Pig Lungs : A Good Cure for Coughing

Photo of pig lung from Google.

My aunts and uncles during the Japanese Occupation must have had quite a hard time slaughterig a pig to get all the parts ready for festivals.

It was all a very big sibling "do" under Grandmother's supervision. Two or three would carry the pig (in a gunny sack) to a belian basin. A local black pig was not really that big, so it was easily put into a sack. Death of the pig was by drowning, the usual Foochow style.

This posting is about how the lungs were prepared.

Once the pig (about 60 katis the most) the lungs with the trachea would be carved out and placed into another basin of warm water. This would allow the bubbles and impurities from the lungs to be squeezed out from the lungs through the trachea. According to an aunt, this took quite a long time. The teenagers assigned to the job would do their work very seriously while the others would take out the hair of the pig with broken porcelain bowls. That would take longer time.

When all the impurities were squeezed out from the lungs, grandmother would start preparing them by placing the lungs into the prepared hot water in the kuali.

Then they would be sliced and stir fried with lots of onions. This was quite a big dish for every one to enjoy. And Great Grandmother would make sure that Grandfather have a big share.

Great Grandfather would say to Grandfather, "This is good for your lungs. It would stop your coughing."

However, every part of the pig would be tasty to the young childreh, especially during the Japanese Occupation.