After breakfast, everyone went to their own business.

Since then, I got up at 6 o'clock every morning, taught my grandfather and others to practice Tai Chi for half an hour, and then asked my younger brother to get up and practice martial arts for half an hour. Unconsciously, time has quietly passed.

As time goes by, it gets late and it's getting up late, and the time for getting up in the morning is delayed by half an hour from the original time, and another half an hour.

Time passed in a short while, and it was almost time to see the Chinese New Year.

Because of the Chinese New Year, every household had to kill pigs, and there were only a few pig slaughterers in the village, so they lined up. After Laba, the Chen family began to kill pigs during the Chinese New Year.

On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, it was Xiaoxi's turn to kill pigs. As early as the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, Xiaoxi's two circles of four fat pigs had already sold three, leaving one of the fattest ones to be killed and kept for their own food.

The first day, Xiaoxi's family packed up everything they wanted to use the next day. First, fill the waist basin (the waist basin is a wooden barrel that is one meter tall, one meter long and five meters long, and is an oval-shaped barrel. Because it is a necessary tool for soup pigs, every household has it) and soaked it. Because the waist basin is usually only used once a year, it will inevitably weather and damage it. This waist basin is soaked in water. First, the wood will swell after being soaked in water, which will be stronger than dry wood. The dry wood is crisp. If the water soup pig is added tomorrow, it is possible that the waist basin will not be able to hold on to the force and break it directly. Second, check whether the waist basin is leaky and it is easy to repair it in time.

I found a chopping board to cut meat, clean it and dry it. The next day I killed the pig, so I didn’t feed the pigs at night.

Early in the 11th day of the lunar month, after breakfast, Chen's mother started to fill the pots in the middle and inside and boil them.

Because every household slaughtered pigs, there were several families a day. Today, I lined up one of Xiaoxi family, one of Zhao Juan family, and one of the second wife and cousin father killed one of them. Since there was only one person in the family, the eldest wife planned to buy dozens of kilograms from Zhao Juan's house. There were only four grandparents in Zhao Juan's family.

Because Xiaoxi's family killed pigs first, early in the morning, several families came to help. About twenty people stood in the courtyard, and it was lively.

When the pig slayer arrived, the water was already boiling. He called his cousin's father, grandpa, youngest and second master to drive the pig out of the pigpen. Knowing that he was going to be slaughtered, the fat pig screamed all the way miserably.

Several people drove the pigs into the yard. Grandpa saw that the children were still standing aside. He was afraid that they would scare them, so he drove them to the kitchen. The kitchen was the room next to the side. Let the mother-in-law watch the children and stop running to the yard to join in the fun.

Seeing that the pig was gasping, the few people quickly pressed the pig to the ground. The pig slayer took out a tool - a sharp knife inserted into the pig's neck, and the white knife went into the red knife, and quickly put the clean iron basin beside it and caught the pig's blood. The fat pig who was stabbed knew that his life was not long, so he kept struggling and smacked the pig's blood all over the floor.

After the blood was almost released, the pig was no longer angry, so my mother-in-law brought the pig blood back to the kitchen (from now on, my father's house will be called the new house). She put the basin on the chopping board, put an appropriate amount of salt in it, stir it evenly, and found a pot lid to cover it to prevent dust from falling in.

Grandma Chen quickly cooked the pot and prepared to make the pig blood out. It would be bad if it was left for a long time. After boiling the pot, cut the solidified pig blood into pieces with a kitchen knife, then put it in the pot to cook it, then pick it up and put it in a cold water basin. In this way, the pig blood that was boiled is resistant to storage.

After pumping the iron basin, the pig slaughter cut a small hole on the two back pig's trotters and wrists of the fat pig. He bloated his cheeks and blew it in. When the entire pig's body was blown up, he tied the cut with a hemp rope to prevent gas from overflowing.

Seeing that they had done it almost and the water had already been boiled, Chen's mother asked a few men to carry the basin into the yard and then began to scoop boiling water in.

It’s not that it’s good to use boiled water for pigs. If the water is too hot, it will burn the pig skin together. The water will cool down and the hair will not be cleaned. Therefore, controlling the water temperature is also a technical job for pig killers.

Mother Chen couldn't grasp the water temperature well. After a few buckets of cold water were in, she said to the pig slayer busy next to her: "Master, come and see if the water temperature is OK? If not, I'm adding it."

The master came over to check the water temperature and said, "Add some cold water, it's a little hot."

The key to soup pigs is to start with a lower water temperature, so that the pig skin can adapt and then heat the water in it.

When the master said the water temperature was right, Chen's mother went back to the kitchen and carried two buckets of boiling water next to her waist basin. She also needed to add water later.

Several men worked together to lift the fat pig of more than 200 kilograms into the waist basin. The master flipped over the pig from time to time and let it be scalded with hot water in every part. Then he scooped a few scoops of boiling water in it, scalded it for a while, and took out a "shovel" from the tool bag. It was not the kind of shovel that shoveled the ground. It was iron, shaped like an axe, but it was not opened, and it was blunt. After shoveling the shovel, he thought it was OK, so he called a few people to start shoveling the pig's hair.

The men took a "shovel" alone, rolled up their sleeves and became busy. After all, it was the water for the pigs, which was a bit hot, so Chen's mother brought a basin of cold water to let them pass through the cold water from time to time to avoid scalding.

After the pig hair was shoveled, a few people went out to the street (gai, the first sound) to prepare.

Jieyang is a name for the stream and the others. It is such a sound. Jieyang is one ridge higher than the yard, and is between the earth walls of the house and the yard, and is also blocked by tiles. Every household has a Jieyang, but the width is different. The street of the new house is about three meters wide. Because the front eaves are too deep, the beams cannot support them at all, so they are supported by columns. A few square pillars made of fire bricks stand straight on the street. Just like in the house, Jieyang also uses solid wood to build the frame of the second floor and then lay wooden boards. This second floor is very practical for drying corn.

The frames on the second floor are made of whole wood and are directly embedded in the earthen walls and columns, which are very sturdy.

Because the hall and room are close to the drainage ditch, which is used to drain rainwater. It hasn't rained for a long time. The ditch is dry now. It is the outermost and easy to pack it up, so I'm here to cut off the pig.

The two iron hooks were tied to the horizontal wood on the second floor with thick hemp ropes. Several people worked together to hang the pig's head upside down and hooked the pig's legs with the iron hook.

Cut the pig's head off and put it in an iron basin, and then the master began to open the belly. He cut the pig's body and placed a large iron basin below to prevent the pig's internal organs from sticking to soil. He picked the pig's internal organs and placed the pig's intestines in a basin, and another basin for pig's heart, liver, lungs, etc., and some uneasy ones were thrown directly into the drainage ditch on the side. The dogs who came here smelled the smell of meat, took a piece and went to the side to eat meat.

After removing the internal organs, only two clean pork and four pig legs remained on the iron hook.

After seeing that Grandma Chen had simply washed the chopping board, the master took off a piece of pork and carried it onto the chopping board with Grandpa Chen. "Sharpening the knife and turning it to the pigs and sheep", sharpened the knife with a whetstone, first removed the pig's legs, and then separated the clean meat and ribs, and cut it into pieces, weighing three or four pounds, which is convenient for marination, drying and storage.

After the pork was cut and filled with two large sautés, the pig slaughter began to clean the pig intestines, just roughly washed them. Use an iron rod to turn the pig intestines over and wash the food residue inside.

At this point, Xiaoxi's pigs were ready, and everyone sat down, smoked a cigarette and took a break, and then rushed to the next house. Grandpa Chen went to help, and the two children also went to join in the fun, leaving Chen's mother and mother-in-law to clean up the house.

After cleaning the waist basin and chopping board, and cleaning the pig hair and blood on the ground, the two of them began to clean up the pork.

Pour the pork from the pagoda into a large basin and pick out the ribs and pork legs. Marinate roughly according to the standard of one or two salt per pound of pork. Spread the salt evenly on the pork, then poke a hole in the skin with scissors and tie it with a hemp rope. The ribs and pork legs are also marinated according to law.

There are two tree stumps in the yard, tied with iron wire, used to dry clothes. The hemp rope is buckled on the iron wire, and when the small wooden stick is separated, the pork with the hemp rope is hung on the iron wire. It is only dry for two days, and then hanged on the ventilated second floor. It is not a problem to store for one or two years.

After cleaning the basin and the Taoyuan and put the Taoyuan in the yard to dry it, it was almost lunch time, so Grandma Chen quickly cooked the pot and cooked.

Chen's mother went to the vegetable garden to pick up a handful of garlic seedlings and went back to choose, cleaned it and cut it into sections. She picked up about two kilograms of fresh meat with a blanched fat and thinness, and quickly sliced ​​it, and then took a piece of pig blood and sliced ​​it.

Pour in the rapeseed oil, and when the oil is hot, add the peppercorns, shredded ginger and chili sauce and stir-fry, then add fresh pork and stir-fry. The oil is almost done. Pour the pig blood in and stir-fry for a while, pour in the garlic sprouts, add seasonings, stir-fry with a spatula for two and then leave the pot.

Because it was getting late, the pig soup was just taken off and hung up. Xiaoxi, Chen Yubin and grandfather came back for lunch. The fragrant pork fried garlic sprouts and fragrant rice were added, and a bowl of thick rice soup was over. After a while, the few people went to help (join the fun) and killed the pig. Xiaoxi stayed at home and waited for his mother.

After cleaning the bowls and chopsticks in the pot, Chen's mother carried more than ten kilograms of fat and thin pork in her hand, and took a bowl of meat and vegetables specially left for lunch held by Xiaoxi to the head of the old yard. In the yard, in addition to Xiaoxi and the others, there was also a family living alone, an elderly man living alone.

Xiaoxi and the others called him the ancestor, who was one generation older than his grandfather and mother-in-law. The ancestor was surnamed Zhao and was an elder of the Zhao family. In fact, he had children and daughters. However, when his daughter got married, his son also went to another place to settle down, leaving him alone, no one took care of him, and did not give him food. It was very pitiful. Because he lived alone, he was a little lonely, so the ancestor liked them to bother him very much.

"Old Zuzu, are you there?" Xiaoxi pushed open the door. There was no light in the room, it was a little dark and could not see clearly.

"It's a stream. Have you eaten? I've cooked noodles and have some food." Seeing the stream coming, the old ancestor greeted happily.

"Old Zuzu, I've eaten it." Xiaoxi took a few steps, put the bowl of vegetables in his hand on the stove, and said to the old Zuzu, "This is for you, it's still hot, eat it quickly."

At this time, Mother Chen also entered the house and handed the pork to the old Zuzu and said, "Grandpa, give it to me, this is what my mother asked you to take. I have marinated it. Just hang it in a ventilated place."

The old Zuzu took it and said in a hoarse voice: "Oh, why am I so embarrassed? You think of me if you have anything to do."

Xiaoxi didn't want the old man to think about those sad things at such age, so he pulled the sleeves of the old Zuzu and said, "Zuzu, you're about to have dinner. After you finish eating, let's go and see them kill pigs."

"Okay, I'll go with Xiaoxi after eating."

Mother Chen helped the old Zuzu wash the dishes, and the three of them went to join in the fun.
Chapter completed!