There is a saying: "There is hair to eat the brown, no hair to eat the scale hammer." Two feet to eat the stairs, four feet to eat to the table cabinet. There is meat to eat dry meat, no meat to eat garbage." It is described as a person who eats everything, and almost any part of a pig can be eaten except for pig hair. But do you know where the pork that you eat every day comes from the pig? What are the differences between pork in different parts?
The seven most commonly eaten parts
A: Shoulder blade meat:
The upper part of the front breast is plum blossom meat, and the lower half is the heart meat. The meat taken from the front of the pig's back ridge to the shoulder blade belongs to the part of the pig with a large amount of exercise. The meat of the shoulder blades is rich in flavor and has a charming meat aroma, plus ribs and grease, which can make a variety of cooking variations.
Plum Blossom Meat:
Belongs to the upper shoulder blade meat, the fat distribution is even, is the most commonly used part, because there are tendons and meat, eat good taste, wide range of uses, in the past is also the highest price, commonly known as "meat". Most modern people do not like meat with too much fat, so most of the meat stalls will remove the skin and thick layer of lard fat before selling it to consumers.
Cooking method: suitable for long-term stewing, braised, large pieces of baking, such as char siu meat, stewed meat, white cut meat, the longer the cooking time, the more you can cook the taste into the meat, in addition, you can also cut into thin slices, as a hot pot, barbecue meat slices.
Heart meat: Heart meat is the meat of the lower shoulder blades, and in the traditional market, it is often heard that people say in Taiwanese as "ㄍㄚˋ heart". Because it is less greasy, it is considered to be the best part to make ground meat, usually you can add a little fat to make the ground meat dishes more smooth, and the dishes such as dumpling filling, bun filling, etc. will also be more delicious.
B: Front leg meat
Some butchers will include the nearby connected breast meat and plum blossom meat in the front legs, but in most ways, the front legs are simply the leg part. The front legs are thicker and shorter than the hind legs, the knees are bent forward, and the usually eaten Wanluan pig's feet and German pig's feet use the front leg part, but the slight difference is that the Wanluan pig's feet will use the entire front legs, but the German pig's feet are mainly taken from the succulent places above the front legs, not including the hooves.
Cooking method: Because the meat quality is better than the hind legs, it is suitable for braising, simmering until cooked, or fried and cooked, fried shredded meat or chopped into ground meat to make filling.
C: The greater ribs
Located in the center of the pig's back, the part with less fat, rich meat, and neat shape and texture is a good part of pork. Because the meat is complete, a large piece is especially suitable for making pork chops, and it is also commonly used to make dishes such as Chinese ribs, which have a stronger meat flavor after cooking.
Cooking method: because the fiber is fine and relatively tight, it is not suitable for cooking for a long time; However, short-term cooking, such as thick cuts to make pork cuts, or shredded and quickly fried, are very good, you can eat the bite of the meat.
In the processing, in order to make the meat more fluffy, you can use the meat mallet to beat the meat, this action will break the meat fibers and some tissues, cooking when the meat contraction will be more limited, maintain the taste, will not be too dry and hard.
D: Small ribs
It is a lean meat under the dorsal spine that is connected to the large ribs, which is the least active part of the pig and the most tender piece of meat in the whole pig. It is characterized by a lighter, boneless and non-ribbed meat and a low fat content. The tip of the ribs is a particularly tender part, also known as "lumbar meat".
Cooking method: This piece of meat fiber is fine, suitable for rapid and short cooking, so as to avoid the loss of gravy, such as frying, stir-frying, frying are very suitable cooking methods for small muscles, or simply made into pork chops to eat.
E: Belly meat (pork belly)
Refers to the belly part below the back ridge of the pig, commonly known as "pork belly", the skin, lard, meat is clearly layered, so it is also called "three layers of meat". It contains a lot of oil, so the flavor of the meat is particularly strong, and a complete piece of pork belly can taste a variety of flavors. Buy pork belly can choose a little thicker, the previous half of the taste is the best.
Cooking method: according to the cooking needs to choose the proportion of fat and lean, rich in fat pork belly taste warm, suitable for cutting pieces of braised or brine, stewing, will not be because of a long time stew and the meat hardened, but will be more and more cooked into the taste, such as plum button meat, Dongpo meat, the outermost layer of pork skin has thus become Q collagen representative food. If you want to fry quickly or blanch and then white cut dipping sauce, you can choose a fat and lean ratio of the same.
F: Hind leg meat
Rump meat: The name picture of each part of the pork is fully understood
Belongs to the top of the hind legs, lean meat, less grease, the taste is relatively astringent; However, because there is less fascia, it is more convenient to handle, and is often used to make ground meat, meat soup or quick fry, and it is also commonly used for processed meat, especially sausages, ham, etc.
Cooking method: The meat is coarse, suitable for stir-frying shredded meat, making ground meat, in fact, gong balls, ham, meat floss and other processed products will use hind leg meat to make.
If you want to use the buttocks to make a barbecue dish, you can first slice and pat flat to change the structure of the meat, so that it will taste better.
Hooves:
A small stretch from the bottom of the thigh to the knee is called the hoof, also known as the "leg bank", where there is a lot of meat, the meat is fat but not greasy, the pork skin is thin, and it is usually suitable for long simmering with the skin.
How to cook: It is usually suitable for a long stew with the skin, it can be cut into pieces and boiled or braised, and it is also very good to fry and then bake.
G: Pig's feet, pig's trotters
Hoof below the pig's foot, pig's trotter, pig belongs to the even-hoofed animal, each foot has two large and two small a total of four hooves, usually remove the toenails before cooking, also known as the hoof flower, the hoof skin is thick and tendons, the palm is also a collagen-full part, soft and tender and elastic.
Cooking method: Suitable for long-term brine and braised.
Hoof tendons:
That is, the commonly known pig's foot tendon, although the front and back hoofs have hoof tendons, but the front foot hoof tendon is less difficult to take out, so the market is mostly drawn from the back hoof, but also because the number is not much, it is best to book with the vendor in advance, or in the dry goods store can also buy the dry hoof tendon that needs to be foamed. In addition to the general cooking method, in addition to the Buddha jumping wall that is often eaten in the table dishes, it can also be slightly fried and then brine, and the taste and rich gum quality of QQ are liked by many people.
1 - Pork neck meat
Commonly known as "Matsusaka Pig", at first someone who found that this part of the food taste is not inferior to Matsusaka beef, only to take this name to attract gas, is a very popular ingredient in recent years. Pig neck meat accounts for a small proportion of the whole pig, a pig only six two, so it is also called "golden six two meat".
This part of the meat is crisp and greasy, cooking to master the two principles of rapid cooking, cutting thin slices, not suitable for long cooking or cooking with stewing, otherwise the meat will be more and more hard.
2 - Liver with meat
As the name suggests, it is a piece of meat located above the liver, which separates the chest cavity and abdominal cavity in the internal organs of the pig and connects it to the liver, so it is called liver meat, which is the only piece of lean meat in the internal organs, and also has the name of "Matsusaka meat of the internal organs", which is evident in its preciousness. In traditional markets, it is not easy to buy liver and meat, because most of them have been booked early by noodle stall owners.
3 - Pork cheek meat
Pork chin, cheeks on both sides of the meat, also known as "mouth meat", "chrysanthemum meat", not much fat, meat with soft tendons, soft and tender taste, because the pig will continue to move to the mouth meat when chewing, so the meat is soft and chewy, hot slices or barbecue are delicious.
4 - Bone meat
That is, pork head meat, the fine meat on the bones of the pig is removed and cut, and it becomes a delicious bone meat.
5 - Tiger paws
It is the ligament and cartilage tissue at the pig's knee, because the front leg tiger paw is small, so the use of hind leg tiger paw is mostly, the appearance is white, the taste is soft Q and rich in gum, usually sold with large bones, rich in gum. As the number is small, it is recommended to make a reservation with the vendors in advance. In addition to the often heard dish "Tiger Palm Braised Black Ginseng", it is also suitable for heavy dishes such as braised or three cups.
6 - Rat meat
In the thigh area with a large amount of exercise, there is a piece commonly known as "mouse meat", which is part of the pork tendon meat, more fingers of the hind leg tendon, each pig can only take out four pieces, the meat Q bomb, with chewy but not too hard, the appearance is like an olive, with a meat film coating and hidden soft tendons.
Where is the tendon?
Pigs have tendons on the front and hind legs, the olive-shaped tendons are located in the muscle bundles of the thigh part, the tendons of the front legs are smaller, and the hind legs are thicker, so some butchers will also call them small tendons and large tendons. It is less greasy and has soft tendons, which is suitable for long-term stewing, braised or brine meat, and pork slices commonly used in bento shops are also often used.
7 - Two layers of meat
A thin layer of meat located under the skin and between the inner muscles is soft and tender, small in number and high in price. It is recommended to cut into thin slices and then blanch the dipping sauce to eat, similar to the way of eating garlic paste flakes, which can best taste the special taste.
Meet pork chops and bones
Capsule row:
The bones attached to the heart meat are called the heart ribs, and the bones are relatively large and resistant to cooking, and they are often used to boil soup, such as medicinal stewed ribs.
Ribs:
Pork belly leaves the last layer of lean meat connected to the bone, which is the so-called ribs, the meat in this part is juicy, more than barbecued to make grilled ribs, and meat stalls often pick out the ribs, become a thin bone, the meat part is taken to sell three layers of meat, the bones are used to boil soup.
Ribosus:
The bones attached to the muscles, called the inner muscle row, also known as the "small row", is to remove the back spine, the bones left in the middle of the relatively short bones, a small section, the meat is more, the cooking is suitable for a long time to cook into the taste, such as sweet and sour, braised are common practices, meat quality and the taste of the muscles is similar, more chewy.
back:
Commonly known as the keel, is the spine of the pig, if connected with the ribs is the ribs in the stool, but if the two sides of the ribs are removed, basically only bones are left, almost no meat, but because the spinal cord contains gum, often used to stew supplements, boil broth.
Leg bones:
It is often heard in snack bars that the soup of noodle soup or soup is made of large bone broth, and the front leg bone and hind leg bone of the pork leg are mainly used for soup. Ask the vendor to help cut the bones, in addition to convenient processing, you can also let the bone marrow and the soup mix with each other, so that the soup can absorb the aroma of the leg bones more.
Pig blood and lard are also a great delicacy
How to cook pig blood?
Generally, it is not easy to buy pig blood on pork stalls, because in the slaughterhouse, there are merchants who specialize in collecting pig blood that will directly buy and reprocess it, so it is usually easier for the public to buy pieces of pig blood or rice blood cakes in supermarkets. Because pig blood is rich in iron, it is fishy, whether it is handled with Chinese and Western methods, it is recommended to add some garlic, leeks or cumin and other heavier flavored ingredients to season, or like outside vendors sprinkling peanut flour and coriander on rice blood cakes, it can also reduce the fishy taste.
Is lard useful?
Pig subcutaneous fat is developed, and fat is a piece of white lard on the pork stall, traditional families are accustomed to cutting the lard into small pieces and throwing it into the pan to fry, refining fresh lard that can be used for stir-fry or bibimbap, or supermarkets can also buy refrigerated ready-made lard, which can also be used to stir-fry, bibimbap and noodles after melting in the heat.
Lard also appears in sausages and some processed products, adding to the taste and smoothness of the food. Usually used lard is mostly lard back oil, in addition to the large and complete area, the impurities produced during processing are also less, and there is also a kind of oil in the abdominal cavity of the pig, because there are more impurities in cooking, which will make the food taste bad, so at most it will only be fried food, and it will be lost after frying. In addition to this lump of oil, there is also a kind of "mesh yarn oil", in addition to this lump of oil, there is also a mesh oil located under the pancreas, wrapped in pork loin, more commonly used to fix the filling of the snack "dragon and phoenix legs".