十二月大 DEC 1980

智
君 慧
子 是
诚 经
之 验
为 之
贵 子
。 。

Monday 星期一

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 目录 Background
The origin and tradition of lap mei
Perfect Combination
The perfect combinations of all types
of cured meats into one iconic dish

content
Variety What about Malaysia?
Different types of lap mei and each of Where can you find the best cured meat
their unique fragrance and taste in Malaysia?

Versatile How to store them?

How can we use them into a variety of These delights are meant to be kept
chinese delight for a long time, with the right way.
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 背景
background

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 Background
The final month of the Lunar Calendar(十贰月) also known
as Layue(腊月), it is the month of curing, the best time to start
curing your meats, preserving them for the rest of the year. In more
details, the words “curing” and “hunting”—both pronounced as
“la”—were used interchangeably in the ancient Chinese language.
During the eighth day of the 12th month in the lunar
calendar, a hunting ceremony was held in which
the ancient people commemorated their Different styles can be found all
ancestors and gods. It was known as the over China, but in Hong Kong, the
Laba Festival, in which “la” signified “the Cantonese style prevails. The most
month of curing” as people called it, and common type of laap mei in this city are
“ba” refers to the eighth day. laap6 cheong2 (臘腸) sausages. They’re made
primarily with pork or duck — lean meat and
chunks of fat, or liver with fat for liver sausage, known
as yeon2 cheong2 (潤腸) — which is then combined with soy sauce,
salt, sugar, five-spice powder, rose liquor (mui4 gwai3 lou6 zau2 (
玫瑰露酒) or the Chinese sorghum wine known as kaoliang (gou1
loeng4 高粱), which is distilled with rose petals and sugar. All of
this is stuffed into dried and reconstituted small pork intestines.
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 种类
variety

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 cured The most recognisable Cantonese cured
meat is called locally as lap cheong. Fatty
sausage and lean pork meat are combined,seasoned,
and then stuffed into the casing to make
sausage. The skin of the produced sausage
Variety
will then be punctured, and it will be dried
in an oven. Everyone has a secret recipe
for one of those foods. The ratio of fatty to
lean meat has an immediate bearing on the
texture of the sausage. Some goods stand
apart because they contain black pepper or
use a different kind of wine. Even choosing
between recently kept casings versus fresh
ones results in adistinctive bite.

cured Cured pork belly is a more straightforward

item to prepare in the world of cured meats,
pork belly compared to its elongated counterpart. All
it takes is seasoning the meat and drying
it under the sun or in an oven. Some even
complete the preservation process at home.
Cured pork belly tastes sweeter than cured
sausage and is usually added to fried
vegetables for a kick of umami.

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liver sausage
Other than the addition of animal liver i n
the meat mixture, liver sausage is prepared
the same way as regular cured sausage.
In modern times, duck liver i s applied in
favour of that of a pig. Imaginably, a liver
sausage has a more gamey, cloying flavour
which limits how much one can eat it. But
its deep fragrance is simply irresistible.
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golden-silver
liver sausage
The “sausage” is composed of pork liver
stuffed with fatty pork. It is so-named
because the liver’s orange-coloured surface
shows off the half transparent pork meat
inside. If you’re lucky enough to spot this
delicacy at a traditional cured meat shop,
you’re in for a treat.
cured duck
The preparation of cured duck involves with a balanced amount of salt and
cleaning the innards of a duck, washing seasoning, and meat in springy texture,
it and then preserving it in salt. Because is hard to find. Instead of a whole duck,
cured duck tends to go bad more easily, cured duck leg has become a family-
some shops would cure the duck in more friendly option in recent years as it takes
salt and extend the time of preservation. less prep work.
The downside of this treatment is the
excessive saltiness in the meat, which
requires blanching to desalt before it’s
ready for cooking. Top-notch cured duck,
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 无臘不欢
versatile

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 Versatile
“Laap mei are actually available all year
round nowadays but they are particularly
popular in winter season because these are
strongly flavoured fatty food,” says Daniel
Chui, director of Seventh Son, a restaurant
known for being a bastion of Cantonese
culinary traditions. “In our restaurant,
we would only serve [it] in winter season
as we believe one cannot actually make
good quality laap mei without the so-called
‘autumn wind.’ In Guangdong or Hong
Kong where we do not tend to have indoor
heating, such high fat salty meat goes well
with boiled rice and vegetables.”
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In some dishes, like claypot rice with laap
coeng, with all its delicious fats and flavour
infusing the rice as it cooks, laap mei is
the centre of attention. In others, it’s a
slightly meaty, fatty addition to a complex
architecture of tastes, like in turnip cake
(lo4 baak6 gou1 蘿蔔糕), where finely diced
laap coeng is mixed in with other flavour-
builders like dried shrimps.
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 How to Store?

#1 #2 #3
Keep dry and store well Refrigerate not more Keep them in freezer and it
in a container than 4 weeks could last up to 1 year

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 马来西亚
Malaysia

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 How about Malaysia?
Chai Huat Hin
152, Jalan Tun H S Lee, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah
Persekutuan K
 uala Lumpur (+603-20269668)
At Chai Huat Hin, you can select from various waxed meats brought in
from Hong Kong and local producers for your home needs. Originally
dealing in dried seafood, they have since branched out to offer herbs and
other imported goods. It is now run by Brian Lim and Lim Bee Bee, who
are the second generation of the family.
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You also have Lana Ng who is the third
generation of the family who runs the
website. With online shopping and the
promise of convenience with delivery to
your doorstep within one to two days, this
has kept their business going during the
recent lockdowns.
Walk iside Chai Huat Hin and you will be
greeted by various types of waxed meats.
It goes beyond just the usual meat sausage
(lap cheong) or liver sausages (yun cheong).
Even their lap cheong has 10 types from
various brands.
There’s also waxed sausages with dried
oysters that are more fragrant. For the
liver sausages, you have a choice of
duck liver or the prized goose liver that
Brian quips will “make your ears twitch
from its deliciousness.”
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 When selecting the waxed meats, the ratio
Perfect Combination
of fat to meat is important. Without the fat,
the meat will be too lean leading to a much
harder, unpleasant bite when you relish the
腊肠 砂煲
dish. Teh explained that a minimum meat to
fat ratio of 75: 25 to 70:30 is preferred.

Besides, leaving the sausages for a few

饭
months before using them as the oxidation
helps to create an umami bomb. Even
though the sausages are brought in around
August and September, it only appears on
the restaurant’s menu this month to allow
the flavours to age. “It’s like a glass of wine,
you need to leave it to oxidise so the taste is
stable, otherwise there is a bitter aftertaste.”

小白菜

鸡蛋
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