Waxing Lyrical Over the Lunar New Year

Every year, I never fail to be completely transfixed and amazed by this sight – rows and rows of waxed meats (“lap mei” in Cantonese or “la wei” in Mandarin) as far as the eye can see. An entire wall of all sorts of waxed meats – all glossy, shiny, almost plasticky.

I’ve seen this perhaps hundreds of times, and yet, every year when I visit the CNY bazaar, I inevitably stop and stare, transfixed. A part of me is almost repulsed at the thought of eating something that looks so “fake”, and yet I am, at the same time, so irresistibly drawn, unable to look away nor walk away. The meats look so perfect…

Such waxed meats are another food item that many families must include in their Reunion Dinner on New Year’s Eve or sometime during the Lunar New Year period. This is especially true for the Cantonese.

As mentioned in my previous post, the tradition of eating such waxed meats arose from pure necessity. However, nowadays, people are still drawn nostalgically to the tastes and smells of these preserved, wind-dried meats. Admittedly, these meats impart incredible flavors and aromas to the dishes that they are cooked in.

Perhaps the most famous of these dishes is the Cantonese “lap mei fun” – a must for most families in Hongkong, Guangzhou and Southern China. This is rice cooked with various waxed meats like waxed duck (lap yup), waxed sausages (lap cheong), waxed pork (lap yuk), together with Chinese mushrooms, garlic, ginger, and flavored with sesame oil, soy sauce and either Chinese huatiao wine or rice wine. Different families will have their own preferred combination of ingredients. The waxed meats are steamed separately first, usually with additional ginger and wine, before being cooked with the rice. A final sprinkling of crispy deep fried shallots is often added before serving, to give a very aromatic and delicious crunch. This is a very rich dish, with intense flavors and a beautiful mix of different textures and taste sensations. The fat content and strong flavors of the preserved meats adds a smoothness and richness to the fluffy but bland white rice. For most people, this has become a “once-a-year” dish, and so while it is not the healthiest of dishes, it is relished with glee and full enjoyment.

Another version would be “sar po lap mei fun” or claypot waxed meat rice. I personally prefer the waxed meats cooked with steamed glutinous rice which is wrapped in lotus leaf. The sticky, chewy texture of the glutinous rice adds a different dimension, and the lotus leaf imparts a wonderful aroma to the rice. Different ingredients can be added to create different tasting versions of the rice – Chinese chestnuts can be added, or even fresh chicken pieces for example.

These waxed meats can also be steamed with ginger and wine and served on their own, or steamed with Chinese leeks (“suan”). They can also be added as a component ingredient in other dishes too. As a child, I was completely addicted to lap cheong (Chinese sausages). I remember I would refuse to eat dinner unless there was lap cheong on the table. As long as there was lap cheong in a dish, I would devour it! And I’m talking everyday, seven days a week, for quite a number of years! So, it would be lap cheong fried with egg (sort of a cross between lap cheong omelette and lap cheong scrambled eggs), lap cheong with vegetables, lap cheong with just about anything. Then, just as suddenly, one day, I just completely stopped eating it. I refused to touch it. Then as a young adult, for many years, I even refused to eat any form of pork! Thankfully, I’m now back to eating everything in moderation.

The original traditional preserved meats were made by wind-drying the meats before applying a layer of wax over the meats to prolong their shelf life even further. The “best wind” for this is considered to be the Northern wind (bei feng) in the North-East regions of China. It is said to dry the meats thoroughly without causing them to ferment, and the dry, cold wind also imparts the unique flavors that is associated with wind-dried meats. Of course, in modern times, to meet commercial demand, the large majority of these meats are in all likelihood dried in industrial ovens in large food factories.

These meats come in dozens of different varieties and flavors. For example, the Chinese sausages can be made from pork, duck, goose, duck liver, goose liver and so on, and in recent times, to cater to the more health-conscious consumer, they are now also made from chicken. There is a range of flavors to choose from – depending on the type of wine and seasonings used to marinade the meats. The prices range accordingly too, with the priciest being those that have been soaked in XO Cognac.

Here are some the different types of waxed, dried, preserved meats that are on offer at the CNY festive market:

Waxed duck (lap yup) and waxed pork (lap yuk).

Waxed pork belly (lap yuk) and preserved minced pork slices (these are similar to the ones used to make “bak gwa” or BBQ sweet meats).

Check this out… a waxed whole leg of ham!

And yes, even waxed fish!

Don’t they just look incredible? And they are indeed all actual, real, edible food!

On a lighter and more refreshing taste note, there are also mountains of pomelos on offer during this time of year…

They are piled up high, and even hung from the scaffolding. (And yes, that’s the stall-owner tucking into a late dinner of noodles )

These are the green variety from Malaysia. The ones from Ipoh are especially sweet and juicy, and very much loved by my family. When we can get hold of them, we usually buy half a dozen of them! They go really quickly in this household! I love pomelos either on their own or made into a Thai-style salad, with chicken, beef or just vegetables. Yum!

We also spotted these yellow pomelos from China that night. They are “Shatian pomelos” – a region of China that is supposed to be famous for producing very sweet and juicy pomelos. We had never seen this variety before – it has bright lemon-yellow skin, with a rather exaggerated “bump” at its head. The fragrance of this fruit is a lot more intense than the normal green Malaysian variety. Hard to describe… almost citrusy yet with very sweet overtones.

The stall owner, a lady from mainland China did a very good job of selling the pomelos to the men. She insisted that these fruits were as sweet as honey and dripping with juiciness. So, we ended up buying one, for S$6 (bargained down from S$7) for a small fruit. We opened it as soon as we got home…

click on image for larger view

Sad to say, it was a disappointment. Yes, the fragrance was nice and intense. Yes, it was fairly sweet (but no way near honey-sweetness). However, it was completely devoid of juice! Oh well, at least we tried something new.

These mini pumpkins are also a favorite to have in the home during CNY, for its auspicious connotations. Pumpkin is known as “jin gua” in Mandarin, and “jin” means gold.

Another supposedly auspicious fruit. Actually it is more of a vegetable. This is the “hulu” gourd. In ancient times, for want of a better or easier alternative, these gourds were dried and used as containers for wine. Ancient texts and drawings very often refer to this “hulu” shaped wine vessel. I presume the “good luck” symbolism comes from its use as a container for wine, as in those days only the wealthy could afford wine and thus have a need for such vessels. These gourds are not edible and are used for display purposes only.

There are also various other interesting food items on sale at the bazaar that are not necessarily strictly associated with the Lunar New Year…

These are hawthorn fruits soaked in heavy syrup – “bing tang hu lu”. The hawthorn fruit is seasonal, making its appearance round about the time of the Spring Festival, and is only available from China. It is a rather tangy/sour fruit, and so is soaked in heavy syrup to balance out the flavors. This is very much eaten as a sort of candy. For the kungfu or Chinese martial arts movie buffs out there, these sticks of fruit are the exact ones that are very often seen in these period Chinese dramas. A favored ancient candy snack.

This is totally unrelated to CNY, but I am including it because I like these a lot. These are eggs hard boiled in a rich herbal soup made up of various Chinese herbal medicines, which help to boost your immune system, fortify your blood and make you “strong”. Personally, I do not believe that the small amounts of herbs infused into the egg would make much of a difference. Chinese medicine usually has to be consumed by the bitter bowl-fuls over an extended period for it to have any significant effect. However, these eggs are yummy. A very unique taste experience!

That night, I couldn’t resist having one of these eggs, even on a very full stomach following dinner.

We never got around the whole market that evening. Our visit was prematurely terminated by rain. I’m hoping to make it back down there again sometime this week. We didn’t manage to get our bak gwa (roasted sweet meats) – a definite must during CNY – that evening. The line was seriously looong… and we didn’t relish a one hour wait (minimum). I am also hankering after some of those rather cute pineapple and fish chocolates.

We’ve also almost eaten up some of the CNY food that we bought that night! Heh! Time to re-stock again before the actual New Year

Ah… the CNY shopping picks up pace now… only 10 more days to go! Urrgh! And still so much to do. The spring cleaning… the decorating of the home… the shopping for CNY goodies… the baking…

10 more days to go…

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
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