🍽️ Xiangxi Bacon

Pine-smoked bacon from Tujia/Miao hills.

Xiangxi Bacon is a traditional cured meat of the Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in western Hunan, a flavor reserve of mountain families after winter sets in. Whole cuts of pork are cured, then hung above a fire pit and slowly smoked for months over pine and cypress branches or tea shells. The finished skin is dark and glossy, the lean meat deep red and the fat translucent; cut open, it carries a pungent smoky aroma, and steamed or stir-fried it is rich yet not greasy, salty and chewy. In western Hunan villages, bacon hangs beside the stilted-house fire pit, cut as needed, best stir-fried with garlic sprouts or dried bamboo shoots. It is the leading meat for Tujia and Miao New Year and guest tables; that pine-and-cypress smoke is a mellow taste found only in the mountains' autumn and winter.