Pingli Cured Pork 平利腊肉
Pingli Cured Pork is featured among the local specialties of Shaanxi.
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Pingli Cured Pork (平利腊肉) is smoked pork from Pingli (平利). In a Zhengyang (正阳) household method, rectangular strips are seasoned, hung to dry and smoked over cypress wood and sawdust.
How it is made
Maker Yan Daimei (鄢代美) rubs the pork with salt, ginger and Sichuan pepper. Each strip is pierced at one end and hung from cord twisted from palm leaves. Smoking begins after a week of drying.
Yan uses a controlled, flameless fire and avoids heavy smoke. The smoking takes about half a month. Her finished meat hangs golden and glossy in the smoking room.
How it is eaten
Pingli’s fermented-bean-curd preparation begins by charring the pork rind until it blisters, soaking it in warm water for one or two hours, scraping it clean and boiling until a chopstick can pierce the skin. The cooled meat is sliced thinly and arranged skin-side up in a steaming bowl.
Fermented bean curd is softened with a little rice cooking liquid, poured over the pork without further seasoning and steamed for half an hour. The bowl is inverted onto a plate. The pork fat and bean curd sauce are eaten with rice.
Another Pingli preparation pairs thin pork slices with tender spring pea pods. The meat is first fried to release fat and set aside. Ginger, garlic, dried chilli and Sichuan pepper are fried, the pea pods are stir-fried with salt, and the pork returns to the pan at the end.
Where it comes from
For Yan, the smell of cured pork marks New Year. In 2021 she sent some to her daughter, who was spending the festival in Guangdong (广东), connecting the household’s annual preparation with family members away from home.