Taicang Meat Floss Making Technique The method of making Taicang Meat Floss was created by Ni De in the Qing Dynasty. Ni De was originally a great chef during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty. One day in 1874, Lu Zengxiang, the new champion of Taicang, hosted a banquet for guests, and Ni De was invited to be the chef. It happened that Ni De's fiancée came to visit, and he was distracted and overcooked the five-spice stewed meat. Ni De, who was shocked, quickly came up with a clever idea. He peeled the pork and removed the oil, leaving the lean meat and repeatedly kneading and stir-frying it to make a shiny yellow, fragrant, and fluffy new dish. This is the famous Taicang Meat Floss. Later, Ni De opened the "Ni Hongshun" Meat Floss Shop next to the Zhaozhong Temple on Wuling Street in Taicang City, specializing in meat floss. Soon it was presented to the palace as a tribute, and was loved by Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu. In 1915, Taicang meat floss participated in the Panama International Exposition and won the gold medal in the meat products category. In 1925, it won the gold medal in the Second International Exposition of Local Goods in Jiangsu Province. After 1958, Tang Xiaoqi, the granddaughter of Ni De, was responsible for the production of meat floss. Taicang meat floss is flocculent, with a strong meaty aroma, golden color, salty and sweet, and a harmonious taste. The essence of its production skills is concentrated in the "three fines": exquisite material selection, fine ingredients, and exquisite production process. "Absolutely fresh" is the requirement of Taicang meat floss for raw materials. In the early days, the "master" of meat floss production judged the freshness of meat by smelling, looking, and pressing when purchasing meat. Generally, the lean meat type Taihu Meishan grass pigs in Taicang with a high lean meat yield and good lean meat fiber toughness are selected as the main ingredient. In order to ensure the freshness of the main ingredient of meat floss, a pig must be strictly controlled within 4 hours from slaughter to cooking, and this standard has remained unchanged to this day. The ingredients are selected according to the freshness, heat, climate and other factors of the main meat, and pure natural plants and pure natural brews without any artificial colors or additives, such as cooking wine, soy sauce, etc. The whole processing process includes the specific processing techniques of Suzhou cuisine, such as "boiling" with rapid fire to remove impurities, "braising" with slow fire to make the meat crisp, "frying" with weak fire to collect the original soup, and "rubbing" by hand to make it fluffy, etc. It is made through four processes: cutting, boiling, frying and rubbing. Frying is the key to the production process of Taicang meat floss. By frying, the main ingredient of meat floss can fully absorb the original soup, which not only maintains the natural meat flavor of meat floss, but also maintains all the nutritional elements of meat floss to the maximum extent. In this process, the control of heat is particularly important. Only by maintaining a slow and warm but not extinguished simmering fire can the temperature in the pot be uniform. The moisture of meat floss must be mastered by intuition, which is highly professional. Experienced meat floss inheritors can judge the moisture content by observing the density of steam when frying the floss with the naked eye and then by touching it with their hands. The moisture content should be controlled at around 20% according to the freshness of the main ingredient of the meat floss, seasonal changes in climate, frequency of stir-frying and other factors. In folk reciprocity, Taicang meat floss is often regarded as one of the most luxurious and high-end foods, so there is a praise in history that "no floss, no banquet". Accompanied by rice porridge for breakfast and cold dishes for banquets, when the golden Taicang meat floss gradually melts in the mouth, the salty and sweet fragrance lingers between the lips and teeth for a long time, which is endless aftertaste. The soft and delicate, silky and cottony meat floss gives people an incomparable wonderful feeling. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)