Smoked Bacon

Smoked bacon is a must-have among Xifeng people. Every spring, the rural people will go to buy local piglets. After a year of careful breeding, the pigs will be slaughtered after the winter solstice, and the pork will be cut into pieces, and pickled together with the pig's head, feet and internal organs (except for intestines). The pork intestine will be filled with fine meat (usually the meat on the upper shoulder as it has a moderate amount of fat) to make sausages. Salt, pepper, rhizoma, star anise and rock sugar are then added. After three days, the pork is taken out of storage for kneading, hung on a firewood frame with palm leaf, smoked with firewood or charcoal fire for several days and nights until it is dried, and then hung in a place with fire. It will then be eaten in the second year. The dish was an invention for convenient pork storage in an era when there was no refrigerator. Later, it became a famous food because of its unique flavor after being smoked. 

During production, mastery of the fire is very important. Generally, experienced people wait along the fire pit for days and nights and add firewood. The finished dish looks golden, and smells both oily and woody. It is fragrant but not greasy, soft and chewy.