Huai'an Chaigou Fort bacon has the characteristics of tender skin, consistent appearance, bright color, mellow taste, fat and not greasy mouth, thin and not stuffed teeth; not only has a unique flavor, rich nutrition, and has appetizing, cold, digestion and other effects. In the summer, mosquitoes and flies do not climb, and are stored for a week on a three-volt day, the color and taste are unchanged, and the flesh is not rotten.
The delicious taste of Chaigou Fort bacon has long been famous, and the "Huai'an County Chronicle" once had such a record: Chaigou Fort bacon is particularly good, famous in other provinces, and it is given to relatives and friends, and all of them praise it. In order to shoot the "Taste" documentary a few years ago, we had a detailed understanding of the development process of bacon and filmed the production process of Guo Xi's bacon.
When did Chaigou Fort bacon first appear?
Chaigou Fort bacon has a history of more than 200 years.
According to Zhang Wei's article "The Aroma of Bacon in saiwai Ancient Town", bacon first appeared during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, there was a chef named Zhao Fushan in Chaigou Fort, and one day when he was making braised pork, he accidentally burned the soup dry because he drank a few more glasses of wine, and the lid of the cypress pot was also burned to smoke. After Zhao Fushan sobered up, he hurriedly took out the meat, feeling that it was a pity to throw it away. He tasted a small piece and thought it had a different flavor. Thinking that it was better to eat this way, he made a clever move, used the plate to hold the meat on the feast, smiled and said: "I made a bacon today, let's taste it, see what it tastes like?" "People feel delicious after eating it, and they are applauding one by one. The next day, the host called Zhao Fushan to make bacon again, and the taste was more fragrant. People are buying gifts for relatives and friends. Later, foreigners also came to buy. Zhao Fushan resigned as a chef and raised funds to open a bacon shop. Later, this bacon technique spread in Chaigou Fort.
According to Sun Yi's article "Bacon Fragrant Words Guo Xi", in the 22nd year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty (1842), the smoke of the Sino-British Opium War had just dissipated and extinguished, and the famous "Yishengyuan" butcher shop in Chaigou Fort opened for business five years after it was closed for some reason. It is ancestrally rotten, has a unique flavor, and is specially smoked and grilled, which is more distinctive. The meat is fragrant and mellow, tender and delicious, and has been repeatedly listed in the best tasting. It is the premier butcher shop in Chaigou Fort, with a thriving business and a rich source of wealth, and has occupied the "head" of meat for 70 years.
After the reopening of Yishengyuan Butcher Shop, in order to revitalize the ancestral industry, enjoy the famous brand forever, refine the skills, fine-tune the bacon secret recipe, better than the original taste, in the many butcher shops in Chaigou Fort, the "Yi" character bacon won the quality and ranked first. Due to the good business of bacon, other bacon shops are not far behind, Qing Guangxu 22 years (1896) Chaigou Fort appeared "Xi" name bacon, "Xi" name bacon is the famous chef Guo Xi of Chaigou Fort, Guo Xi bacon due to the unique "pure green" of the skill, the production process is complicated and fine, the meat is simmered, boiled, simmered, tender and skillfully cooked, indeed superior, different. Finally, the "righteous" bacon was replaced by the newly created "xi" bacon. As a result, the prestigious "Righteous Shengyuan" thus lost its advantage and "condescended" to the bottom. Subsequently, the business gradually deteriorated, deteriorating, and finally forced to close in the 34th year of Qing Guangxu (1908).
Chaigou Fort bacon following the "Yishengyuan", the "Xi" name bacon "rises", Chaigou Fort bacon with a unique "Seal Fragrant Seal Taste", won the championship, won the male meat altar, and surpassed the previous one, so that Chaigou Fort bacon has become a Specialty of Huai'an.
Chaigou Fort bacon is well-known inside and outside the province, and is related to Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor. During the Gengzi period of the Qing Dynasty, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded Beijing. Cixi fled with the Guangxu Emperor in a panic and passed through Xuanhua to Huai'an City. Lafayette and the emperor arrived in distress, frightening the county grandfather and a group of people. For dinner, the table is filled with delicacies: braised carp, roast duck, sweet and sour slices, diced pork with sauce and popcorn, and a plate of Chaigou Fort bacon. The Lafayette, who had four meals a day in the palace, with more than forty kinds of meat dishes, was dismissive of other dishes, but became interested in bacon, and the chopsticks were busy between the bacon plate and her mouth. Even Guangxu, who had always frowned, had a smile between his eyebrows and said, "I didn't expect this small county outside of Sai to have such exquisite cuisine." The next day, when he continued to flee west, Lafayette also took a large bag of bacon with him.
The secret recipe and processing procedure of Chaigou Fort bacon making
In the ancient town of Chaigou Fort, there have been one bacon shop after another. Among the many bacon shops, the most famous is Guo Xi bacon, and someone who went to Chaigou Fort some time ago also recommended Feng Zhi bacon.
Guo Huiming is the fourth generation descendant of Guo Xi. Mr. and Mrs. Guo Huiming's bacon shop is the largest bacon shop in Chaigou Fort, and Lao Guo's wife has thoroughly mastered the essence of Guo Xi's bacon, and every day she is responsible for the production and sales of bacon in the bacon shop. Mr. and Mrs. Guo Huiming's bacon shop is busiest to cook meat from 6 a.m., and cook more than a dozen pots a day. When they encounter the New Year's Festival, their bacon is strange, and they have to queue up to buy meat, and there is no more by noon.
The reason why Guo Xi's bacon is delicious, Guo Huiming summed it up as three points: the first is the preparation of spices, the second point is the mastery of the heat, and the third point is the operation to be in place.
The first process of Guo Xi's bacon is to select materials. The selection of materials begins from the time of the pig, requiring pigs that grow more than eight months, also called the next year pig, this pig has good meat quality during the growth period, and it is resistant to cooking and eating fire.
To make bacon, second-class pork with skin, fat and lean pork, cut into five-inch square pieces, thickness is appropriate.
Although Guo Xi's bacon is called bacon, it is actually mainly boiled. Place the cut meat in a pot, add water and bring to a boil over high heat. Adding spices is very critical, Guo Xi bacon uses its own recipe, as for the specific content of these recipes, it is difficult for outsiders to know.
But according to Zhang Wei's article, the old technician of Chaigoubao Food Company introduced the recipe of bacon. The recipe is as follows: counting with 100 catties of fresh pork as the ingredient, four or two peppercorns, two large ingredients, half two cinnamon, five dollars for cloves, and put them into a white cloth bag; one or two five for fennel, five dollars for sand kernels and five meat percussions, and another cloth bag. Six pounds of soy sauce. The processing procedure is to first code the cut meat into the pot, first put the ridge meat, and then the fat and lean meat are stacked on it, you can put water and add ingredients, and then the pot is tightly covered, boiled over high heat, do not run out of gas, about half an hour or so and then put in the sweet noodle sauce and sauce tofu. Then simmer the pot so that the skin of the meat is rotten and the seasoning is flavored. It takes half an hour to turn the pot once and cook for two and a half hours. Once out of the pan, it can be smoked in a smoking pot. Bacon, preferably smoked with cypress wood. When smoking, the meat is placed on an iron grate, and the meat should be flattened. Cypress wood should be cut into crumbs, easy to burn and smoke, and the pot should be covered tightly. The first pot takes four or five minutes, and the second pot can be reduced to two or three minutes before it can be discharged.
Guo Huimin said that Guo Xi's bacon, the cooking process under the pot is about two and a half hours, and in these two and a half hours, it is necessary to extinguish the pot on a high fire, neutralize and cease fire, and stew, these four steps are indispensable, and must be operated in place. If it is not mastered well, if it is cooked overheated, the skin and flesh will be separated, the meat will rot, and it will not look good and not delicious after it comes out.
"In the process of cooking, do three times and five buckles, the whole should be turned three times, and pressed down five times. In this cooking process, with two and a half hours of process, to do the meat in front of the turn to the back, the left side to the right, the top to the bottom, to make the position of the meat in this pot the whole to change once, if overlapping, overlapping places can not be boiled, if the heat is not mastered well, the fat in the meat can not seep out, the seasoning can not go in, and then the skin is glued, can not seep out, only this heat is mastered, the operation is in place, this meat can be cooked after the meat is fragrant and the skin, the skin is also tender, To do it is fat but not greasy, thin and not stuffed teeth. ”
After the meat is cooked, it can be smoked, and Guo Huiming follows the technique of cypress bacon handed down from his ancestors. When bacon, sawdust-like cypress chips need to be burned thoroughly. The size of the smoke should be precisely controlled, and after the combustion is sufficient, the fire should be extinguished and only smoked. The time for the meat to be smoked in an iron grate is actually very short, five or six minutes in the summer, and three or four minutes in the winter.
Guo Huimin said: "In the process of smoking, the fire can not be large or small, it should be moderate, moderate to what extent, that is, white smoke will emerge from the end of this cypress, immediately seal the fire, after sealing the fire, it will be simmered for about 5 to 10 minutes." In the winter, there can be less time, like the summer must be stewed, only stewed, those flies do not climb up, can extend the shelf life. ”
Guo Xi's bacon is an exclusive secret, which has been passed down for three generations in a row, and only after that is handed over to others. Later, with the promotion of technology, workshops increased, collectively known as "Chaigou Fort Bacon". Chaigou Fort bacon has been published since the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and is still famous for the miracle of meat for banquets, gifts for relatives and friends, and has also been included in the "Chinese Food Dictionary" as a national specialty food.
Freshly out of the pot of bacon, red, purple, trembling, shiny flesh skin with crystal small oil bubbles, color, aroma, taste, excellent, eat mellow and delicious, endless aftertaste.
In the area of Huai'an County, people often buy a few pounds of Chaigou Fort bacon during the New Year's Festival. Guests from out of town always bring a few pieces of bacon to taste the fresh.
How did Guo Xi become famous?
Chaigou Fort bacon does not have Guo Xi's cooking skills to become famous in the front, there will be no bacon floating in the back, Guo Xi's credit to Chaigou Fort bacon is too great, so how is Guo Xi's cooking skills refined? And how did you make Guo Xi's bacon famous?
Sun Yi once introduced Guo Xi in detail in the article "Guo Xi with Fragrant Words of Bacon".
Guo Xi was born in the tenth year of the Qing Dynasty (1871) in a small trader's family in Chaigou Fort, and his father Guo Wangui carried "eight strands of rope" on his shoulders every day to sell in the streets and alleys, and supported his family with a meager income. Hard work all year round, rare food and clothing. When Guo Xi was seven years old, his father was bedridden, and the family was very poor, and it was difficult to even eat.
"Poor children understand things early", when Guo Xi was just 5 years old, his family was still not improving, and he began to learn art to make a living. He studied masonry and woolsmith successively, and then at the age of 18, he went to Chaigou Fort where he went to the "Xingmao Shop" business to work as a cooker. ”
Guo Xi entered the culinary arts, "three years to learn art, two years to do chores", carrying water to pull the wind box, washing pots and brushing dishes, endlessly. In the third year of learning art, the master left for some reason, Guo Xi began to pick the "girder", and it happened that the guests of the New Year Shop feasted, and the food was of course very exquisite. Guo Xi, who was half unfamiliar with this skill, and was strong and competitive, panicked. "The craftsmanship is not high, smashed the pot, where to put the face?" He thought left and right, and was in a dilemma. Later, I suddenly thought of Xu Dafu, the old predecessor of the Benbao kitchen shop, so I decided to ask Xu Lao for advice to solve the urgent need. However, he was not familiar with Elder Xu, and he was suffering from no one to recommend him, but the time was not waiting for anyone, so he plucked up enough courage to carry gifts and went straight to the door to meet him.
The next day, guests flocked to the door and the dishes were prepared intensely. When he saw Elder Xu's exquisite and superb skills, dexterous hands, shoveling and spoon dancing, and hooking and flying knives, Guo Xi was impressed and threw himself to the ground. That night, he prostrated his head and begged for the acceptance of the "disciple". After two years of meticulous study in spring and autumn, Guo Xi finally became famous at the age of 22 and became a famous chef of the Saiwai generation. The cooking is exquisite, and the dishes are both delicious. Sixteen methods of cooking dishes: cooking and frying, grilling and stir-frying, simmering and simmering, steaming and simmering, everything is exquisite. Its best players are the eight bowls of "canned dishes", such as sugar braised lilies, braised pork, roasted sea cucumber with green onions, fried pork slices with mushrooms, fried sea tomatoes, distilled balls, stewed pork knuckles, etc. Sixteen methods can cook nearly 100 dishes. The most famous people in the food are wontons, roasted wheat, crispy fire, crystal buns and so on. Ingenious tricks, ingenious craftsmanship, and amazing food.
After Guo Xi became famous in cooking skills, he wanted to reuse the cooking skills of cooks to smoked meat, surpassing the most famous "Yishengyuan" at that time. Smoked meat, it is best to have your own workshop, in case it is a matter of time. Just when he was 22 years old, his father and others partnered to open a butcher shop for a year, the shop named "Xi Yunhe", which went out of business due to poor business. With this foundation, he decided with his father to open a butcher shop at his own house, with the name "Xi and Yuan." After three years of "observation", "body odor" and "taste" and a series of experimental activities, guo xi "bacon" was finally created to create an excellent fragrance and integration, unique flavor, and unique Guo Xi's "bacon".
He first took the strengths of the many families, especially the "Righteous Shengyuan", and the gods used one of his unique cooking techniques, the two were melted in one furnace, and the three (stewed, boiled, simmered) and smoked two (qi, smoke) were all done in the cooking method of one battle. He once said: "I am a chef who runs a butcher shop, and the smoked meat must be the chef's aroma and taste." And this incense and taste, but also different from other homes, is the 'seal incense seal taste'. Let people see, sniff, and taste it to know that it is Guo Xi's meat. To achieve such an ideal realm, Guo Xi finally found the key and mystery of success after repeated observation, body odor and smoking practice. He often said: "The craft is easy to learn, and the 'excellent' is rare." Only by getting the 'gem' can we surpass others. "The cooking process is unique, and the "excellent product" is unique, which is unattainable by peers. There is a perfect process procedure, but also must have a fine, meticulous standard operation. Sloppy, sloppy, "more and more skipped", although it is detrimental to color, aroma and taste, but the production is not fine and can not ensure the characteristics of Guo Xi's bacon. In his transmission of art, he repeatedly admonished the new scholars that every hand (every procedure and every link in each procedure) should be attentive, and that each had its own role. It is all with fire, fierce, urgent, slow, xu not only different, but also must be just right. Stew and stew are not the same, stew and simmer are slightly different, boiling has a boiling procedure. The word "fine" must be used in the process.
In order to preserve guo xi's famous brand of bacon, he summed up his experience in his later years to show his family and apprentices: "After the meat is cooked, it must be cooked and mixed, stirred, turned, poured, pressed, skimmed, and uncovered. "No matter how skilled and refined the production, the raw materials and condiments are not passed, and it is difficult to produce fine products." Therefore, he selected all the condiments, preferring to be lacking and indiscriminate, and the amount was sufficient. At that time, the condiments of Chaigou Fort were not qualified, and he did not hesitate to spend money to buy them from other places. Peppercorns and star anise, purchased from Xuanhua; black sauce, purchased exclusively in Zhangjiakou "Shengmao" store; cypress wood from Wei County, etc. The purchase of pigs is also very exquisite, he often said: "Late daughter-in-law, early to see the pig." In the slaughter, he strives to grasp several links such as flat, shallow, fast, scoop washing, squeezing, cleaning and tidying, and strictly strives for meticulousness. Due to the strict control of the original condiment, production and quality, Guo Xi's bacon has the best taste and has become a century-old treasure.
Guo Xi, the bacon he created became a delicacy on the table, and he died prematurely at the age of 59.
Click to watch Guo Xi's bacon making video