At midnight, I was lying in a hotel bed. I suddenly felt something was wrong between dreams and waking up. I sat up and suddenly realized: this is Shunde, it should be midnight snack time!

In Shunde, I live near Luntang District, which is famous for white sugar cakes. When I first arrived, the taxi driver said there was a market not far away. "That area is the place where local people eat midnight snack." He told me. Only then did I try to remember that the name it mentioned was Yongfeng Market. On the map, it is only 3 kilometers away from me. Suddenly I felt sleepy and vaguely hungry, so I dressed downstairs and went out to call a car. Ten minutes later, I have arrived in front of Yongfeng Market.

Cook "no rice porridge" at night

Yongfeng market is actually a big farmer's market.

Looking through the locked iron gate, rows of pavilions divide the rectangular space into columns. There is no one in the market at this time, but it is very lively outside. Whenever night falls, the empty parking lot becomes a food stall square. On several ovens about 1.5 meters long, all kinds of food sizzled and smoke rose in the windless night sky. Unlike the main meat in the north, most of the roast here is seafood, and most of them are still alive and kicking in containers next to the oven. The brand says the origin and name: Zhanjiang Oyster, Zhongshan Ghost Claw Snail, Jiangmen Lainiao.

Roasted oyster

I ordered half a dozen huge oysters and a plate of roasted pepper, with dark brown skin and tiger skin. I sat in a seat facing the street and looked at the customs in the street through the smoke. Grilled juice and fried garlic are mixed together, so that the thick oyster meat itself is soaked more fully, the oyster shell is sucked into the mouth, and the oyster meat slides directly into the throat. Under the confusing coat of sweet and soft taste of pepper and rich sauce, it is a spicy aftereffect that makes people feel angry all over.

In the food stalls that disappear during the day, seafood is used for roasting, while in the restaurant with bright lights across the street, seafood is used for rinsing.

Shunhe, Zhen Ji, Fengchengwei and Xingtan are fair and beautiful ... These resounding names, which mainly serve raw porridge hot pot, stand next to each other on the New Liang Shi Road opposite Yongfeng Market. Every family is full at this time, which must represent the highest level of raw porridge in Shunde.

I am waiting for the seat of "Xingtan Beauty", although I don't know how to break the name of the store.

If you want to enjoy the most authentic and delicious raw porridge hot pot, you need to follow the standard process developed by Shunde people: rinse the freshest shellfish first, then add pomfret slices, then add meat and pig offal, and gradually enrich the level of porridge with the taste of ingredients from light to heavy. Finally, the shredded vegetables will contain all the essence in the pot.

A person can't eat so much so late, so he can only intercept the above fragments with regret. I followed my boss's advice and ordered the most popular hand-cut beef. At this time, every table was constantly serving food, and it was probably finished at once. A large piece of whole meat was hurriedly pulled into the kitchen by the waiter with a trolley. ...

Bright red beef, a small dish of shredded ginger, and a pot were placed on the mottled alcohol stove, and the bottom of the pot with porridge rolled glug quickly appeared on the table. At the same time, there is a red egg. Beat the eggs on the beef, break them up and mix well. The waiter pointed out that eggs can not only make beef softer, but also add color to porridge.

According to the instructions, stir the pot twice with a spoon, and obviously feel that the bottom of the porridge pot is different from the soup, but almost can't catch a grain of rice, which is probably the highest realm of Shunde glutinous rice porridge.

Beef and Eggs glutinous rice porridge

Pick up a piece of beef that has been fully mixed with egg liquid and put it in the pot. I watched them roll in the porridge, getting darker and darker, and counted the time carefully, trying to get out of the pot at the most suitable time. Because too early or too late will affect the taste of meat. Observe the beef that has just been picked up: it is wrapped layer by layer, with solidified egg liquid first and a layer of crystal porridge outside. Roll quickly in the dip, count it as the third layer and send it to the mouth. This taste is really unprecedented, and I even feel the brittleness and elasticity similar to fungus. The "three flowers" with perfect ratio of meat, gluten and fat, the wrapping of egg liquid, the tissue infiltration of boiling rice slurry … a series of links can affect the taste of meat. It's so delicious that people can't stop completely. Before you know it, a plate has bottomed out. With the continuous rolling, the bottom of the porridge is getting thicker and thicker, and a bowl of egg and beef porridge with a wisp of egg flowers is gradually getting better.

Raw porridge and morning wine

The Daliang River winds through the urban area of Shunde. Walking along the river in the morning is the best way to learn about local life. The sunshine in summer drives people to cool places very early. Pieces of trees are always the most popular, and all activities, whether dynamic or static, are carried out here: Tai Chi, Cantonese opera or board games, with many spectators and killers.

Go up the hill along the path, stop at a certain height and look back in the other direction. What you see is a different landscape from high-rise buildings, gray earth walls, sloping roofs with brown-red tiles, and traditional watchtowers with more charm. Although the occupied area is limited, it is very rare to see such an ancient scene in the city center.

Roof tile layer

Breakfast in Shunde is equally wonderful. You can feel the color and fragrance from the shops and signs on the street passing by the river: Lunjiao cakes, steamed rice rolls, baked egg tarts, Chencun powder ... Many small doors focus on a single item, with few seats or only one takeaway window. Even so, shops with good business will line up. Occasionally passing by the teahouse, there must be a sea of people, and the dim sum truck shuttles back and forth, and the diners calmly take out their favorite "one cup and two pieces" from it. ...

Along the way, I was already hungry, but because it looked so delicious, the difficulty of choosing broke out, and I didn't make up my mind until I saw the signboard of the porridge shop again. It seems that I was still wanting more last night and was attracted by porridge again.

"The porridge shop only does business in the morning, and it's gone after 9 o'clock. Few stores are open all day like us. " When I walked into Xuan Ji porridge shop, the owner told me so. At this point, the hand of the wall clock is about to point to 9 o'clock.

Raw porridge

Raw porridge actually does not originate from Shunde, but from Chaoshan area. But in recent years, with the development of Shunde, there are more and more shops making raw porridge.

As breakfast, food is naturally famous for its convenience. Although simplified, it is not as complicated as hot pot, but it is rich in variety and delicious. Looking at the wooden menu on the wall, I ordered what I wanted. Before the window was opened, the three big aluminum pot kept rolling, and the hard shell on the inner wall became thicker and thicker. Add and subtract firepower, add different ingredients, stir and cook, and the shopkeeper will serve a large bowl of pig miscellaneous porridge in one go, with onion and ginger seasoning. Compared with the porridge water at the bottom of the pot last night, the main ingredient of this bowl of porridge is obvious, and you can feel the satiety brought by carbon water with a spoonful of entrance. Pig viscera has no fishy smell at all, only the lung is soft, the small intestine is crisp and the liver is tight.

When I came in, I found three suitcases in front of the store, which turned out to be a family of three. After eating, I waited in front of the door for the car master to go straight to the airport. However, people who don't remember the appearance come and go, not all foreigners who are rushing to punch in, but also leisurely locals, such as Mr. Huang sitting in the corner. He eats sashimi porridge and often drinks a sip of wine from a glass. Yes, Shunde has the habit of "drinking morning wine", which is not only suitable for tea houses with rich kinds of food, but also suitable for local gourmets. On the shelf behind him, there is a row of sealed wine with the names of the guests written on it: Shiwanshao, brand red rice wine and Jiujiang wine. They are all locally produced rice wine, most of which are red rice wine with pleasing red bottle caps and trademarks.

"Just like young people's coffee, drinking a cup of' morning wine' will make you energetic all day." Teacher Huang saw me pay attention to his wine, chatted with me across the table and showed me his wine. The bottle is impressively marked with 30% alcohol content. But he said that such a "low degree" is suitable for drinking in the morning. ...

In order not to be beaten up the next day, I declined Mr. Huang's offer to buy me a drink. It suddenly occurred to me that a Japanese drama, in which the hero skipped work and drank during the day, was extremely enjoyable. In Japan, drinking before sunset is regarded as a sin, and the protagonist conveys to the audience a sense of satisfaction that violates taboos. So, what if you drink in the morning? Isn't it a heinous crime? After silently eating the pig miscellaneous porridge in the bowl, I thought as I walked, would another cup of raw porridge with morning wine really taste better?

Milk sublimated rice porridge.

"Is there a difference between milk and milk?" A customer at my next table asked the shopkeeper about the milk in Hsi Chin.

"'Milk' is fresh buffalo milk, and' milk' is Shunde cheese." The boss Huan Jie answered in simple words. To be more intuitive, she grabbed a sample, a bottle of fresh milk and a translucent piece of milk.

Sit next to me, I'm waiting for the signature double skin milk to come to the table. I just ordered a bottle of milk. Because it was very hot and smelled like My Sweetie, I drank it all in two bites, and the bottle was still on the table. I have just seen milk in Shunde Food Museum, but I have never tasted it. I wonder what it smells like.

The origin of Jinbang Street and milk where I live can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty. At that time, it was still Jinbang Village, because there were water and fields, and the villagers made a living by raising buffaloes. Hundreds of years later, it has become a part of the city. Buffalo are still raised, but they have been driven into the invisible mountains.

But because of the report in Xunwei Shunde a few years ago, Jinbang milk became popular again. People who have been engaged in their old jobs like gathering together have become online celebrity shops. More neighborhoods also seized the opportunity to return to their ancestral businesses.

Milk stall

Around the Emerald Palace, where incense is flourishing, there are no fewer than 20 dairy shops nearby, each of which starts with the "Golden List". Most of them only sell three things: bottled fresh milk, double-skin milk, and milk that can be regarded as the representative of Shunde's handwritten letter, that is, Shunde buffalo milk with a fat content of more than 8%. Its taste and coagulability are much higher than ordinary milk, and it is an ideal raw material for making double-skin milk and cheese.

This alley is full of "milk milk" signs, which are too narrow for cars to drive in. Although there are cobwebs of wires and messy terraces overhead, the walls on both sides are painted bright and clean white. Residents sit under the lush bougainvillea hanging down to enjoy the cool, and occasionally motorcycles come out and come in. This scene is a bit like a small village in Europe.

Speaking of it, it did intersect with Europe centuries ago. Italian missionaries who passed by felt it was a pity that the milk in summer was dumped because of the lack of fresh-keeping means, so they made the world-famous buffalo cheese-mozzarella cheese with local materials and traditional Italian techniques. The missionary taught the villagers the craft, left the recipe and left, but Shunde people didn't buy it. They may not like Italian taste, or they may be dissatisfied with the short shelf life of mozzarella cheese. The missionary formula was slightly improved, and Shunde milk, which was called "oriental cheese" by later generations, was born.

I ate double skin milk and went to the nomination lane where there were few people. It is generations of local students who come earlier than tourists looking for food. They always win favor in these two streets before exams.

In Niugujinbang Buffalo Milk Store, the owner, Ms. Chen, is making milk. Scoop out the milk heated on the stove with a small fire, put it in another container filled with vinegar, stir and shake, and the solidified milk will be quickly taken out and pasted on a round wooden mold with a handle. As she repeated the above steps, more and more thin white discs were placed in the nearby salt water basin, like a pool of petals falling with the wind.

This scene reminds me of the cheese workshop I visited in Naples. Almost the same technology, but far less exquisite and romantic than the scene in front of me: the bald uncles fished out the whole barrel of mozzarella cheese in a huge stainless steel tank, squeezed it into a ball of100g, and soaked it in ice water. At the moment, in Ms. Chen's hand, each piece of cheese is less than 4 grams, thin, translucent, with the same pattern, and the brand of "Golden Milk". Compared with the cold storage of mozzarella 10 day, Shunde milk soaked in salt bottles can be stored for half a year at room temperature.

Pure milk is not pure taste.

I'm still making comparisons across Wan Li in my mind, and I can't wait to buy a box and open it, so I want to compare the taste quickly.

"Well, you can't eat it directly!" Maybe she felt rich, so Ms. Chen began to speak Cantonese directly. She told me that milk can't be eaten directly because of the high salt content. The best way to eat is to soak in porridge. Coincidentally, a pot of porridge has just been cooked on the stove. She turned around and handed me a bowl, this time it was a bowl of ordinary rice porridge, and rice grains could be seen. I took the milk in my hand according to her instructions. The milk curled up, became smaller and completely melted in the boiling porridge. Stir twice, scoop up a spoonful, the entrance is fresh and sweet, mixed with salty and sweet creamy smell, and slowly spread out in a bowl of rice porridge.

In the summer afternoon, a bowl of ordinary rice porridge has a wonderful and unforgettable taste because of a piece of Shunde milk.