At that time, Lu Xun lived in the west side of Beijing, had dinner nearby, and often went to the tongheju on the west side of Xisipailou Road. He was also one of the famous "Eight Buildings" in Beijing and managed Shandong cuisine. Its famous dishes are fried fat sausage, nine-turn fat sausage, three-non-stick and so on. There is even the signature dish of Guangheju-Pan Fish. Lu Xun likes fried shrimp balls here best, because this dish belongs to Shaoxing flavor and is a new dish introduced by northern restaurants during the integration of North and South. In addition, Lu Xun likes to bake big steamed bread here, that is, brush a layer of oil on the steamed bread and bake it.
Now Beijing pays attention to "eating in the East". At that time, Lu Xun had a lot of delicious food in Dongcheng, but because he worked in Xicheng, he went there less. The famous restaurant recorded in the diary is Dongxing Building. Lu Xun and Hu Shi had two meals in the East, both in Dongxing Building. Once Hu Shi invited Lu Xun, and another time Yu Dafu invited Lu Xun and Hu Shi. Lu Xun's Diary on February 27th 1932: "In the afternoon, Hu Shizhi went to the Ministry, in the evening, he went to Dongan Market, and went to Dongxing Building to invite Yu Dafu to drink, and the wine was half gone. "It seems that this is not happy to eat, which may be one of the beginning of the dispute between Hulu and Hu.
Lu Xun didn't eat well in this meal, but the dishes in Dongxinglou chosen by Yu Dafu were very authentic. This building 1903 was opened, and the original site was in Dong 'anmen Street, Beijing. 1944 was closed, and 1982 resumed business in Guijie Street, Dongzhimen Street. It was the "Eight Buildings" in Beijing in the early years of the Republic of China (Dongxing Building, Taifeng Building, Zhimei Building, Hongxing Building, Zhengyang Building and Xinfeng Building). Lu Xun has been to most of these buildings. Although each building has repeated dishes, each building has its own characteristics. For example, fried chicken with soy sauce, both Lu Xun and Hu Shi like to eat, and Dongxinglou is the best. Because it is said that Dongxing Tower was combed by a eunuch named He in the Qing Palace, and many chefs in the palace, such as fried chicken in sauce, bear's paw in casserole, bird's nest and shark's fin, were transferred from the palace cuisine by Dongxing Tower.
Sauce-flavored diced chicken is a home-cooked dish that everyone can cook, but the court's practice requires that the chicken is tender as tofu and has good color, smell and taste. This dish is delicious, and there are many stresses, such as frying with lard and replacing sweet noodle sauce with yellow sauce, but these two points are difficult for many restaurants now. I have always stressed that food culture should be innovative, but the foundation must be to preserve and inherit the tradition first, otherwise it will be chaotic.
A restaurant called Hutchison Restaurant in Xicheng is a place where Lu Xun often goes, which is basically equivalent to his work canteen, and is separated from the Ministry of Education where Lu Xun works. The food here is delicious and cheap. Lu Xun mentioned in his diary on the 23rd day of the first month of 19 18: "Light snow. In the afternoon, my second brother came to the Ministry and invited Chen Shiceng and Qi Shoushan to have dinner together. " In fact, Hutchison Whampoa is famous for selling beef and mutton. Lu Xun likes to eat large pieces of beef noodles in clear soup here. Unfortunately, this kind of noodles is rarely eaten in Beijing now. We are not as delicious as Lu Xun.
At noon, Lu Xun often takes Chen Shiceng and Qi Shoushan to a small restaurant named Longhaixuan on West Chang 'an Avenue for dinner. Lu Xun likes to drink some wine at noon. The specialty of this family is soft fried liver tip, which is his favorite appetizer. This dish is to slice the upper part of pig liver, marinate it with salt, cooking wine and monosodium glutamate for a while, then hang the egg paste, fry it with 70% to 80% hot peanuts, take it out when the paste on the surface has just solidified, heat the oil in the pot to boiling, and then put down the liver tip for frying. The liver tip fried twice in this way is crisp outside and tender inside.
The restaurants that Lu Xun often goes to are Nanweizhai and Yuchunlou with Huaiyang flavor, Xiaoyutian in Fujian, Houdefu in Henan and Qionglin in Guangdong. 19 12 September1kloc-0/Lu Xun's diary records: "In the evening, Hu invited people to drink in Nanweizhai, and there were nine people at the same table ..." This Nanweizhai, Chunhua Building and Xingchunju are all famous restaurants in Jiangsu. The specialties are sweet and sour yellow croaker and shrimp tendon. Lu Xun's diary 19 12 on September 27th mentioned: "Xiaotian was drinking at the Quanyechang in the evening, and Dong Xun, Qian Daosun and Xu Jifu were all sitting. The dishes are all leeks, which are not very appetizing, and the so-called red mess is not good-looking. "
It seems that Lu Xun still can't get used to Fujian cuisine, and he rarely mentions "delicious food" that he doesn't like in his diary. A person's appetite is actually related to a person's personality. For example, a person who is too stubborn always likes to eat a few things that he believes, and eating others' is not delicious. And a broad-minded person has a wider range of diets. Judging from the bad comments on food in his diary, Lu Xun is actually not a broad-minded person. When he is angry, he often begins to write articles and call names.
Zhimei Building is also one of the "Eight Buildings" that Lu Xun likes. Zhimei Building used to operate Gusu cuisine, which was opened in Qianlong period, closed at 1948 and reopened at 1980. Its specialties are fried chicken slices, fried fish slices, fried shredded pork and so on. This means that the chefs in the Smart Beauty House are very skilled, because the production techniques such as sliding, grasping, frying and pulling test the cooking skills, and those who are incapable can't do it at all. I once collected a banquet menu of Mei Lou on April 23rd, 1984. One side of the menu has been printed with signature dishes, and the other side is blank. When ordering food, according to different needs, someone will fill in the official script with a brush on the spot. At the top of the menu is printed the words "Zhimeilou Cuisine", which was inscribed by Jeff after the reopening of 1980. There are two kinds of palace dishes in this menu in my collection. One is called The Prince and the showgirl, which is cooked with chicken and squid. The other is called "five-willow fish", which is fried with shredded fish, shredded pork, shredded mushrooms and shredded bamboo shoots. This is a difficult dish to cook.