Xuanwei Ham-making Craft in Xuanwei City, Qujing
Xuanwei Ham-making Craft in Xuanwei City, Qujing(曲靖市宣威市宣威火腿制作技艺) is listed at the National Intangible Cultural Heritages.
Xuanwei Ham ,got its name because it is produced in Xuanwei(宣威）city, because the special flavor ,it always as famous as Jinhua （金华）Ham which produced in Zhengjiang(浙江).The mianly characteristics of Xuanwei (宣威)Ham are :looks like a Chinese lute , more meat with small bone, thick meat with thin skin , fat and lean meat is moderate；After cut it ,smells rich fragrant , lean meat color is fresh red or rose red ,fat meat is milk color, the inner bones looks a little bit pink red ,it seems that the blood still nourishing . The high quality of it is the standard of Ham produced in whole Yunnan province(云南省), so the Xuanwei （宣威）ham usually be called “Yunnan Ham”.
Feature of Xuanwei Ham-making Craft
The traditional processing technology are maily including fresh leg cut and fixed shape ,salt pickle , turn-over stacking,wash,dry and adjust the shape ,hang up and air-dry,fermentation management and so on ,
The traditional processing technology are maily including fresh leg cut and fixed shape ,salt pickle , turn-over stacking,wash,dry and adjust the shape ,hang up and air-dry,fermentation management and so on ,
（一）Reparing the Legs for Nice Shape(鲜腿修割定形)
The best weight of very piece fresh leg raw material is between 7 to 15 kgs ,through 10-12 hours cool under the good ventilate condition ,reparing cut it according to the size and shape . When the weight of leg is between 9 to 15 kgs ,cut it into the shape as Chinese lute .And when the weight leg is between 7 t0 9 kgs ,cut it into the shape as willow leave . When reparing the legs ,in order to make the skin of leg become smooth and tidy , use knife scrape the residual hair and dirt . Cut the fat and connective tissue attached on the sarcolemma and pelvis ,remove blood stains ,cut extra fat and small pieces meat that attached on the muscle from the left to the right .Keep neat while cutting and cut surface smoothly ,no hair and no blood.
（二）Salt pinkle(上盐腌制)
Salt pinkle the fresh leg which throgh cool,reparie cut and fixed shape. The salt dosage could be 6.5-7.5% of the total weight of the fresh leg , put salt again every 2 or 3 days ， generally put salt 3 or 4 times , Put salt 2.5% first time, 3% second time and 1.5% third time （according to the total salt dosage at 7%）. Keep the side of leg that has meat downward and another side has skin upward .Spread a layer salt on it evenly ,rub skin hard against the pores from hooves to the leg ,make skin mositure or salt and water looks mushy .After salt pickle again and again first time ,stacking legs on the place where convenient to turn it over .Use the same method to salt pickle second time after 2 or 3 days ,stacking legs again , thrid time salt pickle it after 3 days and stacking again .After three time slat pickle ,check the leg ,if there is still have congestion runout , rub leg gain use the salt on the leg(commonly called rush salt ),make muscle become chestnut color .
（3）Turn-over Stacking (堆码翻压)
Put the salt pickled legs indoor with dry and cool condition. Keep the tempreture indoor at 7-10 centigrade,keep relative humidity at 62-85%,stacking them according to the big size and small size ,every layer put 10 pieces leg ,put 6 layers big size leg and 8-12 layers small legs .If the amount of legs is not too much ,can stacking use iron pan .Put one layer straw or wooden sticks on the edge and bottom of the pan. Repeat stacking and turn-over stacking three times ,every 4 or 5 days one time ,totally stacking pickle 12 to 15 days .When turn over the legs ,move the leg on the bottom to the upper and move the leg on the upper to the bottom ,reversed put the foot pole and leg parts ,discharge the congestion .
（4）Wash and Clean(洗晒整形)
Pickled legs after through turn-over stacking ,the color of the side has muscle and sutura from fresh red become chestnut color ,congestion was drained ,then it can be washed ,dried,and shaped .Dip pickled legs into the pure water and keep muscle side downward.Immersion time depend on the size of the legs and tempreture.The immersion time could be about 10 hours if the tempreture is around 10 centigrade .But the immersion time can be extended if find the color of muscle is too dark during soaking the pickled legs ,the time should be shortened if use flowing water .After finish the immersion , wash and brush it immediately follow the arrange direction of musucle fiber ,wash from the paw frist to the skin surface and meat surface then lower parts of thigh .The immersion and wash can be repeated one time again if necessary .Second immersion time could according to the tempreture .Dip the legs into the water about 4 hours if the tempreture is around 10 centigardes . If the season is in the spring the immersion time could 2 hours .After finished the wash and brush,make Ham dry in the air slightly ,start to repair cut the legs while the skin and the side of meat still soft .Straighten the shank ,stacking skin flatten.Use hand to squeeze two sides of the musle so that make the centre of the leg looks plump. After repaired the shape of the Ham,hang up and dry in the sunshine . Drying time will be confirmed by season ,tempreture ,wind speed ,size of leg , different ratio fat to muscle .Usually drying 2 or 3 days .
（5）Air-Dry
After washed ,dried and repaired the shape ,Normally hang it up by a 0.7 meter rope which clean and strong.Make a pork hoof buckle to bind the common bone .Hang it up on the balustrade nail of the warehouse , string hang up the big size legs on the top and small size legs are below ,or hang up them by big, middle and small size .4-6 pieces per string . Every pieces Ham keep suitable distance . There is sidewalk between string and string so that convenient for observe and control the fermentation conditions.
（6）Fermentation
From the preliminary stage to the Qingming festival (清明节) ,must take strict precautions aganist spring wind to aviod burst cracking .Timely open the window for 1-2 hours ,keep Ham gradually dry indoor under the ventilate and dry condition .After Lixia festival (立夏）,open and close the doors and windows in time,adjust the tempreture and humidity for enough formentation of the Ham. If necessary the ham hang up upstairs and downstairs can exchange the place so that the fermentation keep consistency .After the dragon boat festival (端午节）,timly open the windows to keep Ham dry and solid,avoid Ham get damp .On the fermentation stage ,the average monthly tempreture of indoor should control within 13-16 centigardes and relative humidity within 72-80% .In the daily management should obverse the condition of Ham such like water loss, air-dry,mould growth .According to the climate changes ,through open and close the doors and windows ,make a fire to rise the humidity of the warehouse, create the best fermentation condition for the Ham . Still need strenghthen daily fermentation management after fermentation basically matured ( big size legs normally fermentaion until to the Mid autumn festival ) . The management can be stoped only when the Ham are taken out from the warehouse.
