I always thought that the story of Luo Songtang should be found in common Hong Kong-style western food and tea meals, but I never expected that the earliest origin would be traced back to old Shanghai, the birthplace of Luo Songtang, China. After all, how did our favorite tastes improve? When did they appear in Hongkong? What are the interesting dietary changes behind Luo Songtang? Peninsula Jun took you to Shanghai in the 1920s and Hongkong in the 1940s to explore the taste of love in Luo Songtang.
It turns out that Luo Songtang is the daily staple food of Russians. It is made of locally rich cabbage heads, potatoes and bones, with a spoonful of sour cream. It tastes sour and salty.
The reason why Luo Songtang came to China not far from Wan Li must be related to a historical event, that is, the "Russian October Revolution" in our high school.
Russia's worthless aristocrats lost their hereditary rights and wealth and were forced to leave the country and fled to Europe, China, Shanghai and Tianjin respectively.
It is difficult to go to a foreign land, and we can't wait for death, so some Belarusians open bakeries and western restaurants to make a living.
There were French food and Italian food in Shanghai at that time. Among many western foods, Luo Songtang is a big piece of food. Several copper coins not only enjoy the western flavor, but also open their eyes, so they are naturally popular.
Of course, in addition to being cheap, russian cuisine has also made improvements according to the tastes of Shanghainese: for example, when Shanghainese don't use the red envelope head, the chef replaces it with Meilin brand ketchup and cabbage, the former takes color and the latter takes flavor. The tomato sauce is still too sour, so the chef thought of frying it with butter, adding sugar to make it sour, and cooking it with beef, potatoes and onions for a few hours. It is a pot of Luo Songtang, which tastes sweet, fragrant and not greasy, and tastes waxy. Authentic eating should be accompanied by Luo Song bread from Laodachang Bakery. This product is pointed at both ends, which Zhang Ailing once praised in her book.
After Luo Song bread was introduced into Hongkong, it was also called "pork buns". Cut the middle and put a fried pork chop, which is the pork bun we often eat in tea restaurants.
Guangdong cuisine has western food, and Shanghai cuisine has borscht.
In the 1940s, some Cantonese and Shanghainese sneaked into Hong Kong for development, and two major schools of food, soy sauce western food and Russian western food, also migrated.
Soon after, these bosses who run western restaurants in Shanghai made a comeback and opened a large number of Russian-style restaurants in Hong Kong, such as Salina and Queen Hotel.
At that time, parents occasionally took their children to drink Luo Songtang and watch steaks. Ouyang Ying Ji, a food writer, remembers that when he was a child, he and his grandfather would dress up according to the dress code and sit in restaurants to learn table manners.
Times are constantly changing. When more and more exquisite and expensive western food appeared, the matsutake gradually declined. The only remaining Russian restaurant is the Queen Hotel, which is famous for my brother's The True Story of Teddy Boy.
-The movie poster was also shot at the Queen Hotel-
So far, the only popular Russian food is Luo Songtang, thanks to canned soup.
As we all know, people in Guangdong and Hong Kong have an obsession with soup, and they even want a soup for a fast food.
However, in those days, Hong Kong was just like going north to Guangzhou now, and few people took the time and energy to cook a bowl of old fire soup, so this kind of canned Luo Songtang, which only takes a few minutes to heat, is naturally available in every family.
Later, this trend even affected tea restaurants: they used canned soup to make all kinds of red soup and white soup for dinner, or added flour and pasta to make all kinds of delicious dishes.