Do I need to turn the meat during marinating?

Introduction to this issue: How many days should you turn marinated fish and marinated meat?

Pickling fish and curing meat is an essential preliminary step for making cured fish and bacon. Cured fish and bacon are traditional pickled foods and one of the must-have items before the Spring Festival. Since ancient times, there has been a custom of "winter wax pickled in the wind and stored for winter protection". After winter, the temperature drops and the air is dry, making it difficult for bacteria to multiply. This is the best time to make cured fish and bacon.

I heard my mother say before that the cured fish and bacon should be made before the New Year. The cured fish and bacon that is pickled and dried after the New Year will not have as strong a flavor as the cured fish and bacon made before the New Year. I didn’t believe it at first, but a year later I marinated a few pieces of bacon, and the results confirmed what my mother said. Now every year I marinate fish and meat from the end of winter to the beginning of the twelfth lunar month.

Turn the fish and meat while marinating them. The pickled fish and meat cycle is usually about a week. Turning the fish during the pickling process can make the fish evenly flavored. I think you can turn it once a day or once every two days during the pickling process. Both can be achieved. Uniform flavoring effect.

When marinating fish and meat, the processing of ingredients is very important. If you want to have a strong flavor, do not wash the fish and meat before marinating. Many people may not be able to accept marinating fish without washing it, because when the fish is processed, the fish body and belly will be filled with blood and mucus, giving people a dirty feeling. In fact, the smell of cured fish that has been marinated and air-dried after cleaning is not as strong as that of directly marinated cured fish. Before marinating, we use a clean towel to wipe off the blood on the fish body, scrape off the black membrane in the belly with a knife, and make a few cuts on the thick meat on the back of the fish before marinating. The same goes for marinated meat. You don’t need to wash the pork belly or front leg meat you buy. If there is blood, just wipe it clean with a towel and marinate it directly.

Yesterday was the winter solstice, and starting from the winter solstice is the best time for pickling fish and meat in the south. Winter comes earlier in the north, so pickling fish and meat may be on the agenda earlier than in the south. In some places where the four seasons are not distinct, the time for marinating fish and meat must be controlled properly. Mucus will develop on the surface of the ingredients if marinated for too long, and the taste after drying will not be very good.