One: When was stinky tofu introduced to the court?

In the eighth year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, Wang Zhihe, the son of Yuan Xian County, Anhui Province, went to Beijing, failed in the exam and returned home without travelling expenses. The Wangs used to make tofu accounts, and Wang Zhihe also knew this craft, so he stayed in Beijing to make a living in grinding bean curd. One day, tofu was unsalable and accumulated a lot. Wang was afraid that it would go bad and lose all his money, so he cut the tofu into small pieces, put it in an altar with salt and spices, and sealed its mouth, thinking that it could be made into fermented bean curd. Who knows that after a few days, the jar was opened, the fermented bean curd could not be made, and the tofu stinked. Wang Sheng tasted it and it was delicious. Therefore, stinky tofu began to be tried out and was well received by customers, and stinky tofu spread from now on. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, stinky tofu became popular, and even Empress Dowager Cixi became addicted to it.

Two: Types of stinky tofu:

There are many kinds of stinky tofu, and there is no necessary connection between them. It is meaningless to pursue its original site!

The rotten dried fruit of Changsha Fire Palace is the most famous snack in Hunan. Dried fruit is actually fried stinky tofu. Because of its unique taste, it can only be favored by a few people.

The Fire Palace on Pozi Street in Changsha was once a temple dedicated to Zhu Rong, the god of fire (the Chu people have the custom of advocating fire), with a history of 400 years. After several wars and repairs, it has finally become a gathering place for traffickers and pawns, operating various snacks in Hunan, which is a bit like Dongan Market in old Beijing. With the change of time, a street here now covers all kinds of dishes and snacks in Hunan and has become an indispensable place for a trip to Changsha.

First-class soybeans are selected for Huogong dried tofu, and then the tofu is soaked in brine containing winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms, koji wine and Liuyang fermented beans. White hair will appear on the surface, the color will turn gray, and the smell will be pungent at first. Put it in the oil pan and fry it slowly until the color turns black and the surface expands, and then take it out. It's fragrant and attractive, and it will be crisp with garlic juice, pepper and sesame oil.

Wang Zhihe stinky tofu is the natural flavor of Beijing School. However, stinky tofu in Beijing and dried stinky tofu in the south are completely different foods. The stinky tofu in Beijing is a kind of fermented bean curd, which is eaten with steamed bread and pie. It is wonderful to accompany a meal, but it must not be cooked in oil. According to legend, in the eighth year of Kangxi, Wang Zhihe, the son of Yuan Xian County, Anhui Province, went to Beijing to take the exam. Chunwei was the last one to come, so he went back to his hometown without travelling expenses. He was trapped in the "Anhui Hall" of Mutton Hutong in yanshou temple Street outside Qianmen. Fortunately, God never shuts one door but he opens another, and the skill of making tofu handed down from home made him barely make a living. Summer is here, and tofu is cooked a lot. If you can't sell it, it will go moldy and go bad. Thinking hard, he suddenly remembered the method of making fermented bean curd with tofu in his hometown. So the remaining tofu was cut into small pieces, put in jars layer by layer, and salted. Who knows, when the autumn wind was cool, Wang remembered the pickled tofu in the jar, and quickly opened the jar cover, and a stench came to his face. Tofu has turned blue-gray, but once it has been tasted, it has a unique taste, and there is a strange smell in it. I showed it to my neighbors and everyone praised it. As a result, the news spread like wildfire, and the stinky tofu in Wang Zhihe gradually spread among the people. Wang was repeatedly frustrated in the examination room, but failed again and again. However, the business of stinky tofu is booming day by day. He simply gave up his studies to do business and opened the "Wang Zhihe Southern Sauce Garden". By the end of the Qing dynasty, stinky tofu had been listed as one of the royal dishes and was loved by the western empress dowager. Because the name of stinky tofu sounds unsightly, the emperor named it Fang Qing. Once this stinky tofu is used, it is worth a hundred times and its business is booming, so the stinky tofu in Wang Zhihe has become a must for snacks in Beijing.

The stinky tofu in Hubei is black, smelly and smelly, and it is very delicious with unique pickled pepper seasoning.

Anhui stinky tofu, commonly known as "stinky tofu", was created by Wang Zhihe in Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty. Emperor Kangxi was full of praise after tasting it, and specially gave Wang Zhihe the word "Fang Qing", which made him famous. Compared with the smelly thousand blocks in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province and the smelly dry incense in Huainan, Anhui Province, it enjoys a good reputation at home and abroad. Huizhou is dull and smelly, with a gray blue-black surface and a white jade inside. It smells bad, tastes strange and has a unique taste. Because the production process of stuffy smell is very complicated, I'm afraid this kind of flavor snack can only be eaten by tourists who come to Huangshan. Many food stalls in Huangshan City can eat Daichou.

The stinky tofu in Zhejiang is yellow. This "three-flavored stinky tofu" is not to say that it has three flavors, but because it originated in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, and is a specialty of raw stinky tofu near Lu Xun's snack San Tan Yin Yue. The stinky tofu in Zhejiang sounds quite fresh and looks quite special. It looks white and tender, thin and soft. Although it smells faint, it is not pungent at all. The fried tofu has a golden skin and is covered with a layer of dense pores, which seems to be fried with a layer of eggs. It is covered with a bright, sweet and spicy chopped pepper sauce.

Jiangsu stinky tofu-When it comes to Shaoxing's way of eating, it seems that it is always inseparable from the stinky and moldy pickled pepper tofu, which is in sharp contrast with the extraordinary clear water and stones in Jianhu Lake. As a Shaoxing native, I always take Lu Xun and Xu Wenchang as examples to illustrate that I eat stinky tofu and moldy tofu, but what comes out is a good article with a heart and a mouth. Stinky tofu is a compulsory course for Shaoxing cuisine, but it is also the most difficult level for most foreigners. Soak in amaranth stem juice, steam and fry, which is more common, because it is convenient to eat, steam is more homely, and the fine products are actually delicious. Those who like to eat are moved by the fragrance, and those who don't like to eat avoid it. A master of Chinese medicine doesn't need any seasoning, what he wants is the original "smelly". Now there is stinky tofu in Hangzhou, which can relieve the pain of lovesickness occasionally, but it always feels not as delicious as the alleys in Shaoxing. The smiling old man guarded the warm stove, and the narrow alley smelled of peace for a long time.

Jiangxi Stinky Tofu —— Stinky Tofu from San Lv Temple in Jingdezhen is a traditional tofu dish in China and a typical folk dish. Every place has its own flavor. However, in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, when people talk about stinky tofu, they usually think of the stinky tofu of San Lv Temple.

There are two kinds of stinky tofu, one is dried tofu, which tastes like stinky tofu milk, but it tastes delicious and can stand a long time of slow chewing and tasting. There is another kind, called brine stinky tofu, which is also sold in the market. That is a piece of tofu wrapped in cloth. If it can't be sold that day, put it in a cage, steam it, then cool it, and soak it in special salt water with the snow water left over from winter. Some are soaked in mustard juice. It won't take long for tofu to be stained with a gray-green color. After tasting it, pick it up, rinse it with cold water and eat it.

San Lv Temple stinky tofu sold in the market should be covered with fresh lotus leaves and sold in baskets. Buy food, drink tea, wine, porridge, rice, snacks and cook. This is different from the stinky tofu in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. It should be eaten with pancakes and green onions. It is also different from the stinky tofu of the Fire Palace in Changsha, Hunan. It should be hot fried, with a hole in the middle, dipped in hot sauce. Different from the stinky tofu in Bijie, Guizhou, stinky tofu should be roasted with charcoal fire and eaten with pepper powder and fine salt.

The stinky tofu in San Lv Temple is exquisitely made, not only the dried tofu is exquisite, but also the bittern ingredients are particularly exquisite. Raw materials such as soapstone, chicken soup, fresh lotus leaves, crude salt and cooked sesame seeds are needed. The bittern ingredients of stinky tofu in Changsha, Hunan Province are douchi, soda ash, soap alum, mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, salt and Moutai. The bittern ingredients of Shanghai stinky tofu are made of old cauliflower, old bamboo shoots, wild amaranth stalks, ginger, pepper and pepper. The bittern composition of stinky tofu in Yiyang, Hunan Province is the most special. It is made of sauerkraut water, fresh fish and shrimp, then winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms and white wine.

There is no record of when the stinky tofu of San Lv Temple in Jingdezhen began. China's stinky tofu began in the Han Dynasty and spread in the Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, all kinds of exquisite bean products gradually increased. Judging from the fact that most of the Ming Dynasty buildings and tofu makers in Miaoxiao Street in San Lv were from Qingyang County, Jiuhuashan, Anhui Province, it is possible that the stinky tofu in San Lv Temple began in the late Ming Dynasty, at the latest in the late Qing Dynasty, with a history of one hundred years. There are several tofu shops on the short "Ming Street" of San Lv Temple. People in Jingdezhen, about 40 years old, almost all know the famous stinky tofu in San Lv Temple. Older people can also count Yue Fei, a famous anti-gold star, who lived in San Lv Temple in 1 133 and took eating stinky tofu as his greatest hobby and wrote an inscription on it. Based on this, we can infer how prosperous the tofu business in San Lv Temple is.

Guizhou stinky tofu-Guizhou stinky tofu is not fried but boiled, which is really strange.

Yunnan stinky tofu-Chenggong stinky tofu is a special bean product deeply loved by Yunnan people. The products produced in Chenggong County of Kunming have the best quality and a long history. According to legend, Chenggong stinky tofu was invented by Zhong Wang of Qibuchang Village in Qing Dynasty. Emperor Kangxi praised its delicacy after tasting it, and listed it as one of the side dishes in imperial cuisine, and named it "green stinky tofu".

Chenggong stinky tofu takes high-quality soybeans as raw materials. The production process is complex, and soybeans have to go through ten processes, such as screening, hulling, soaking, pulping, filtering, cooking, pulping, forming, dicing and fermentation. Chenggong stinky tofu is soft and smooth, emitting a special fragrance. Grandfather praised the cloud: "The taste is more beautiful, and the jade food cannot be passed on." It not only has high nutritional value, but also has good medicinal value. According to ancient medical books, stinky tofu can cold and benefit qi, harmonize spleen and stomach, relieve swelling and pain, clear away heat and promote blood circulation, and turbid qi in large intestine. Eating regularly can enhance physical fitness and strengthen skin.

There are two main ways to eat stinky tofu. One is steaming, that is, washing it with water, putting it in a bowl, adding edible oil (preferably chicken and duck oil), salt and Chili noodles, and steaming it in a pot, which is delicious and tender. One is burning, that is, cutting stinky tofu into small squares, putting them on the oiled iron curtain, slowly roasting them with chestnut charcoal fire, and turning them back and forth until both sides are golden. In another small bowl, add sweet or salty soy sauce, pickled rotten juice, Chili sesame oil, garlic paste and seasoned Chili noodles, then add chopped coriander or mint and dip it. Or dipped in salt, monosodium glutamate, pepper noodles, Chili noodles and mixed dry powder of Chili noodles, or edible. It is usually eaten while burning.

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