What does pickled sauerkraut in a large vat mean?

In the past, the weather in the Northeast was much colder than it is now. Due to inconvenient transportation and lack of materials, the only vegetables in winter were radish, cabbage, and potatoes stored in cellars. When we got tired of eating these, our ancestors invented pickled sauerkraut. Wash the cabbage, dry it for a few days, put it in a large vat, sprinkle with salt, soak the cabbage in cold water, and press it with a few stones. It will be ready to eat in about 40 days. It will be sour and crispy, with an unforgettable taste of hometown.

So among the big monsters in the Northeast, there is one saying: pickling pickled cabbage in a big vat or a small vat. This is a very typical Manchu folk custom.

So is there sauerkraut in the Central Plains? According to Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Kancai" is also called pickled cabbage. However, although the sauerkraut of the Eastern Han Dynasty is called sauerkraut, no one has ever eaten or seen what it looks like or tastes. They just have the same name. Because many modern words are derived from ancient Chinese characters, but they are completely different from those in ancient China. The sauerkraut we are talking about today mainly refers to Northeastern sauerkraut, which was invented by the ancestors of the Manchu people.

The method of making Northeastern sauerkraut is simply to prepare a container first. Plastic buckets, jars, jars, and urns can be used. Iron-made aluminum containers cannot be used because lactic acid will be produced during the fermentation process. corrosion.

The second step is to stack the cabbage in the container and try to fill up all the space. If it is difficult to place it, you can cut part of the cabbage.

The third step is to fill the pot with cold boiled water and add a little salt, or not. Press it with stones to prevent the cabbage from floating. Do not let the cabbage come out of the water. Seal the mouth of the bucket with a plastic film to prevent it from air. Isolated. Place it at 10-20 degrees for more than 20 days. The higher the temperature, the shorter the fermentation time.

What are the authentic Northeastern home-cooked dishes now? Generally speaking, we can say: chicken stewed with mushrooms, pork stewed with vermicelli, ribs stewed with beans, catfish stewed with eggplant "the four major stews", but the most important ones are sauerkraut dishes and delicacies.

Pork-killing vegetables are one of the representatives of sauerkraut dishes and delicacies. Pig-killing dish, as the name suggests, is a dish inherited from the New Year pig-killing.

Every household of people living in Heilongjiang has the habit of raising pigs, especially in the countryside. In the countryside, any family that doesn't raise pigs or can't afford to kill New Year pigs will be laughed at because they are not living a good life. Every winter, when the twelfth lunar month comes, pig farmers will start killing new year pigs one after another, which is also called killing fat pigs. "Children, don't cry. After the Laba Festival, the pig will be killed." Although this is a nursery rhyme to coax children, it tells the hardships of life in that era. Killing the New Year pig can satisfy your hunger! Whenever this happens, the host will send out invitations in advance and send messages to relatives and friends from afar to come and drink.

The process of killing pigs is like a big show, very lively. On the day of the pig killing, the invited pig butcher and the neighbors who helped came early. First, they caught the pig. A strong and agile man slowly approached the fat pig and pretended to scratch it. Then he grabbed the hind legs neatly and held them tight. Several people went up at the same time, pushed the fat pig to the ground, and tied up its four hooves. Lift it to the chopping board with a wooden pole. Sometimes I fail to catch a pig and the pig is caught (scared). The frightened pigs looked like they were facing a powerful enemy. Their eyes were red, they were squealing, jumping in circles, and running all over the yard. Everyone was panting from exhaustion. The four hooves of the pig are tied and tied with pig trotter buckles. There are many folk ways of tying rope buckles. The pig trotter buckle probably comes from catching pigs and binding their four hooves. The pig with its four hooves tied was panting heavily on the chopping board, howling, and making its final struggle. When it was exhausted, the butcher touched the pig's neck and calmly used the sharp butcher knife hard. Stab into the heart of the pig, and as the butcher knife is pulled out, a stream of bright red pig blood spurts out and flows into the basin.