舌尖上的美食 第3期:琵琶肉 Lute shaped Pork

Lute-shaped Pork

琵琶肉

Lute-shaped Pork is a kind of traditionally pickled meat in Tibetan-inhabited Areas in the central plains of China. To make such pickled meat you should first remove the abdominal organs and bones from the slaughtered pig without damaging its body. After cooling off the meat, add pepper, caoguo, salt and Chinese liquor to the meat, and rub it to get the flavorings fully absorbed. Then sew up the meat and collect ashes from the kitchen stove and mix it with water or sesame oil, then apply the mixture to where the meat was sewed. After that, block the nose of the pig with a cork or a corncob to prevent moths. Finally, put a slate or a plank on the pig. And after it is dried its shape looks like a lute, which is the origin of its name.

琵琶肉爲中甸藏區一種用傳統醃製方法制作而成的肉品。具體方法是豬屠宰後將其內臟和骨頭取出，保留完整軀體。待其稍涼後，撒入花椒麪、草果面、食鹽等佐料及白酒，輕輕搓揉後，將其開口縫合，在縫線部塗敷上水或香油調好的竈灰，並用木塞或玉米芯把豬鼻塞嚴，以防蟲蛀。然後用石板或木板壓上晾乾，幹後形似琵琶，故名“琵琶肉”。

According to Tibetan people in Di Qing area, the recipe of Lute-shaped pork was passed down from a god. However, the details of the story vary from area to area. Some people say that a beautiful and benevolent fairy once comes to the earthly world. To reward the uprightness and honesty of Tibetan people in Di Qing, she teaches them to till the earth and raise animals as well as the one-in-a-kind recipe of the Lute-shaped Pork. Others tell a different story: Once upon a time, there was an old hunter who was seasoned and skilled in shooting arrows. So whenever he hunts in the mountains he would bring home prey. He deems his good luck is endowed by god, so he always worships the god of mountain and the god of hunting. However, the preservation of the prey is an urgent problem needed to be solved. One night he dreams of a god teaching him the way of preserving his prey. When he wakes up he works accordingly and makes the lute-shaped pork which can be easily preserved.

對迪慶藏族人家說，琵琶肉的醃製方法是神仙教的，不過具體情節各地不一。有的地方的人們說，一位美麗善良的仙女來到人間，她十分喜歡迪慶藏族人家的善良忠厚，便在教會人們耕地養畜之後，把一手醃製肉食的絕活也傳給了大家。而另一些地方的人們則說，從前有一位老獵手，經驗豐富又射得一手好箭，因此只要上山，就絕不會空手而歸。他覺得自己的好運氣都是神仙給的，所以總忘不了祭獻山神、獵神。老獵人常常遇到這樣的難題，一次打到的獵物太多，吃不完，放了幾天就壞了。一天晚上，他在睡夢中得到神仙的指點，醒來後依法醃製，就做成了可存放很長時間的琵琶肉。