In the rural areas of Northeast China, every family has to kill pigs when the New Year is approaching. Making dumplings, making meatballs, stewed vermicelli, filling blood sausages, making braised pork, stewing pork ribs and so on are all inseparable from pork. The food of the Northeast people for the New Year almost all revolves around this newly killed pig. That's why everyone calls it "killing pigs".

Of course, this year of the pig ordinary people can basically kill a year is good, in addition to marrying a daughter-in-law and hiring a girl and other major events, usually want to eat meat can only eat a little salted pork, if you want to eat fresh pork, it is only possible to wait until the wax moon. Otherwise, he would not have left "Children, children, don't cry, after Laba, you will kill pigs; Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, don't be greedy, after eighty or ninety years", this seems to be a joke but is actually a bit sad slang.

Zhou Yu got up early in the morning of Saturday morning, and hurriedly had breakfast with Huzi and Chef Liu, and the three of them drove to the village without waiting for the eighth uncle and them to come up. Because today is the day of pig killing, the brothers must go back early to help catch the pigs, and Chef Liu is naturally the chef who makes pig killing dishes at noon today.

When the three of them arrived home, Zhou Dingguo and Wang Zhijiang had already opened the pigsty door, and there was a 500-pound hook scale not far away, which was used for the pig scale to be reused later.

Seeing that Zhou Yu and his brothers were back, Zhou Dingbang hurriedly went over and plugged in the gate, while Zhou Dingguo jumped into the pigsty and drove out the two fat big black pigs with wooden sticks, and let them wander around the yard for a while.

Since the pigs were going to be killed today, Wang Guilan did not feed them in the morning. I just gave a little water to drink, so that I could get it easier when I got through the pig's intestines after killing the pig later.

At this time, Zhou Dingguo smoked a cigarette and took out a finger-thick hemp rope and an arm-thick elm stick from the side room. Wang Guilan and her brother and daughter-in-law also hurriedly went home to pick up firewood and prepare to boil water......

All the things that need to be prepared before killing pigs are almost the same, just waiting for the arrival of Zhou Laosi, the pig killer.

"I'm going to set the country. Have you said hello to the little fourth? Why hasn't this kid come here yet? After waiting for a while, the old lady was a little anxious and asked.

"Master, I told him the day before yesterday, don't worry. Last night, the old Zhang family at the head of the village killed the pig, and it is estimated that the kid drank too much and got up late, so let's wait. Anyway, this kid is neat and tidy, and it won't take a morning to kill two pigs, so we're in a hurry. ”

In other words, killing pigs is definitely a technical job, not as simple as stabbing it. Two or three hundred catties or even four or five hundred catties of pigs with huge bodies are struggling to the death, and the strength is very fierce. Three or five strong guys may not be able to keep busy, and people with poor knife skills usually can't find the arteries and blood vessels of pigs.

So this requires a professional pig killer to do this. Those pig killers who know this well are quick and easy, and only one person can be at ease, talking and laughing to finish the work, not only do it cleanly and kill with a knife, but also pick the internal organs of the pig, and the pig's head and pork ribs are all decomposed.

And the blood poured into the sausage. The various parts of the pig body are sorted for you to get well, and all the things that can be handled are handled in an orderly manner, so that not only the pig is less painful, but also the things that should be left can be retained to the greatest extent. The folk saying is that "you can kill ten catties of meat".

Zhou Laosi is the special pig killer of Zhoujia Village, and although he is surnamed Zhou like Zhou Dingbang, he belongs to two major branches. The blood relationship is very weak.

But the elders of Zhou Laosi got married early and could give birth, although they were also in their forties, not much younger than Zhou Dingbang. But after all, they are all surnamed Zhou, and they are still a family for several generations. And in the countryside, seniority is still very important, so according to seniority, it has to be called Zhou Dingbang's third master, Zhou Yu and Zhou Hu's uncle.

Everyone was chatting, when they heard someone shouting outside the gate: "Is the second master at home?" I'm the fourth, hurry up and open the door for me. ”

Zhou Yu hurriedly ran to the gate and opened the door, and a man in his forties pushing a bicycle with a canvas apron pushed the bicycle in with a smile.

"Oh, isn't this the second uncle? Why didn't you come back when you weren't busy in the mountains? Look at what this is all about. The man said enthusiastically after looking at Du Zhouyu.

After speaking, the man turned his head and said to Zhou Dingguo, who was far away: "I said second master, with my fourth child here, do you still need to call my second uncle back?" People are so busy, it is better to make more money in the mountains if they have the time to help.

Really, you two pigs don't know if it's enough for other people's appearance fees. ”

Before Zhou Dingguo could speak, the old lady standing in the distance scolded with a smile. "Hey, I said Xiao Si'er, why is your mouth so loose like the waist of cotton pants? What is the poor? I have something to say when I finish killing the pigs. There are a lot of guests from your second master's house today, and you kid can't delay things. ”

"Hey, the ancestor is also there? Well, then I'll listen to you, let's just talk about it, and get to work right away. ”

After finishing speaking, Zhou Laosi glanced at the two big fat pigs a few times, and his expression was immediately different, quite like the general of the autumn soldiers on the battlefield, and after reading it, he nodded and said to everyone with great momentum: "What, the second master, the third master and the uncle, you will help me catch the pig later, the second uncle and the third uncle, you two are still young, don't flash your waist, so just look at it." Second grandma, you hurry up and prepare the basin for receiving blood, and boil a large pot of hot water for cleaning pig hair. ”

At this time, the pig killer was the largest, and everyone was instructed by Zhou Laosi. Zhou Dingguo went home and took a pack of Yuxi cigarette stoppers to Zhou Laosi, and the professional lit one and took a few puffs.

"Fourth nephew, the third uncle asked you, how much do you say your second master's two pigs weigh?" Huzi asked with a shy face.

Zhou Laosi was not angry, it seemed that he had long been used to being ridiculed, so he took a puff of cigarette and said with a smile: "Little third uncle, if you want me to see, the bigger one should be about four hundred catties, and the smaller one can have at least three hundred and twenty-three." ”

After listening to Zhou Laosi's words, these people standing outside were all smiling, saying that raising pigs for a year is not rushing to grow more meat? Since Zhou Laosi, who is an expert, said so, it is not far from ten.

After Zhou Laosi finished his cigarette, he beckoned Zhou Dingbang and Wang Zhijiang to come forward to catch the pig, and Zhou Yu and his brothers didn't listen to him, and they also stepped forward to help.

To say that the strength of this pig is much larger than the people, a few people made it for thirty minutes to press the pig down, four people held four pig's trotters, one person held the pig's stomach, Zhou Dingguo quickly used the thick hemp rope prepared in advance to tie the pig's mouth and limbs with pig's trotter buckles.

Seven or eight minutes later, the two big fat pigs were tied to the ground, and their mouths kept howling. It seems that today is the end of the world, so the cry is miserable. But pigs are meant to be killed for meat, and no one feels bad about their cries or anything.

At this time, the two square tables had been set up, Zhou Yu lifted the scales and handed them to his father, and then he and Huzi stretched a strong thick elm stick into the iron ring of the big scale, and lifted a big fat pig up, Zhou Dingguo hurriedly hung up the scales and weighed them, four hundred and eighteen catties.

Then the three of them weighed another big fat pig, three hundred and forty pounds, at this time, everyone stretched out their thumbs to Zhou Laosi, and the price of people's eyes is one word, cow!

Next, everyone lifted the two big fat pigs to the square table and padded them with wood, Zhou Dingbang took a broom to sweep the pig's body, Zhou Yu and Zhou Hu each held an enamel basin and put it under the pig's neck, and the other hand held a bud rice stalk.

Zhou Laosi took out a hanging bag from the bicycle, took out a pig-killing knife and a piece of oil stone from it, and then came to the square table after swinging the pig-killing knife on the oil stone twice.

At this time, Zhou Dingguo's brothers were pressing the big fat pig head by tail, and Zhou Laosi came to the front and back with a knife and quipped: "Second master and third master, you two have to hold it down for me, or if you stab the pig and run away later, you can't blame me." ”

"Okay, fourth, hurry up and get off the knife, or we won't be able to hold it down in a while." Zhou Dingguo said angrily.

Zhou Laosi smiled and nodded, with the knife in his hand, his left hand probed the pig's neck, found the position of the knife, and then turned over with his right hand, and the knife more than half a foot long went down. The pig had not yet felt the pain, the knife had been inserted into the major artery in the neck, pushing the knife left and right, enlarging the knife hole, pulling out the knife, and blood flowed down the knife hole into the basin under the table.

The pot was already mixed with onions, ginger and other seasonings, and Zhou Yu kept stirring it with the bud rice stalks, so that the blood could not coagulate, so that it could be kept for a while.

It didn't take a few minutes for the two big fat pigs to be bled to complete their mission.

Zhou Laosi quickly decomposed all parts of the pig's body one by one, and the internal organs were also picked off in different categories, and then began to pick the pigskin.

At this time, Zhou Dingguo's brothers and Wang Zhijiang carried the cut pig's head and pig's trotters to the cauldron of boiling water, scalded these parts in boiling water, and then began to pluck the feathers.

There are some different ways to pluck pigs around Taiping Town, some of them kill the pigs and pour boiling water directly on the pigs to pluck their hairs, so that there is no separate pig skin. On the other hand, Zhoujia Village picks off the pig's head and pig's trotters and pig skin first, and then plucks the feathers, so that the pigskin can also be boiled into pig skin jelly and eaten.

To say that Zhou Laosi is really a good hand, he cleaned up a pig neatly in less than an hour. Wang Guilan instructed Zhou Yu and his brothers to wear the unloaded elbows, ribs, etc. with ropes and hang them in the wing.

Now the outdoor temperature is more than minus ten or twenty degrees, that is a natural freezer. Put the meat in the wing room that is not afraid of ash and not afraid of spoilage, when you want to eat, you can cut two pieces with a knife inside, which saves you a lot of trouble. In addition, naturally frozen pork has the same texture as fresh pork when thawed, unlike pork frozen in the freezer, which tastes as bad as wood dregs. (To be continued......)