Pickled Ox Tendon

Pickled Ox Tendon

　　Pickled ox tendon is a traditional and renowned dish of the Dai ethnic group. Its ingredients include the head and feet of a yellow ox, while seasonings consist of ginger, garlic, red chili peppers, wild prickly ash leaves, salt, and others. During preparation, the ox's head, feet, and other parts are thoroughly scraped and cleaned, then cut into small pieces and boiled until tender. The boiled head and feet are deboned, chopped into short strips, and soaked in rice-washing water for three hours before being rinsed with cold water and drained. Finely chopped red chili peppers, pounded ginger, garlic, salt, and wild prickly ash leaves are mixed together, then packed into a clay jar and sealed. It is ready to eat after about half a month. The flavor is sour, fragrant, soft, tender, and refreshingly delicious. (Xishuangbanna)

　　Dishes cooked using the "pickling" method include

　　　　Pickled ox tendon, pickled yellow ox hide, pickled water buffalo hide, pickled pig’s trotters, pickled fish, pickled bamboo shoots, and others. Their preparation methods are largely similar, with pickled fish and bamboo shoots being relatively simpler. The taste varies depending on the ingredient.

　　In addition to the four major cooking methods mentioned above—grilling, steaming, chopping, and pickling—there is also deep-frying. Examples include deep-fried cicada-back meat stuffing, deep-fried ox hide, and pan-fried pupa omelets, among others. Their preparation methods are relatively simple yet offer uniquely distinctive flavors.