When it comes to pot stickers, many people don't understand. What is a fried dumpling? Old Fuzhou knows this best. Pan-side paste, also known as diced batter, is a famous flavor snack in Fuzhou and has become a special symbol of Fuzhou. Anyone who grows up in Fuzhou or lives in Fuzhou for a long time loves to eat it. Fuzhou people who have left their hometown and lived abroad will feel as if they have seen the "beautiful image" of their hometown with their own eyes when they hear the word "Dingbian Paste" in a foreign country, and become a kind of flavor snack that loves their ancestors and their hometown.
In traditional Fuzhou, almost every household can make edge paste. During the long summer season of the China lunar calendar, Fuzhou citizens and suburban farmers will make edge paste to "make summer". Because the long summer has entered the busy farming season, cooking fixed-edge paste on this day is not only for the whole family to eat well before going to work in the fields, but also for the neighbors to taste together. Just like the edge paste, it is "cooked in one rinse" to connect feelings.
Nowadays, fixed-edge paste food stalls can be seen everywhere in the streets and lanes of Fuzhou, which has become Fuzhou people's favorite breakfast choice. The food store also sells bagged fixed-edge paste, which can be cooked at any time. Edge paste is made of clam juice as soup, cooked in a pot, and then ground rice slurry is poured around the pot. After the rice slurry is boiled to dry skin, it is scraped into the soup with a spatula, and seasonings such as celery, onion, shrimp skin and mushrooms are added. After cooking, the pot is a pot of boiling "fixed edge paste".
Don't underestimate such a small pot of edge paste, which has a lot of history and history. Zheng Dongkuo's poem "On Fuzhou Customs" in the Qing Dynasty wrote: "Gardenia blooms early, but it is still cold in the long summer, making eye-catching bowls and cakes strong and bamboo shoots, and always buying and cooking pot paste." It can be seen that the pot-side paste has a snack history of more than 400 years in Fuzhou. Speaking of the origin of fixed edge paste, there is an unusual story
During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the coastal urban and rural areas of Fuzhou were often invaded by the enemy. Qi Jiguang led an army into Fujian to suppress the enemy, which was well received by the local people. They often sent meals to entertain Qi Jiajun. One day, when Qi Jiajun arrived in the southern suburbs of Fuzhou, the local villagers put down the square table and offered to send rice, fish, mushrooms and dried shrimps. Prepare for the victorious soldiers.
Just then, the enemy attacked again. Qi Jiguang inquired about the situation and immediately assembled a team to prepare for the body count. When the common people heard that they were in a hurry, they should let the soldiers eat their meals before going to war anyway. I don't know who had a brainwave and ground the rice into pulp. Shredded pork, clam, golden needle, fungus, dried clam, scallop, etc. All are mixed and boiled to make clear soup, and the rice slurry is rinsed by the pot. In less than a quarter of an hour, pot after pot of edge paste came out. After eating, the soldiers fought bravely and wiped out all the enemies.
More than 400 years have passed, and fixed-edge stickers have long been the yearning of Fuzhou people. Eating a bowl of edge paste is the taste of home. Eating fixed-edge paste is tricky. First, it's soup. There is no change in the fixed-edge paste now, but the clam soup is definitely missing, and there is only a thick monosodium glutamate soup. Then, it is the thickness of the pot edge. Too thick or uneven pot edge can only show that the chef's skill is too poor, and too thin pot edge is usually not found. If there is, it not only shows that the chef is skilled, but also shows that the store is stingy. Finally, talk about snacks beside the pot. Just finished eating the pot, the soup was a little empty, so I couldn't help ordering something to eat. For example, common fried dough sticks, oyster cakes, rob cakes, etc. It's all fried in a frying pan, golden and crisp.