Part 4

Summer sausage is made with the following ingredients: 25 pounds cured beef free from sinews, 15 pounds pork trimmings, four to six ounces white pepper, one ounce whole black pepper, and one ounce whole mustard seed.

This sausage can be made in cold weather only. All the meat is put through the grinder, and spices added. No salt is needed as the cured beef is salty enough. Mix it all thoroughly until it is evenly seasoned. Spread it out in a cool place for thirty-six to forty hours. Then stuff into hog casings and let it hang over night. Smoke with cold smoke for several days. If kept in a dry place, it can be kept the year round. It if gets moldy, simply wipe off the mold before using.

§ 50. Headcheese

The head of the hog, and trimmings, are used for making headcheese. The head should be shaved clean and nostrils cut off just in front of the eyes. Cut out the eyes and ear drums. The fattest part of the head is generally used for lard. Clean the head by soaking it in water for some time to extract all blood and dirt. After the head is thoroughly cleaned, cover with water and boil until the meat separates from the bones. Lungs and heart may be cooked with the head. When it is thoroughly cooked, take out the meat, saving the liquor for future use. Chop the meat finely. Season with one and one-half pounds salt, three ounces black pepper, four ounces allspice, and four ounces ground cloves, together with two gallons of the liquor for every 50 pounds of meat. The mixing should be done thoroughly, so that proper seasoning is secured. Stuff the meat into large beef casings thoroughly cleaned, hog stomach, or muslin bags about three or four inches in diameter. After stuffing into casings, it should be boiled until it floats on the top, then place in cold water for a short time. Store away in a clean, cool place on a shelf or table. If there are no casings or muslin available in which to stuff the meat, it can be kept in shallow pans.

§ 51. Scrapple

The head and feet of hogs are generally used in making scrapple, but scrapple can be made from any hog meat. The heads should be split through the middle and placed in a kettle with sufficient water to cover them. They should be cooked until the meat falls from the bones. Drain off the broth. Separate the bones from the meat, then chop the meat fine and add it to the broth, and boil. Corn meal should be added until it is as thick as mush. Add the corn meal slowly and stir vigorously, so as to avoid lumpiness. Stir the mixture well for ten or fifteen minutes, and allow it to boil one hour. Pour the scrapple into shallow pans or molds. When cold, it should be sliced and fried.

§ 52. Snow Packing

Snow packing is a method that can be used only in localities where snow and continued dry cold weather prevails during the winter months. The carcass should be cut into steaks, roasts, and boiling pieces. All trimmings for the table should be made before freezing the meat. Lay the pieces out to freeze. Be sure they freeze solid to the center. In the bottom of a box large enough to hold all the meat, pack a layer of snow. Put in a larger of the frozen meat, packing in such a way that the pieces do not touch each other. Cover with a layer of snow, and continue with alternate layers of meat and snow. Set the box in a room where it will not be subject to changes in temperature. For convenience, it is well to pack the steaks in one section or end of the box, and the roasts and stews in another. The meat will then be but little disturbed when a supply is taken from the box. Only snow should be used in packing. Be sure the meat is frozen solid before packing, and it will keep through the winter, unless the weather gets very warm. In preparing the meat for the table, it should not be thawed out too rapidly.

§ 53. Partial Cooking

Partial cooking and packing in jars is a method of preserving meat which is sometimes used on the farm. It has the advantage over snow packing in that it can be done in warm weather and is a most satisfactory way of keeping fresh pork. However, it requires considerably more work than other methods of preserving meat.

The loin and side meat, or any part of the carcass, may be used. Cut into slices about one-half inch thick, and fry until a little more than half done. Pack the slices in a jar and cover with hot lard. As the meat is wanted, it can be removed from the jar and warmed up. If the jar is to stand any length of time without using, after it has been opened, it is best again to cover the top with lard. It is better to use several small jars than one large one. They should be kept in a cool, dark room to insure safe-keeping of the meat.

§ 54. Rendering Lard

The leaf lard, fat back, and fat trimmings from the hams, shoulders and neck make good lard. Intestinal fat should never be mixed with the other fat parts, as it makes a strong smelling lard of an inferior grade, but should be rendered by itself. By thorough washing and soaking in cold water for several hours, part of the offensive odor will leave it.

First of all, remove the skin from the fat trimmings. To do this, place the meat on a table, skin side down, and cut the fat from the skin, using a strong knife. When a piece of skin large enough to grasp is freed from the fat, take it in the left hand, and, with the right hand, insert the knife between the skin and fat. Pull the skin and cut with the knife slightly slanted downward. With a little practice, the fat can be cleanly removed from the skin in this way with one clean cut of the knife. The strips of fat should then be cut into cubes of one to one and one-half inches, making them about equal in size so they will try out evenly.

Pour into the kettle about a quart of water or melted lard, and then fill it nearly full with the cubes of fat meat. The fat will then heat properly and the lard will be brought out without burning. Keep a moderate fire until the cracklings are brown and light enough to float. Frequent stirring is necessary to prevent burning. When done, remove from the fire and allow to cool slightly. Then strain through a muslin cloth into a jar. Stir it occasionally, until it is cool enough to begin to solidify. Stirring while it is cooling tends to whiten the lard and make it smoother. A quarter of a pound of saleratus added to each one hundred pounds of fat has a like effect.

When removing lard from a container for use, take it evenly from the surface. Do not dig down into the center of the lard, for when this is done, it will leave a coating of lard around the sides of the container which will become rancid very quickly by the action of bacteria in the air.

§ 55. Smoked Meats

The process of smoking helps to preserve meat, and, if smoked properly, and with the right kind of fuel, adds a desirable flavor to meat. The creosote formed by the combustion of the wood closes the pores to some extent, and excludes the air. This also helps to keep out the insects.

§ 56. The Smokehouse

The size of smokehouse to build depends on the amount of meat that is to be smoked. In a house eight feet square and ten feet high, the hams, sides, and shoulders of three to five hogs can be smoked at one time. Ventilation should be provided to carry off the warm air in order to prevent overheating the meat. A chimney, made by placing a six inch tile in the roof, makes a good ventilator. The smoke house walls may be built of lumber, brick, or concrete. Lumber would be the cheapest, but least permanent, and concrete the most costly. Brick is no doubt the most satisfactory material for a small smoke house in southern China. Mud bricks may be used, but burnt clay bricks are more lasting. The roof should be made of tile. The best material for the floor is large square tiles, called in Chinese _taai ch’uen_ (大磚). Concrete or brick may also be used, but would be more expensive then _taai ch’uen_.

A good arrangement is to have the fire box outside the smoke house, with a flue to carry the smoke into the smoke house. When this cannot well be arranged, a fire may be built on the floor of the house, and the meat shielded from heavy smoke by a sheet of tin, about four feet square, placed over the fire between the fire and the meat, about three feet above the floor.

§ 57. The Fuel

Lychee, or any other hard wood, makes good fuel for smoking meat. Resinous woods, such as pines and cedars, should never be used as they give an objectionable flavor to the meat due to turpentine which they contain.

§ 58. Preparing Meat for Smoking

Meat that is to be smoked should be removed from the brine and thoroughly washed in tepid water in order to clean off the coat of pickle that has formed on the surface of the meat. It can then he hung up in the smokehouse, but should be allowed to drain for a day or two before the fire is started. The pieces of meat should be hung so that the air can pass freely between them.

§ 59. The Fire

For the first day or two, the fire should be slow, in order that the warming of the meat may be gradual. In clear, dry weather, smoking may continue from the day the smoking begins until it is completed, which should be in one to three weeks, the length of time depending on the size of the pieces of meat and on the weather. When sufficiently smoked, the meat will have a characteristic straw color. Meat should never be smoked on a damp day, because in a damp atmosphere moisture will condense on the meat, and moist meat will not smoke well. Light smoking for two weeks is better than heavy smoking for one week. With a longer period of smoking the smoke will enter the meat more thoroughly.

§ 60. Keeping Smoked Meats

During cool weather smoked meats may be left in the smokehouse for some time after the smoking process is completed. The house should be kept dark in order to keep out flies, and it should be well ventilated so as to prevent dampness. A dry, cool cellar, with free circulation of fresh air, will be a satisfactory place for keeping smoked meats.

If the smoked meat is to be kept only a short time, it needs only to be hung up without covering. For longer keeping, it is well to wrap first in paper, and then in burlap, canvass or muslin, and bury the meat in a grain bin or box of sand. The object of this is to provide a condition which will be uniform in temperature and keep out insects.

A coat of ground pepper, rubbed into the meat before wrapping, will be distasteful to insects.

After smoked meat has become thoroughly dry, it may be wrapped in parchment paper and enclosed in a heavy muslin or canvass, which should be covered with yellow wash or ordinary lime white wash with glue added.

§ 61. Recipe for Yellow Wash

For one hundred pounds hams or bacon, take: three pounds barytes (barium sulphate), .06 pound glue, .80 pound chrome yellow (lead chromate), .40 pound flour, and twelve pounds water.

Put the flour in the water, dissolving all lumps thoroughly. Dissolve the chrome in a quart of water in a separate vessel, and add the solution and the glue to the flour and water. Bring the whole to a boil, and add the barytes slowly, stirring constantly. Make the wash the day before it is required. Stir it frequently when using, and apply with a brush.

Chinese Meat Recipes

§ 62. Bean Sauce Sausage (_Laap Ch’eung_ 腊腸).

Sausage is a very popular meat with the Chinese, especially during the winter season. It is probably the most widely used of all cured meats, although as a rule it is quite expensive compared with other meats.

§ 63. Pickle for Bean Sauce Sausage

For every catty of meat, use:

Saltpeter (_siu_ 硝) 1 mace[2] (_ts’in_ 一錢) Salt (_shuk im_ 熟鹽) 3 mace (_ts’in_ 三錢) Sugar (_ping fa t’ong_ 冰花糖) 2 mace (_ts’in_ 二錢) First-drawn bean sauce (_t’au ch’au yau_ 頭抽油) 2 mace Raw bean sauce (_shang ch’au yau_ 生抽油) 1 mace Mixture of spices (_ng heung fan_ 五香粉) 1 mace

The mixture of spices is made up of the following:

Red pepper (_ch’un tsiu_ 春椒) 10 mace Ground anise seed (_taai wui_ 大回) 10 mace Cloves (_ting heung_ 丁香) 10 mace Cinnamon (_yuk kwai_ 玉桂) 10 mace

These spices should be purchased separately and never ready mixed, as ready made mixtures are often worthless.

Sometimes two orange peelings, finely cut or ground, fresh or dried are used for every ten catties of meat. Two mace of double distilled wine (_sheung ching tsau_ 雙蒸酒), or treble distilled wine (_saam ching tsau_ 三蒸酒), and a wine called (_fan tsau_ 汾酒), are sometimes added for each catty of meat. The wine helps preserve the meat.

The above spices should be carefully mixed and the mixture thoroughly stirred into the meat. In mixing the spices the usual method is to use the hands as mixers. A better way is to use a large spoon, or some similar utensil.

§ 64. Preparation of the Meat for Sausage

Use hams, shoulders, chops, fat back, and neck. Sometimes the liver is added to give a dark color. No belly meat or tough parts should be used. Separate the lean from the fat meat. Chop into pieces about one-quarter inch in diameter, or run through a sausage mill. One part fat and one part lean meat is generally used, though the proportion may vary either way, to suit the taste and demand.

§ 65. Sausage Casing (_Ch’eung I_ 腸衣)

Sausage casing is generally made from the middle coat of the small intestines of sheep although it is also made from the intestines of the hog. The casing is very thin and transparent. Some casing is prepared in Canton, but most of what is used in Canton comes from Shanghai, as there are comparatively few sheep or goats slaughtered in Canton. The dried casing sells for $3.00 to $6.00 a catty.

§ 66. Softening the Casing

When ready to be used, the casing should be immersed in luke warm water for a few minutes to soften it. If the walls of the casing adhere to each other so that it is difficult for the meat to enter, water should be forced through to distend the casing.

§ 67. Filling the Casing

Insert the small end of the filler (a tin funnel about six inches long) into the end of the casing. Hold the casing tightly to the filler with the left hand, and with the right hand force the meat through the filler into the casing. It is customary to use the hand for this, but a large wooden spoon would work just as well.

A sausage stuffing machine can be purchased for a few dollars, and will do the work of stuffing in a much more satisfactory manner than it can be done by hand. The end of the casing is tied around a tube at the bottom of a jar containing the sausage meat. A disc the size and shape of the inside of the jar is then pressed down on the meat with a lever, and the meat is thus forced into the casing. Such a machine will do the work of five or six men, and if of the right type, can also be used as a lard press. If it is difficult to force the meat into the casing, on account of compressed air, the air should be allowed to escape by punching small holes in the casing with pins. The stuffed casing is usually tied with a string every six inches, cut into convenient lengths, and hung up to dry.

§ 68. Sunning and Drying

The sausage should be prepared in the morning, so that it can be hung up to sun by noon. If it is prepared in the afternoon, there is some danger of its spoiling, especially if the day is not very cold, because it has to be stored over night before it gets much sun. Sunshine and cold north wind are needed to make the best sausage. With five days of wind and sun, the meat becomes hard and firm. In case of rainy or damp weather while the sausage is being dried, it must be hung up in a small room and a small charcoal or wood fire kept burning underneath. If the sausage is not well sunned or dried, it is very likely to spoil, and an effort should be made to get it pretty well dried within five days.

§ 69. Season and Weather for Making Sausage

The time for making sausage is when there is a dry, cold wind blowing from the north. Such weather usually does not occur before the middle of November. From this time to the middle of January is usually the best season. If made earlier, the weather will not be cool enough. If made later, the chances for sunny weather are lessened, and the meat is not apt to cure so well.

§ 70. Lean Pork Sausage (_Shau Yuk Ch’eung_ 瘦肉腸)

This sausage is made the same as ordinary sausage, except that only lean meat is used.

§ 71. Liver Sausage (_Yun Ch’eung_ 潤腸)

In this sausage, duck liver is used instead of lean meat. Otherwise, it is made the same as ordinary sausage.

§ 72. _Tung Koon_ Sausage (_Tung Koon Laap Ch’eung_ 東莞腊腸)

This is the same as ordinary bean sauce sausage, except that large casings are used. It is not very popular because of its size.

§ 73. Oyster Sauce Sausage (_Ho Yau Ch’eung_ 蠔油腸)

This is made in the same manner as ordinary sausage, except that oyster sauce (_ho yau_ 蠔油) is used instead of bean sauce in making up the pickle.

§ 74. Catsup Sausage

Catsup sausage is the same as ordinary sausage, except that for every catty of meat, three taels of catsup instead of bean sauce are used.

§ 75. Roast or Baked Sausage (_Foh Ch’eung_ 火腸)

Prepare ordinary sausage, but use large casings. Dip in honey solution, and bake or roast.

§ 76. Cured Ham

An excellent cured ham is produced in Yunnan Province. This is due to the fact that the hogs in that region are largely of the bacon type, and the climate is very favorable for curing meat, being dry and fairly cool during the meat curing season.

In curing ham, the Chinese use much the same method as is used in western countries in making dry cured ham, except that sugar is not used in the pickle. The pickle is made up as follows: Salt (_shuk im_ 熟鹽) 20 catties (_kan_ 卄斤), Saltpeter (_siu_ 硝) .05 tael (半錢), mixture of spices (_ng heung fan_ 五香粉) 2 taels (_leung_ 二両).

Rub each piece of meat for one-half hour. Puncture the meat with needles so the pickle will work in well. Rub again in two days. For the two days after the first rubbing with the pickle, keep under pressure to squeeze out the water. After the second two days, rub again with the pickle. Rub again after two more days. Then the meat is packed in salt for fifteen days, when it is taken out and the salt wiped off and the meat is allowed to dry and harden. Curing should require forty days. The flavor improves with age.

§ 77. Sun Dried Pork (_Shau Laap Yuk_ 瘦𦡳肉)

Sun drying is a common method of curing pork in the Canton region. For this purpose, head, side, ham, and shoulder meat is used. The meat is cut in strips, about eight to ten inches long, and about one inch thick. It is immersed over night in a pickle which is the same as the one used in making sausage, and the next day rubbed with a mixture of honey and water (_mat t’ong shui_ 蜜糖水), made up of one part honey and one part water, and hung up to dry in the sun for two days. Again it is soaked in the pickle for a short time, and dried in the sun for two days. This is done a third time. Then it is put in a stone jar in a cool, dry place for two days, and again hung up to dry for one week, when it is cured. When cured, the fat meat is rather firm.

Pork can be sun dried in the Canton region between the first of November and the middle of January. Dry, north wind is best for curing. If cured later than January, it must be consumed immediately as it will not keep long.

§ 78. Pickled Pig Feet (_Ch’aat T’ai_ 札蹄)

In making pickled pig feet, the bone is first removed from the leg, leaving only the meat, skin and toes. Boil, and stuff with roast fat and lean meat to take the place of the bone. Tie up with rice straw, and immerse in the sausage spice for several hours.

§ 79. Pickled Beef

Cut the beef into pieces weighing about four or five taels. Rub each piece thoroughly with salt. Place the meat in a jar and cover with salt. In one or two weeks, the meat is cured and ready to use. Soak in water for one-half hour before using in order to remove part of the salt.

§ 80. Dried Rice Bird (_Laap Woh Fa Tseuk_ 腊禾花雀)

Remove the feathers, internal organs, and brain. Then treat same as in making sun dried pork.

§ 81. Pork Stuffed Liver (_Kam Ngan Yun_ 金銀潤)

Use the liver of hogs. Cut into strips about one inch wide. Use wine and ginger for flavoring. Half dry it in the wind. It should not be overdried, as it will then be hard to digest. Prepare fat meat by cutting strips of it into such sizes that they can be inserted into the liver. Soak the fat meat in a solution of salt, saltpeter, and sugar, in proportions of 3-2-1. Finally, half dry the fat by hanging in the sun for several hours. With a wooden stick, make pockets in the strips of liver from one end to the other, and insert the strips of fat meat into the pockets. The strips of stuffed liver should then be hung up to dry for a half day.

§ 82. Lo Mei (_Lo Mei_ 鹵味)

The tongue, bladder, intestine, and liver, are used in making _lo mei_ although any part of the carcass may be used. It is made by cooking the meat for ten minutes and then plunging it while still hot into cold water, cooking for ten minutes again, and then plunging into cold water. The process should be repeated at least twelve times. The expansion and contraction of the meat by such handling makes it very tender, and firm. The process of preparing this meat is called “crossing the river.”

The boiled meat should be put into a strong solution of spices prepared before hand, which is the same as the mixture of spices used for making the pickle for sausages. After remaining in the solution of spices over night, the meat is ready to be eaten.

§ 83. Roast Meat (_Shiu Yuk_ 燒肉)

Poultry, or pigs weighing up to one hundred catties, frequently are roasted. Two methods are used. Poultry and small pigs may be roasted in pans in an ordinary oven. The other method, which is the one commonly used, is to roast in a special oven. The latter method requires more skill than roasting in the ordinary oven. The oven is in the form of a cylinder stood on end, thirty to forty inches in diameter, and five or six feet high. The poultry or pig is hung on iron bars across the top of the stove, and the stove or oven is then covered with an iron lid. Fire is built at the bottom of the cylinder through an opening at one side. Dry hard wood or charcoal, which give but little smoke, are generally used for fuel. The meat being roasted needs constant attention and shifting so that it will roast through uniformly. It is said that when the meat gives off a white smoke, it is an indication that it is done. A solution made up of one part honey and one part water is rubbed on the meat, both inside and outside the carcass, before the roasting. This honey solution gives the outside of the meat a desirable rich reddish brown color when roasted.

§ 84. Dried Duck (_Laap Aap_ 腊鴨)

For one dressed bird, use five taels of salt, which should be well rubbed into the meat. Then pack in salt for one day. Take up, wash off the salt, and put between two bamboo mats. Apply pressure for a few days, and hang up to dry.

The Canton climate is not very favorable for drying duck, as during the meat curing season it frequently rains. If the meat does not dry fairly rapidly, it is likely to spoil. In Naam On, Kwong Sai province, where it is generally dry during the curing season, the ducks are packed away after two days exposure to the sun. In Canton, it often takes two weeks. Ducks’ heads, kidneys, feet and other parts of the bird are also cured in the same way.

§ 85. Puffed Pig Skin (_Chue P’ei_ 豬皮)

In making puffed pig skin, the pig skin is first cooked, and then thoroughly scraped with a knife in order to remove the oil and fat. It is then hung up in the sun to dry for about ten days. When it is ready for the puffing or blistering process, which is accomplished by roasting the dried skin in hot gravel in a shallow pan over a slow fire This process whitens and puffs, or blisters, the skin.

The puffed pig skin is cut into small cubes and used in soups. It has a spongy appearance with very little taste.