Sauerkraut pork intestine, which was a must-have dish for Chinese New Year's Eve meals in my childhood, has a sweet and sour taste and is very tasty. As a must-have dish for Chinese New Year's Eve meals, sauerkraut pork intestines are the characteristics of our village, and most of the people who originate from our village rely on pickled sauerkraut to make a living.
Sauerkraut pig intestine
Since I have remembered, the main job of our family in winter is to pickle sauerkraut, so the dish of sauerkraut pig intestine often appears on our table.
Pig intestines, many people may feel nauseous and dare not eat. But for Cantonese people, it is an indispensable and delicious dish. In our family, the work of handling the large intestine of pigs is mostly taken care of by the father, because this is difficult, and if it is not handled well, it will affect the taste.
As we graduated and stayed in the big city to work, my parents ended their careers in pickled sauerkraut and followed us to the big city. Looking back now, I haven't eaten my father's sauerkraut pork intestine for a long time, and I miss it very much.
Entering the village, there is a sour smell in the air, which is the smell of hometown and childhood memories. Soon after Mom and Dad got married, Dad decided to make money by picking sauerkraut to support his family. Most of our motorcycles, small buildings, and the expenses of our brothers and sisters in studying and living are mostly derived from selling sauerkraut.
Jars of pickled sauerkraut
Our family's sauerkraut is a small workshop, growing sauerkraut by ourselves, marinating it ourselves, and pulling it ourselves to sell. Every night, there would be two wooden barrels in front of the house, filled with pickled and ripe sauerkraut, and at two or three o'clock in the morning, Dad would carry two large barrels of sauerkraut to the market.
In fact, this is a particularly hard job, pickled sauerkraut is in the winter of each year, the time to sell vegetables will last for 4-5 months, that is to say, Dad has to leave in the early morning for four or five months. In the winter of the mountain village, there is occasional frost, and the early spring is often rainy, and the cold is bone-chilling. The sauerkraut had been soaked in water, and each dish had to go through Dad's hand, repeatedly picking up and putting it down many times, and his hand was hardly dry, and he was prone to frostbite.
Every winter, there was always a time when his fingers were swollen like sweet potatoes, and they were red and itchy. Dad paid little attention to the frostbite on his fingers, he was most concerned about the sale of vegetables, and the most talked about during meals was what he saw in the market.
At that time, we were happiest when the sauerkraut was hot, and dad sold out the dishes early and brought home a little snack that our brother and sister liked. As we ate snacks, we applied ointment to Dad's hands over and over again, and he always smiled and squinted at us. I have not grown frostbite, I don't know what it feels like, and then I have seen other people's descriptions in the circle of friends, I only know that it is very uncomfortable, but I can't feel it.
Dad came back from the market, and one of the things our siblings liked to do was to help Dad count the money. The money in Dad's basket is all change, a dime, a dime, a cent, a piece, it is very common, but it is rare to see ten or fifty yuan. And the smell is all sour, the taste of sauerkraut. Dad had been dealing with sauerkraut for more than ten years, and he didn't know if he liked the job or not.
Our family's old house
Day after day, year after year, in this way, my parents raised our three sisters and brothers by pickling sauerkraut, so that we could finish our studies and build a small building.
Now, my sister and I are married, my brother is also starting a family in Guangzhou, my parents have followed me out of Guangzhou, and I can no longer smell the familiar smell of sauerkraut.