Dried Mountain Rat

Dried Mountain Rat

　　Dried Mountain Rat: Cured meats usually refer to preserved chicken or duck products. But in the Qingyuan area, the finest cured delicacy is the unforgettable “Dried Mountain Rat.”

　　Mountain rats love to steal fresh shiitake mushrooms, so mushroom gatherers use various homemade traps to capture them alive and bring them back to their sheds, where they are plucked, gutted, and cleaned. They are then placed in a drying basket and slowly air-dried over low heat with a little grain chaff to create what is known as “Dried Mountain Rat.” When cooked with seasonings such as oil, salt, soy sauce, chili, sugar, ginger, scallions, garlic, and fennel, it has a crispy yet chewy texture, a satisfying bite, and an unforgettable flavor.