Guo Yemin
Every New Year's Festival, relatives and friends may be indispensable to the "ham" in the north and south goods gifted. Chinese ham is famous for its yellow flesh, red flesh, aroma and rich nutrition, which is a treasure in the traditional meat processing of the mainland, and also allows the long-established "cured meat" family to still raise its eyebrows in this era.
Why
Speaking of the origin of "ham", it can probably be traced back to the "breast" of the pre-Qin era. "Breast" is the collective name of "breast" and "wax", just as "A" and "胄" originally referred to not one thing. However, when the ancient texts mention "breast", it is almost always associated with "wax". This is because both refer to "dried meat". According to Zheng Xuan's note "Zhou Li Laren", the difference between them is that the large animals are divided into strips and dried as "breasts", the small animals are dried as a whole as "wax", and there is also a kind of "wax", which is dried by beating and adding condiments. Whether it is "decomposed into strips" or "whole and dried", it actually means salting and air-drying.
The emergence of this method of production and processing may be related to the long-term preservation conditions of fresh meat in ancient times. The ancient way of obtaining meat was first hunted for wild animals. The harvest of hunting is uncertain, and meat is easy to spoil, and it is often difficult to eat in a day or two during the harvest. In order to adjust the imbalance in the supply of meat between different seasons, it is necessary to effectively store meat food when it is relatively abundant, to prevent spoilage and spoilage, so as to save it for the next day.
It was in this case that the salting method came into being. Ancient Egyptians knew early on to use salt to marinate meat and fish, and they made salt by evaporating the waters of the Nile. Archaeologists have found pickled poultry and fish in some tombs in ancient Egypt, and the burials dated to about 3000 BC. In China, fish cellars have been found in Neolithic sites in Mishan, Heilongjiang and Jiaoxian, Shandong. The former is about an ice fish cellar, the latter may be a salted fish cellar. If so, evidence Chinese pickled fish can be traced back more than 4,000 years.
Why does pickling prevent corruption? Scientifically speaking, from the time of slaughter, meat begins to be contaminated with bacteria in nature, and this process is inevitable. However, if the osmotic pressure of table salt is used to make the salt enter the tissue of the meat, the water in the meat will penetrate outward, so that the meat tissue is partially dehydrated. At the same time, the osmotic pressure generated by table salt destroys the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane, causing it to lose moisture, thereby inhibiting its growth and thus achieving the purpose of preservative. Although the ancients may not have understood the reason, they still explored a way to preserve meat by salting and salting in their daily practice. For example, the "Qi Min Zhi Shu", which was written during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, believes that the time to make breast wax is better in the ninth, tenth, eleventh and months of the lunar calendar. This also makes sense. Winter temperature is lower, meat is tighter, less moisture, then the production of breast wax, other bacteria are not easy to infect, breast wax is not easy to spoil, so the amount of salt used in processing is also less, the taste of breast wax will appear light and fresh.
In the "Qi Min Zhi Shu", it is recorded that there is a kind of "five-flavor preserved" preparation method, which is mainly salt, and is appropriately seasoned with tempeh, green onion white, ginger and orange peel. There is also a kind of "white breast" in the same book. The method is to use only salt, other condiments are not used, nor is it soaked in the cooked juice and then taken out to dry, but directly add salt to the meat, which is quite similar to the popular bacon preparation method.
The breast was similar to today's bacon
In an era when the food category was not yet abundant, it was very practical as a breastpak that could be stored for a long time. The Zhou Li Tianguan has a saying that "all sacrifices are made of beans, and the procrastins are recommended for fat and raw things". This means that dried meat was once an ancestor sacrifice. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius taught disciples to collect "bundle cultivation" as tuition fees, and the "cultivation" in it is a kind of dried meat. Since the breastpa can be preserved for a long time, it is naturally convenient to use it as a dry food for long-distance travel. In the Book of Jin, it is recorded that Yu Sang once stayed in a hotel, and the passengers in the same room lost their breasts, suspecting that Yu Sang stole it. Yu Sang did not argue, so he took off his clothes and paid the passenger. Later, the owner of the shop came out to relieve him: "This house has lost fish, broiler, chicken and duck, and most of them are stolen by foxes." Why should you be suspicious? "It can be seen that at that time, dried meat has become a common travel food for people.
"Ham" appears
Not only is the breastpray easy to preserve, but more importantly, the processed food has a new flavor. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a kind of "carp breast", which is said to be "white as kexue, the taste is exquisite, and it is very precious after eating and drinking". Fresh fish will have a unique flavor after salting, and the same is true when the meat is marinated, and it will have different taste sensations when eaten. Cured meat made Chinese, the most delicious one is "ham". Pigs are the most widely kept domestic animals in China after the Song Dynasty. Ham is made by marinating the front and back legs of pigs. If nitrate or nitrite is added to the meat curing preparation, due to the action of nitrate, the meat will show a bright and fiery color, and the name "ham" is also derived.
ham
When did ham come about? There has always been a saying that its "intellectual property rights" belonged to Zong Ze (1060-1128), a famous anti-Jin general in the late Northern Song Dynasty. Zong Ze was a native of Yiwu (present-day Jinhua, Zhejiang), and when he returned to his hometown to visit his relatives and return to the military camp, he carried a large number of pickled pork legs to treat the frontline soldiers and offered them to Emperor Gaozong of Song to taste. Emperor Gaozong was full of praise after eating, and saw that its cut flesh was red like fire, and most of them belonged to the eight counties of Jinhua Province, so they were specially named "Jinhua Ham". This claim is widely circulated, but there is a clear flaw. From the Tang to the Song, Jinhua was always called Wuzhou or Wuzhou Road, and was never called Jinhua Province. This term did not exist until the Ming Dynasty. In other words, if it is true that Zong Ze invented ham, it should logically be called "Wuzhou ham".
Portrait of Zongze
However, in the "Records of Shi Lin Guang" written by Chen Yuanliang, a Southern Song Dynasty, it is true that there is a kind of "method of making bacon". This kind of "bacon" is the raw material is polished, hung in the shade, then blanched in boiling water, then brushed with sesame oil, and then smoked, and the longer the smoking, the better. It seems that this is also the so-called "ham" system in later generations. In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Han Yi included a kind of "fire meat" in the "YiYa Will", which was clearly used for the "fine legs" of pigs, and after pickling, it was covered with "rice firewood ash", smoked with straw, and then smoked with "hanging smoke". The production of this kind of "fire meat" is more methodical.
By the Qing Dynasty, the record of the method of making "ham" was very clear. Written in the early Qing Dynasty, the "Food Constitution Hong secret" contains the "Jinhua ham" system. Compared with the "fire meat" of the Ming Dynasty, the "Jinhua ham" at this time has developed in the preparation method, such as not being able to rub the meat directly with salt by hand to prevent the meat from being heated and spoiled; adding minced peppercorns to the seasoning, and changing the material of the smoked leg to use pine branch branches to make the ham taste better. Later, the description of ham in the "Tuning Ding Collection" compiled by Qian Jiashi Anonymous was more abundant. It is further pointed out that the characteristics of "Jinhua ham" are "thin skin, thin flesh, straight feet, bright claws, and light red and live flavor". In the specific preparation method, there are also some changes, when rubbing the meat with salt, you can "add a little bit of skin and salt", when curing meat, you can use "marinade lettuce brine" and so on.
In addition, Zeng Yi, a Qing Dynasty man, also wrote a "Record of Middle Feeds", which introduced the pickling method of "Xuanwei ham" in Yunnan. It uses the hind legs of local pigs, cut into a lute shape, and rub them repeatedly with salt until the salt penetrates into the meat, and then marinates and ferments, and then marinates after half a year. When the ham skin is slightly green, use a needle to test the needle in three different parts, and if there is a "three-stitch fragrance", it is considered qualified.
There is no doubt that the ham of the Qing Dynasty has been widely circulated on tables everywhere. Therefore, when Cao Xueqin wrote "Dream of the Red Chamber", there were as many as a dozen kinds of ham dishes mentioned in it. The "ham stew elbow" in the book, the fire is slowly simmered, the incense floats around, attracting the temple arhats to smell the incense and jump off the wall, and there is also the reputation of "arhat jumping off the wall". The book writes that after Jia Baoyu was seriously ill, there was a bowl of "ham fresh bamboo shoot soup" at dinner, and Qingwen hurriedly brought it to Bao Yu and put it in front of Bao Yu. Baoyu took a sip and said, "Good soup! "The taste of ham is self-evident. As for another Qing Dynasty novelist, Wu Jingzi, in the "History of Ru Linwai", it is mentioned that Niu Yupu was on his way from Nanjing to Yangzhou Prison on a boat, and there is also a description of ham. This naturally follows the glorious tradition of "breast wax" of that year and is eaten as a travel food. It is conceivable that in that era when there was no refrigerator and no canned food, how many official ships and civilians had ham on board, which made the passengers' journey, eating and living a lot easier and happier! Wu Jingzi himself went south and north, and presumably there will be no lack of personal experience in this regard.
Ham fresh bamboo shoot soup
The world's famous legs
In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the evaluation of hams in various places can be taken as an example of the "Compendium of Materia Medica" compiled by Zhao Xuemin, which clearly pointed out that "(ham) is better than Jinhua, Jinhua is all in the genus, but it is better to go out of Dongyang and Pujiang." Its pickled legs have winter legs, spring parts, front legs, and hind legs." Of course, it is not impossible to buy this statement. In Huizhou Capital (present-day Huangshan City and other places) in Anhui Province, there is a saying, "Jinhua ham is in Dongyang, Dongyang ham is in Huizhou". The implication is that Huizhou ham is the origin of "Jinhua ham".
Huizhou (Jixi) ham
However, "Jinhua ham" in the end accounted for the "flow" opportunity, as if it became a representative of ham. Qing people commented that all provinces in the south can make ham, but they are not as good as Jinhua ham," which is "thin and red in skin, shallow and fragrant", so it will be spread far and near, and it is a treasure. Jinhua ham also has its own unique features. For example, the pigs used to make Jinhua ham have a very unusual diet. In jinhua, pigs are fed rice soup, okara, chaff (bran crumbs), porridge, and melon peel leaves. The pig's diet is almost more exquisite than that of the people. Pigs fed in this way, of course, "cooked in a fragrant room, into the taste of sweet and crisp, appetizer abnormalities" has been.
As for another well-known "Xuanwei ham", some people also commented during the Republic of China period, "Xuanwei ham is famous in the world, and the climate is so.". Xuanwei is located in the southern part of the foothills of the Umeng Mountains on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and the climate with no heat or cold is suitable for curing meat, which is not easy to rot and taste; before and after the annual frost falls, every household begins to prepare for the production of ham. Xuanwei ham selection materials mostly use the hind legs of local traditional native pigs, which used to be free-range by farmers, with a wide range of recipes, a long growth period, a tight meat quality, and a high content of intermuscular fat.
Sherwin-Williams Ham
Interestingly, Liang Shiqiu, a scholar and eater during the Republic of China period, commented, "The food products in Yunnan, whether it is radish or cabbage, are extremely large, and pork legs are no exception." Therefore, cloud legs are usually more spectacular than Jinhua hams, fat and meaty", but unfortunately, "the aroma is slightly inferior". Later, when he arrived in Taiwan, he found that he was originally "not blessed in the midst of blessings." The climate on the island of Taiwan is too hot to make ham at all, "but there are many people who imitate it, and the result is either shoddily made, or the pickling is not enough to rush to sell, with the smell of dead bodies..."
However, taste is naturally a topic of benevolence and wisdom. For example, the "north leg" of Rugao in Jiangsu (as opposed to the "south leg" of Jinhua), enshi ham in Hubei, Longxi ham in Gansu, Jianmen ham in Sichuan, Anfu ham in Jiangxi, and Weining ham in Guizhou are also very famous. For example, Lu Xun, who had once argued with Liang Shiqiu, was a native of Zhejiang, and his interest in ham had always been very strong, and when he was in Xiamen, due to the unpalatable rice package, Lu Xun "boiled the ham of Fuyuan with Jiang Yaozhu in a large pot" to improve the food. Specifically, the world-famous "Jinhua ham" Lu Xun naturally ate a lot, and ate to the point where the classification was very fine, such as he ate "Jiang leg", which was produced by Jiang's workshop in Jinhua ham. However, Lu Xun did not reject the Xuanwei (Yunnan) ham, which is on a par with Jinhua ham. In his opinion, "Yunnan legs will be eaten, very good, meaty, oily."
Sauté broad beans with ham
After modern times, Chinese also came into contact with Western ham. In the view of Liang Shiqiu, who has seen many "eating" widely, "American ham, the so-called ham, is not unpalatable, it is another thing." If it is a large piece of ham that has been roasted, the pineapple-like diagonal grid is baked on the skin, and it is quite delicious to eat while it is hotly sliced, but it should not be spoken with Jinhua ham on the same day." From this point of view, as the representative of the ancient "cured meat" family today, Chinese ham still defends the honor of Chinese cuisine.
bibliography:
Shao Wankuan, "Processing and Storage Technology of Ancient Food in Mainland China", Agricultural Archaeology, No. 4, 2017
Qiu Pangtong, "An Overview of Ancient Chinese Ham and Ham Cuisine", Journal of Sichuan Culinary College, No. 1, 2008
Editor-in-Charge: Shanshan Peng
Proofreader: Luan Meng