Tujia bacon

(Image source: www.travelzjj.com)

Hunan Province is rich in bacon, and cured foods are a staple of Tujia cuisine and among the most delicious. There are a wide variety of cured meats: pork, chicken, duck, and fish. Cooking cured pork is a culinary art. Whether the Tujia people fry the meat with garlic, steam it with sticky rice, roast it with green pepper, or stew it with fermented bean, the cured pork will be very satisfying to the palate.

With the end of the year coming, they will kill swines. Firstly, cut the fresh meat into strips, each weighing about 2.5-3kg. Secondly, rub salt and various spices on the pork and then put the pork in a large cylinder (the meat must not be washed with water) and preserve for 4-6 days. In order to make the meat taste more delicious, they will turn over the meat every two days. After salt and spices have been immersed into the meat, pork will be highly baked on the beams or above the cooking stoves, slowly dried with smoke. Generally, the well-smoked bacon can be stored for more than six months. If it is baked with orange peel, you will see a bright red color in the oil of the bacon without any ash, which looks more attractive.

You will regret if you don't taste the bacon in western Hunan Province.