Song Ye watched with a smile.
On this day, local custom was eating raw pork skin. Eating raw pork skin was acceptable, but raw pork meat and liver had to be prepared carefully. Thus, the grandmother had a method for preparing pork.
First, selecting the pig, locally called a “tooth pig”, a pig not from a mother pig or pregnant sow, to avoid illness. After selecting the right pig, cover it with pine branches, burn thoroughly, then use hot ash to thoroughly clean the pig, fermenting for an hour before washing clean and ready to eat.
The pig-killing and washing location was behind the house, with underground warm water around seventy degrees, essentially half-cooked by heat or tree branch burning.
The grandmother’s eyes were sharp. Song Ye, lacking courage, handed the pig-killing task to Ah Sui.
Summer thought Ah Sui would run like when they watched fish being roasted, but Ah Sui didn’t run. The golden-yellow tooth pig lay on the large wooden table in the house, Ah Sui standing beside the dead pig.
Looking at the vegetable knife, Ah Sui looked at the calm and composed Ah Xi emerging from the room. Ah Sui was not the delicate, beautiful type, but was like the sun, calm like the moon, making people feel warm and lovable. A faint soft atmosphere surrounded him, but not suppressing, making people feel he was quite pleasant.
Summer was suspicious. He had discussed this with Ah Bei before, who though silent, seemed to sense something was different, only Ah Xi hadn’t noticed any abnormality, speaking softly: “I don’t want to see the intestines burst.”
Ah Sui said: “Look, just like everyone else.”
He gently stroked the pig. It was like a small old buffalo, very delicate, with very elastic, soft, and refined skin. The pig closed its eyes, mouth slightly smiling, looking quite cute.
Ah Sui gently stroked the pig’s head.
Summer stood far away. Ah Bei also stood far away. Ah Xi hadn’t left, but looked somewhat anxious.
Ah Sui’s knife technique was skilled, movements clean and precise, entering smoothly.
Now the pig’s belly has been cut open. Due to being half-cooked, there was no flowing blood situation. Just like pulling open a chain, due to the pressure inside the body, the cut pig skin and pinkish-red muscle automatically turned to both sides, making the originally tight pig belly loose. Su Se used his hand to pull the skin and meat to both sides, and the internal organs were clearly displayed in front of him.
He stopped and looked up at everyone.
“Let me tell you about the organ structure.”
Jia Zhen retreated a step back: “We are not close, you speak, we’ll listen.”
Su Se reached into the pig’s chest cavity, groped for a moment, and pulled out a complete heart, using scissors to cut the blood vessels and muscles connecting the heart.
“You can’t understand dissecting a body, actually this is not much different,” Su Se said, “If your luck is not good, in future days when you need surgery due to some illness, it will be cut open like this. Because you are living people, so you need to use fixed tools to fix the opened muscles, and use hemostatic clips to seal your broken blood vessels. Your heart is beating, and it has warmth when touched. Unlike this heart, it doesn’t move, and it’s cold.”
Gao Bei’s imagination was rich: “Can people eat it? Theoretically it’s possible. In history, emperors have done such things. During the ‘Second Sino-Japanese War’, Japanese people on Fujian Island had no food, first eating the wounded, then eating the injured, even rations were gone.”
Su Se put the pig’s liver, large intestine, heart, and lungs into containers, and now the pig’s body was an empty bone cavity. The pig’s face was still smiling, eyes slightly open. Su Se covered the pig’s face with both hands, lowering his head silently.
Sunlight passed through the sky, shining on his head, with fine hair moving slightly, that scene made him think of Klakovic Gabe’s chaotic world.
No one disturbed him. Summer asked in a low voice like Song Ruohan: “Did he hold your head like this last night?”
Song Ruohan glanced at Summer with one foot. She was wearing a flower-print dress, so she didn’t care.
Old Lady came in from the door, looking at the neatly arranged pig parts on the table, praising: “My daughter-in-law is capable, everyone doesn’t need to work, take it and clean it and it can be used. I can’t do this.”
“Is the pig yours or Su Se’s?” Summer asked.
Old Lady said: “Mine. I’ll take charge of this.”
Su Se finally let go of the pig’s head, right hand holding a dissecting knife to cut the pig’s skin, left hand stretching to hold it, pulling out the pig’s tongue, ears, and a pile of brain matter. Then he cut open the ear side, like turning a book, covering the pig’s face, opening the head, cutting the muscles, and taking out the pig’s brain.
Old Lady said: “Clean the pig’s face for serving, then stitch it up, today we won’t eat.”
Su Se washed the pig’s brain clean with water, then covered it back with the skin. Old Lady threaded a long needle, Su Se started suturing from the ear, the needle precise and dense, leaving a circle of red thread on the small pig head, because during suturing the skin was lifted, making the smile look more exaggerated.
Washed with warm water again, the little pig looked very dignified.
The clean Su Se went to wash his hands at the water’s edge. Xiao Gai brought him a towel, slowly wiping in his hand.
Clear water scattered on Su Se’s hands, water flow turning light red, washing down the drag.
Song Ruohan used a towel to dry his hands, from the hidden bag pulled out a small box of skin cream, applied a bit on his hand back, rubbed, then lifted to smell.
“No pig smell!” she declared.
The small piece of pig skin inside the pig’s foot, called “not seeing the sky”, is the best part of eating raw skin, next turning to back meat, ribs, belly and other parts, a pig’s head has very few places for making raw dishes.
A Culinary Journey of Wild Boar Meat: The Highest Realm of Fresh Delicacy
The freshest and crispest wild boar meat must be eaten on the spot, and only a little salt is needed. Old Man Liu first cut a few pieces of pork with a kitchen knife, sprinkled a little salt, placed them in a plate, and slowly chewed.
Songbei raised a piece of courage, and Jia also looked calm. He laughed and chuckled, feeling melancholic and nostalgic.
As Jia chewed, the meat became more delicious. This meat was pork, close to the premium kernel meat, with a layer of fat on the meat like a flower, fatty and tender. Locals called it “sand meat”, just a few pieces, with a delicate texture and a slightly grainy feel.
When formally starting the meal, the skin had been cut into a complete piece: the meat and fat were cut into fine pieces, not only with meat but also with red lean meat, black pig liver, raw tripe, raw pig head meat, raw hind leg meat, with a spicy sauce mixed with chili, flower pepper, pepper, garlic, and green onion. The wild boar meat tastes best when dipped in this sauce.
Old Man Liu opened a jar of precious liquor. This liquor was said to be from the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty. After tasting the liquor produced by Jiaqing, the emperor praised it as “truly a rare fine wine in the world; even Jiaqing cannot brew such a beautiful liquor.” Thus, it became an annual tribute to the imperial court. The liquor was named Jiaqing liquor.
Jiaqing liquor and wild boar meat were a perfect match. But Songbei and Jia looked at the table of wild boar meat and felt empty. Old Man Liu said, “Eat up, we’ve been eating for hundreds of years without any problems.”
The two people carefully peeled the skin and ate a few pieces, drinking liquor to neutralize.
Su Se slowly chewed corn, not taking a single bite. Jia felt sorry for them, thinking they had been frightened, and now felt clean. Guan Ge had just looked in the kitchen and hadn’t eaten much.
