On the morning of October 2, the sky of Luoyang unexpectedly drifted rain. Luckily, it didn't rain last night, allowing many places to enjoy the full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also considered a heavenly blessing.
I drove more than ten kilometers, along the Jiu Du Road all the way to the east, specifically from the Jianxi District ran to the Chanshui River District.
After parking the car and paying the fee, I ventured into the rain into the Ma Hedan original juice beef soup hall. I want a bowl of sweet soup, find a seat, randomly interviewed a few soup customers.
A middle-aged soup customer surnamed Chen, he is 40 years old, he said he often drink soup in this soup hall, he knew I was here to interview, we talked very happy. He had to work, before leaving we added WeChat friends.
Another soup customer surnamed Niu, 58 years old. During the National Day holiday, he came out of the Hualin Xincun where he lives every day, walked along the Lopu Park, and then turned around to drink soup, and went to buy food after drinking soup.
I interviewed a Master Wang, a retired employee of Luoyang Tire Factory, who is 65 years old this year, and he was very talkative. He said he often come over to drink soup, he was 18 years old to go to the army, transferred to work in the enterprise, the enterprise efficiency is not good, he retired at the age of 55. Retirement ten years, he happened to keep up with the annual wage increase for retired workers, pensions have increased a lot, he especially thanked the party and the state, especially the state in the new crown pneumonia epidemic control is doing very well, Luoyang has become more and more beautiful over the years, he is very satisfied with his life now.
Ma Hedan has been cutting meat with the bowl, I can only take the time to interview him. Ma Hedan is Hui people, forty-six years old, his hometown in Lu, he was twelve or thirteen years old to fight in Luoyang, the original is to send beef to the hotel, one by two, he and the soup house owner familiar, ten years ago, he changed his profession to sell up beef soup, first in the Dongguan Street sold for five years, and then moved to Guiyuan Road, also sold for five years. I saw the door of the notice, his family this store will soon be demolished, his new store is in the north 50 meters of the hutong, not too far away, Ma Hedan said, that side has been packed, moving quickly, an afternoon to move, will not affect people drink soup.
Ma Hedan is very research, he said that his family's soup was initially learned from the flavor of a famous soup house in Luoyang, but he still according to the needs of the Chanshui River soup customers, made many improvements, boiled sweet beef soup. For sweet beef soup, Ma Hedan is very knowledgeable. He said that the soup must highlight the original flavor of beef and beef bones boiled out of the soup, seasoning can be fishy and fresh on the line, spices with a balanced, there can not be a flavor too prominent, otherwise, the original flavor of beef soup is covered, that is, to feed the flavor, without overpowering the main event.
In fact, Ma Hedan's explanation and I interviewed many famous soup master's explanation is completely consistent. A pot of beef soup is good or bad, the key in the beef cattle bone itself is good, not willing to put the raw materials into the pot to boil. And the identification of raw materials, is the basic skills of the soup house owner, in addition to their own slaughter, fresh raw materials, rest assured that all purchases of meat and bones, must have eyes of fire, and the original has been sending beef to the soup house Ma Hedan, is definitely a first-class expert in knowledge of the goods, what can not be hidden from his eyes. How much material in the cauldron is your own conscience. As long as the raw materials are fresh and reliable, under the enough, the recipe is reasonable, the simmering process is reasonable, the implementation of the process in place, simmering a pot of good soup is no problem. And the customer is God, simmering out of the soup flavor must be suitable for soup customers, suitable for the local more people, not what you simmer others are sure to like what, this is the soup hall supply-side reform, otherwise, the song high and and the widow, no more soup customers like, business will not be good.
I saw this soup house business is very red hot, the store is full, store outside the shed is also full of soup customers. I made a rough check, there were about 30 to 40 people having soup at the same time. I asked the master who served the soup, and he said he could sell 600 to 700 bowls of soup a day and closed at 2pm.
Boiling soup is a tough job in the soup city of Luoyang. Ma Heidan began at around 8 pm in the cauldron under the bones simmering soup, three o'clock in the morning and then began in the cauldron under the beef to continue simmering, five or six o'clock in the morning, a pot of fresh beef soup basically simmering into the beginning of the first set of soup to meet the early risers. In order to boil soup, Ma Hedan night stay in the soup house. "Labor is great, labor is glorious", soup city Luoyang all boil soup people deserve our respect.
I now have a preference for sweet beef soup, I like to drink a bowl of sweet soup, taste the flavor, and then add soup to the bun, put onions, chili peppers and salt, and it is a different feeling. Ma Hedan's sweet beef soup is still not quite the same as others, sweet in the mouth, slightly light, but the more you drink the better. The cow master directly sweet soup steamed buns to eat, I can not reach his realm. Master Niu said, he sweet beef soup steamed buns to eat, do not need to drink water all morning, do not feel thirsty. I went to work at 12:00 noon today, still drank water, but not until seven o'clock after work to go home to eat, lunch at noon to save, and do not feel too hungry. These two bowls of soup this morning were great for topping off the hunger, and they were very comforting and enjoyable to drink. There is a chance, I must go to the Chanshui River again to drink soup, drink a bowl and then shouted "boss, add soup!"