 years and had not deteriorated at all. It turned out that this was Mosuo cuisine, called "pork belly", because it looked like a pipa, also known as "pipa meat". The Qing Dynasty "Records of Smelling and Seeing Southern Yunnan" has a record that "Lijiang has pipa pigs, its color is very strange, cooked and eaten, quite similar to Hangzhou's fragrant meat".
The Mosuo people are very particular about making pork belly, and to make it in winter, they also have to choose an auspicious day. The production process is divided into several steps, such as slaughtering, removing bone meat, smearing seasoning, sewing, squashing, drying, and placement. That is, the whole pig bone and the meat except the head are all removed, smeared with salt, peppercorns, garlic, ginger, and sometimes added ghee and honey and other spices after suturing, applied heavy pressure, and then placed in the home god cabinet or stove, one next to the other, or stacked stacked storage, several years without rotting, it is said that the longer the pork meat hangs, the better, and even placed for eighty years is still well preserved, will not deteriorate. Usually eat or entertain guests, can be boiled, fried, steamed, it is said to be very refreshing to eat, mellow taste, taste very good. Next time you come back to Lugu Lake, you must try this delicacy.
In addition to daily consumption, pork belly is often used for sacrifices, gifts, and banquets. The Mosuo people held a coming-of-age ceremony for young boys and girls (13 years old, wearing pants and skirts) when pork belly meat is indispensable, the girl has to step on the pig fat and grain pockets, and the mother dresses her in adult clothes.
Pork belly is a symbol of the prosperity of the Mosuo family, and if the shrine cabinet is filled with a whole strip of pork belly, the family must be very rich in the local area.
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