Jinhua, Zhejiang, is located in a hilly basin, with a unique landform of "surrounded by mountains and a river on three sides, and the basin is staggered with three rivers", and the four seasons are distinct, alternating dry and wet, which has achieved the ideal fermentation environment of Jinhua ham. Fermented ham, divided into 5 parts, each with its own flavor!
As an intangible cultural heritage of Zhejiang, Jinhua ham originated in the Song Dynasty and has a history of hundreds of years. The Qing Dynasty was famous as a tribute to the imperial court.
In the hierarchical division of Jinhua ham, there is a saying: "Jinhua ham out of Dongyang, Dongyang ham out of Jiang".
During the Xianfeng period, Jiang Xuefang, the owner of the workshop in Shangjiang Village, Dongyang County, inherited the skills of his ancestors, reformed the process, and kept improving, creating a "Snow Boat Jiang Ham" with excellent fragrance. The essence is red, the fat is translucent, not salty and not light, sweet and mellow.
Pickled in ancient fashions, time makes it delicious
Every year from winter to spring is the busiest season for the pickling of snow boat Jiang ham, because of the special climate this year, compared with previous years, the temperature is high, so it is postponed to the snow to start pickling.
The ham is made of the hind legs of the excellent pig breed "Two Heads of Wu" as raw materials, with more fat and less fat, and the meat quality is delicate. "Two heads of black" is also called panda pig, the body is white, the head and tail are black, after tasting two heads of black, you know what is a good mountain and good water out of a good pig!
According to the annual practice, the leg opening is presided over by Lu Yonglai, the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage "Jinhua Ham Pickling Technique".
Salt is the first step to determine the flavor of ham, according to the size and thickness of the leg, the coarse salt is evenly sprinkled on the ham, the first time the salt is called "water salt", the second time is called large salt, in the next month, it takes 5 to 6 times to salt.
After the salting was finished, the stacking master immediately stacked the hams one by one, separated by bamboo weaving in the middle. The size, shape, and bulge of each ham are inconsistent, and it is necessary to find a gravitational balance between meat and meat.
The production of each ham reflects the teacher's careful control of salt and salting time.
Stacked thoroughly marinated hams are also washed and dried to remove floating salt impurities. The washed ham is hung in a well-ventilated place for 7 days until the grease on the surface of the ham oozes out and the color turns crimson.
The fermentation of the last step determines the quality of the ham flavor, the dried ham is moved to the fermentation chamber with a suitable temperature and humidity, and the two hams are tied side by side on the shelf with hemp rope and hung neatly. For the next six months, the ham began to slowly turn into a delicacy under the influence of mold.
Ancient law inheritance, time immersion, after four seasons of reincarnation, snow boat Jiang ham after two years of ripening, finally presented a crimson color and unique fresh fragrance.
Good ham, carefully chosen
A well-cooked ham still needs to go through the last test: the slings smell the incense, and the experienced master adopts the traditional "three-sling incense" method.
The so-called "three sticks of incense" is to smell the three parts of the ham through the sticks to identify whether the fragrance is pure and strong, which is also the consistent judgment method of the ham industry.
The teacher skillfully poked at three parts of each ham less than 15 centimeters apart. For each poke, sniff close to the bottom of the nose to evaluate the quality of a ham. If a ham is fermented in place, it will be "three sticks of incense", fragrant, uniform taste, no peculiar smell is considered to be of high quality, in order to be stamped.
Ham is served in a delicious and instant way
The ham that has been tempered and matured over time is divided into five parts: fire claw, fire heel, upper, chinese side, and dripping oil. Each part is very particular about the dishes.
The top is the most delicate part of the ham meat, and the salt is moderate, suitable for making a large dish alone, such as the honey sauce fire recipe is made from the top. The Chinese side is second only to the ham part above, with more bones, and will generally be deboned and sliced or shredded into vegetables. The oil-rich fire pupils, fire claws, and dripping oil parts are suitable for stewing soups. Different cooking techniques bring out the flavor of each part of the ham to the fullest.
Fire heel dried duck stew
In the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, the ham shoot dried duck pot is a very classic home cooking dish, the strong aroma of the ham and the oil of the duck are slowly simmered out of the soup is very delicious.
After the lid is lifted, the soup is boiling and warm, and the milky white juice wraps the crisp and soft duck meat, and the whole body is comfortable in the winter!
Steamed turtle on top of ham
This dish of ham steamed turtle, the top of the ham is cut into thin slices, and steamed slowly with the turtle, so that the mellowness of the ham and the deliciousness of the turtle are fully integrated, the soup is thick and thick, the flesh is tender, and the skirt is smooth. The result is a nourishing experience with delicate taste and complementary ingredients.
Gold and silver hooves
Gold and silver hooves are stewed with fragrant, intense fire heels and fresh pork knuckles. Because the hooves are stewed together, the color is just made up of gold and silver.
Ham with pig's trotters, and then add seasonal winter shoots, the taste is salty, crisp, fat and not greasy, the collagen on the claw skin is sufficient, full of gum is almost sticky to the palate.
A pot of Chinese lake crabs
The next Chinese lake crab is a pot of fresh, combining ham and crab together, and its freshness is incomparable. Slice the ham in chinese, simmer in less oil, then put it in a casserole dish and simmer slowly with Taihu crab.
The fat-filled crab yellow and the salty and fresh ham are infiltrated with each other, and on the basis of locking in the original flavor of crab meat, the aroma of crab meat can be fully stimulated and mobilized, showing a unique rich and sweet.
Ham drizzled with oil stewed tofu
Finally, the salt-brine tofu and ham of the drip oil old slow simmer, not only can effectively remove the bean smell, but also make the tofu more smooth and tender, after fully absorbing the ham's oil and mellow aroma, and then supplemented with a little winter shoot slices, peppers and other ingredients, the more stewed the more flavorful.
Even ordinary home-cooked dishes, once blessed with Jinhua ham, are endowed with unparalleled delicacies. What other impressive ham dishes have you eaten, welcome to leave a message!
Figure | Some are from Xuefang Jiang and Shangri-La Hotel, Yiwu
Special thanks to | Snow Boat Jiang, Yiwu Shangri-La Hotel