From the perspective of geography, climate and history, Guangdong is far from the Central Plains where orthodox civilization is inherited, so there is a natural gap between its eating habits and most parts of China. Some people laugh at themselves. In the eyes of Cantonese people, except Guangdong and Hainan, all parts of the country are in the north. Just like in the eyes of Shanghainese, all places outside Shanghai are "hometown nests".
Even today, in the eyes of outsiders, Cantonese people eat snakes, birds, turtles, insects and Hu Jianren, which are the top species in the food chain that eat everything. Although many Cantonese people say that "our family never eats these", this excuse sounds so weak-because someone can always find examples of Cantonese eating bugs.
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Humans who eat everything.
/locusts, bamboo shoots, hemp insects, bamboo insects, bee pupae/
Eating insects is not a Guangdong patent. To be precise, when insects are produced in large quantities in a certain area, there are always people who try to eat this seemingly horrible thing.
Locust disasters often occurred in the grain-producing areas of ancient Central Plains, and there were records of eating fried locusts in Beijing and Tianjin. Scholars also don't call locusts "locust rice" or "flying shrimp". The metaphor of rice and shrimp is probably just to convince yourself that this kind of high protein, which is the easiest to obtain, can also be swallowed in famine years.
To the south of Nanling, the climate is hot and humid, which is more suitable for the reproduction of snakes and insects, so there is a saying that the more you go south, the more you eat insects. The frozen bamboo shoots eaten by Minnan people are actually made of a kind of worm "Eisenia deliciosa" born on the coastal beach. Qiandongnan likes to eat a plant parasite-Gema insect, which is a famous local flavor; Guangxi Guiliu area likes to eat bamboo worms and bee pupae, fried until crisp, and served with wine; Yunnan people made dipping sauce "Sa" with wasp larvae and instant heat, and even boarded the scene of "flavor world".
Frozen bamboo shoots in southern Fujian
Yunnan skimming oil
Further south, eating insects is more common in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in Southeast Asia. For example, Thai people eat ant eggs in flowers and make salads with lime juice; Make pancakes with eggs; Cook soup with wild beets ...
It is said that Africans also catch a large number of blood-sucking midges, make pieces of dark meat pies, bake them and eat them with hamburgers. The scene is so tragic that people can't bear to watch it.
Why eat bugs? In the final analysis, most other areas in the south just regard worms as meat substitutes, which is a passive choice to eat when they are poor. So the cooking of insects is mostly fried, sauced and barbecued. As for selling photos, it is even more extravagant.
But Guangdong is an exception. In the whole South China, Guangdong has the most developed economy and the most open atmosphere since ancient times. Locals choose to eat worms, largely because they are hungry and have no food, but because they are rich in products and have superb cooking skills. Tired of eating abalone wings, they want to try something fresher.
Therefore, eating insects in Guangdong, in addition to many categories and proper practices, can also eat a little delicious and grade, which is an experience that can not be found anywhere else except Guangdong.
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The local flavor of Sanshui
/lice, osmanthus cicadas, earthworms/
As for the most famous place in Guangdong, Shunde, the hometown of kitchens, must have a place.
It is said that nine times out of ten famous chefs in Guangzhou and Hong Kong are from Shunde. This alone is enough to show that Shunde people are striving for perfection in cooking.
However, separated from Shunde by a wall, Sanshui District, which belongs to the jurisdiction of Foshan City, is little known. In fact, Sanshui is one of the most famous distribution centers of insect ingredients in Guangdong. Perhaps influenced by Shunde chefs, Sanshui's cooking method of insect ingredients is also the most elaborate. Together with "foreign objects" such as toads, it is called "frog dish", which means wild vegetables produced in the field.
Water waste is a famous dish sold in Sanshui local restaurant, regardless of size, and it is also one of the most distinctive dishes in Tianji cuisine. "Wastewater" means hard-shelled cockroach in Cantonese, so wastewater is water cockroach.
Water chestnut looks like a cockroach in appearance, but unlike cockroaches, it is a carnivore and feeds on catching small fish and tadpoles. Therefore, in Guangdong, the name "dragon louse" which describes its fierceness is more widely known.
The best way for lice is "harmony". The so-called "harmony" means peace and lightness. First, soak in boiling water to remove the odor of insects, which is called "urine removal" in Guangdong, then reconcile with oil and salt, marinate and taste, and finally steam it in water.
The best way for lice to drink is to peel off the two hard wings on their backs, and then gently turn their heads with their thumb and forefinger to take out their intestines. People who don't understand twist the lice head too hard, the thread is torn off at once, and the intestines are still in the body, which will smell a little after eating. After this whole set, a sip of wine looks much better than crayfish.
The best louse is Phnom Penh louse, that is, female louse. It is named after the edge of the worm has a circle of pale gold edges. The lice in Phnom Penh are small, with soft nail wings and no peculiar smell. You can throw it in your mouth like a peanut.
Lice should be used alone. Some bad chefs think that lice in Phnom Penh are expensive, so it is not pleasing to use them with other meat products. I have seen many lice in Phnom Penh and Guangdong white-cut chicken, just like rotten food covered with cockroaches, which is disgusting.
Similar to lice, osmanthus cicada is also a very famous specialty of Sanshui. This aquatic insects looks like a cicada and tastes like a louse. Remove its wings and legs, and then take out its head and internal organs. Contrary to lice, the male of osmanthus cicada is more delicious than the female. But in fact, the meat of osmanthus cicada is not as plump as that of lice, but it is salty and sour when chewed, and has a rich and sweet fragrance similar to osmanthus, hence the name.
Anyone who knows the trade knows that the scent of osmanthus cicada comes from the fragrant glands near the front legs. So eat from the front, chew slowly. Osmanthus cicada tastes stronger when it is cold than when it is hot. It is better to refrigerate if conditions permit. It is a refreshing and unforgettable meal to use the iced osmanthus aged wine produced locally in Sanshui.
Boiled earthworm is also an insect dish that Sanshui can often eat. The so-called earthworm is earthworm. In some cities, there are often fried earthworms on barbecue stalls in night markets, which are crisp and delicious, but delicious, but without the original flavor of earthworms. The unique boiling water in Sanshui is to put earthworms into boiling water and cook them, then add sesame, onion, shredded red and white radish, shredded onion and shredded ginger, then sprinkle with soy sauce and cooked lard, and "scoop" them up like raw fish in Shunde and mix well. The earthworms eaten in this way are crisp and chewy, comparable to rattlesnakes.
03
Cantonese people have good hearts.
/Bug, bug/
If Sanshui's frog-washed dish is just a kind of rare treasure, which can't represent the wide taste of Cantonese people, then the two kinds of food, Ascaris and cereal, are the favorites of quite a few Cantonese people.
Sandworm, also known as sea intestine, is actually not an insect, but a kind of marine worm, scientific name starworm. It is a distant relative of Stellaria deliciosa in southern Fujian and a close relative of Shandong sea intestine.
Shandong people love to eat sea sausages. A famous dish in Jiaodong is fried seaweed with leeks, seaweed soup and minced meat seaweed, which are all good dishes for guests along the coast of Shandong. Even jiaozi can be chopped into minced meat, which is much more delicious than sea urchin jiaozi. Because of its indecent appearance, it is also considered as a panacea for aphrodisiac.
It is said that the master of Shandong cuisine who went to Beijing to perform that year always carried a small jar with him and added some powder to it when cooking, thus conquering the stomachs of countless Beijing officials. The jar is actually ground sea sausage, which is also the predecessor of monosodium glutamate. This shows how delicious this thing is.
However, Shandong seafood sausages are mostly round and plump, not as slender as Guangdong sand worms. Moreover, most of Shandong cuisine's seafood style can't escape the big soup and big oil, which is very different from Guangdong's method of making worms.
Dried incense is the first priority of insects in the eyes of Cantonese people. Sun-dried fresh sand worms can not only concentrate the umami taste, but also make protein mature further and release more amino acids to express umami taste. The reason is similar to making dried abalone.
Dried sand worms bought home should be baked in a pot until they are golden on both sides, giving off the smell of seafood, and then washed with clear water. At this time, insects are suitable for frying and frying, and the words "crisp" and "fresh" can represent all its characteristics.
Cai Lan, a native of Guangdong, knows how to use worms. He likes to make soup with worms. Just add pork bones and dried mushrooms and stew in a casserole for two or three hours. The soup is naturally as white as milk, and it doesn't need any seasoning except salt. If you add rice together, it will be pungent casserole porridge.
Cai Lan's evaluation of insects has only one word: "sweet".
Wheat worm, also known as "worm", is a word short of worm, but its appearance is much more terrible. This insect with alternating yellow, red and green colors and dense warts on its feet is a bit like an aquatic centipede covered in mucus.
Gramineae grows in the paddy field at the junction of salt and fresh water, hence the name "He". This insect is very fragile. Once the environment is polluted or there is too much salt, Explosicum will commit suicide immediately. So it can't be dried like a bug, so it is seasonal and the price is touching.
But every year in July and August, Cantonese people are still scrambling to eat grass worms because of the word "delicious".
The most popular methods of cereal insects are frying, roast chicken eggs, scrambled eggs and boiling. However, Explosicum is easy to spread out during frying, which is usually not recommended by local diners.
The most classic way to eat eggs is to roast them, soak the worms in peanut oil to make them naturally Explosicum, then beat in the eggs, decorate them with minced meat, dried tangerine peel, garlic and fried dough sticks, steam them first, and then bake them with charcoal fire until the surface is golden. Sprinkle pepper and shredded lemon on the table.
The paste made in this way does not flow, but is integrated with the custard. Bite down, the cream is soft and smooth, and the unique fragrance of animal protein fills the mouth. Cantonese people like to use this when entertaining foreigners. If you don't look carefully, it will only be regarded as ordinary steamed eggs with minced meat. When guests find that the custard of the day is particularly delicious, they will pick out the creepy insect carcasses for display. Then a table of scary screams accompanied by laughter, which is a very distinctive wine table culture.
04
Insects smell like insects.
/The same concept of Cantonese cuisine/
The BBC once filmed a program about insect food. After the host personally experienced the tasting, he suggested that insect food should enter the human diet on the grounds of nutrition and environmental protection. This program gives a set of data. Regardless of resource consumption or carbon emission, the yield of one kilogram of insects is less than 1% of that of one kilogram of beef, but its protein content is much higher than that of beef. The final conclusion of the program is that people still have to change their ideas and accept insect food.
However, if you want to eat the insects in the flowers, instead of just staying in the feed stage to solve the problem of food and clothing, foreigners may have to ask the Cantonese for advice. Generally speaking, Cantonese cuisine pays attention to "chicken tastes like chicken, fish tastes like fish", and bugs put into Guangdong should also taste like bugs. Its core essence is that you can't cover up the original taste of insects with heavy mouths such as frying and frying peppers.
Just like appreciating the beauty of a woman, it is best when she wakes up or takes a shower face down; Instead of being decorated with exquisite jewelry and gorgeous fashion, it is radiant.