Shizhu Smoked Cured Pork 石柱腊肉
Shizhu Smoked Cured Pork is featured among the local specialties of Chongqing.
Photo adjustments
EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Shizhu Smoked Cured Pork (石柱腊肉) is the salt-cured, wood-smoked pork of Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County (石柱土家族自治县) in Chongqing, made with the traditional Tujia (土家) wood-fire smoking method.
How it is made
A 2024 county report from a cured-meat workshop in Zhongyi Township (中益乡) sets out the process. Salt and seasonings are first stir-fried together until fragrant, and the mix is used to cure fresh pork and pork legs. Sausages are made alongside: the meat is minced, mixed with seasoning and filled into casings, and the strings are hung on bamboo poles.
Smoking is the most important stage. The pork and sausages are smoked and dried day and night over qinggang wood (青杠木), a kind of oak cut in the mountains, until the excess moisture has gone. The fire runs in three stages: a high temperature drives out moisture, a middle temperature turns the pork golden, and a low, steady heat brings out the aroma. The time depends on the cut, but it is usually more than half a month.
Where it comes from
The county presents cured pork as a Tujia specialty food. Demand peaks as the lunar new year approaches, and many established cured-meat producers in Shizhu's high-altitude areas still make it by their own traditional skills. Finished pork and sausages come out of the smokehouse glossy with fat and strongly scented with smoke-cured flavour (腊味).
More dishes to compare
Explore related local specialties and compare their names, preparation notes and ordering guidance.
Chengkou smoked cured pork 城口老腊肉 →
Another wood-smoked Chongqing cured pork; the Shizhu version is smoked over qinggang oak in three temperature stages for more than half a month.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-23. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.