Call me "Liu Zhutou (literally meaning pig’s head)"!
When it comes to selling meat and running restaurants, Liu Wenge from Luzigou in Yanhu District of Yuncheng City is a wonderful person. Not only does he run business successfully, but he is also excellent at writing. He wrote his autobiography, calling himself Liu Zhutou, and posted it on the wall standing on roadside. Countless customers were attracted to stop and watch "Historical Records • Biography of Liu Zhutou ":
Liu Zhutou is from Luzigou and was born in 1966. During the Cultural Revolution, his fathers catered to the trend, hence giving him the name “Wenge” (Chinese for Cultural Revolution ). He is good at stewing pork head into fragrant and tasty delicacy, hence getting the nickname, Liu Zhutou! Instead of being shameful, he is proud of that..
At the beginning of the reform and opening-up period of China, many people in Luzigou Village were engaged in the stewed meat industry. They walked through the villages and alleys or set up stalls along the streets to sell the meat, well-known around hundreds of miles. However, few of them tried to improve and innovate on the processing technology. It was difficult for them to expand the market, and consequently the industry gradually declined, with only a few insisting on.
In 1989, he opened a shop in the downtown with all his savings, searched the bookstores for meat stewing methods, and tried to figure out the best one by himself. But working behind closed doors could not help him to get the point. As a result, the smoked meat tasted as bitter as the charcoal while the stewed pork was as sapless and rubbery as dry wood. He racked his brains but found no solution, so the shop was shut down half a year later. While the "ten-thousand-yuan-deposit household" was considered rich at that time, his loss was more than 20,000 yuan. After wiping away his tears, he decided to restart his business.
In 2007, he turned around and made a full-fledged comeback. He opened his new shop "Unsalted Boiled Pork Head Meat" in the downtown. The slices were as thin as paper and as white as snow. Served with the mixture of refined salt, vinegar and sesame oil, they are refreshing and not greasy. However, customers didn’t like them, since people in southern Shanxi love the salty scent and have a habit of buying meat in lump. He had no choice but to go around and seek art from all accessible masters, but he did not get a good recipe to capture people’s stomach. The recipe and the taste changed frequently. Both the shop owner and the customers lost their interests. It was difficult for him to reverse the decline, and his shop was closed again.
After that, he travelled around, paying special attention to the meat stewing business in other places. He met a strong man in northeast China stewing fish in the iron pot with eight wormwood ingredients, tasting fresh and delicious; he saw a young woman in northern Shaanxi relieve the smell of mutton with the ground pepper while roasting lamb in water; he was confronted with an old woman in the west of Sichuan washing the agastache leaves in the spring and stewing them in the wok as a dish above the burning firewood; he watched the young girls from Yunnan tying meat up with colorful ropes and shaping it into cubes. All the experiences inspired him to make a second comeback.
In 2012, Liu Zhutou was no longer able to suppress his ambition. After accumulating his strength and improving skills, he was brave enough to roll up his sleeves and get engaged back into the industry. He promised to take the lead of the stewed meat industry and erected a plaque writing “Daxing(literally meaning striding)” which is the first two words of an eight-word Chinese saying that only along the right way can one stride fast and far.
The saying is engraved in his mind as his creed, so he made a promise that cleanliness and healthiness come first in making stewed food.
Pork Head Meat: manual depilation, soaking and scrubbing, boiling soup, blanching water, slow simmering with firewood, simmering to remove the bones, removing the meat (lymph, eye kernels, ear cores), stone pressure shaping, bamboo paper wrapping, slicing and serving.
Tied pig's trotters: wrapped in chime leaves, fixed with green skin, tied with cotton thread, lightly marinated, the bones are rotten, but the shape remains the same; every bone is countable and exquisite, even the tiniest one like beans.
Featured: dozens of natural spices such as star anise, cinnamon, Chinese pepper, fennel, shanner, bay leaf, scented ginger, ginger, amomum, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, ground pepper, ageratum, eight wormwood, mint and so on.
All bad seasonings and additives are strictly prohibited.
He selected a two-story farmyard in the village as his new workshop, with wild flowers in the fields around and works of calligraphy and paintings by masters hanging on the walls. On the auspicious opening day of his business, the band of gongs and drums gave performance as loud as to be heard far away, the firecrackers were blasted, the guests and friends came to congratulate and enjoyed themselves all night long together with the host, going back to their own homes happily in the end. The next day, customers came in a constant stream.
After 30 years of preparation and hard work, he finally succeeded.
In his restaurant, the customers taste the stewed pork cheeks, taste the tied trotters, together with laba garlic, stir-fried spicy sauce, hollow biscuits, and receive a bowl of handmade hollow noodles in sour soup. Even the gods in heaven would envy people on the earth enjoying this delicacy.
Some customer asks: “What is the secret recipe of making such a delicacy?” He answers with a smile: “there is no secret recipe but trying my best.”
Some said: Luzigou, Yuncheng, Shanxi, is famous for its stewed pork head meat. If you ask which one has the best taste, please find Wenge in Liu’s family!
It is spread: Liu Zhutou in Luzigou Village, who’s in deep love of braising pork, seeks to improve skills in the 18 counties all around China, and finally succeeds in offering a delicious dish to friends.
Liu Zhutou says: If you want to engage in food processing industry, you must first clean your mind and then your hands. All things are given to man. You can pick and carefully blended. Like ministers supporting the monarch, each food has its perfect match. Moderate proportion produces delicacy in the world. Needless to say, where is the seat for such harmful chemical ingredients as poppy shells? Don't serve what you don't eat to others. Chasing wealth without ethics is not the right way.
Liu Zhutou makes painstaking efforts to manage "Daxing". Although he is renowned in the countryside, he still has the aspiration of ranking top of the world in the food industry. Insiders are sincerely welcomed to compare their products with those of Daxing and evaluate which is the better one!
Add: Luzigou, Yanhu District, Yuncheng City (200 meters south of the school)
Mobile: 13466938810
