Liangshan, with beautiful scenery, was visited by Emperor Qin Shihuang and Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty. It is located 80 kilometers northwest of Chang 'an, Kyoto, and belongs to the "Eight Diagrams", so the mausoleum is called Ganling.
The construction of Ganling is huge, and tens of thousands of craftsmen and migrant workers have been requisitioned.
At that time, there was a young man named Dongwa, who lost his mother since childhood and lived alone with his father. He was intelligent, hardworking and simple, and was highly praised by his neighbors.
Unexpectedly, later, her father was ill in bed, and Dongwa had to cook for her father every day besides going up the mountain to get firewood. After doing this for a long time, she learned the cooking skills of cooking with one hand.
When building Ganling and requisitioning migrant workers, he went to work for his father. Because of the large number of people and the heavy life, meals often could not be eaten on time, which made him miserable.
One day, he was so hungry that he couldn't stay up, so he quietly dug a soil nest on the side of the road, put on his helmet, put the noodles in the helmet and burned firewood under it. After a while, he took out the baked buns from the helmet and tasted them. They were crisp and delicious.
He was very happy, so he told his companions about this method, and asked everyone to use an iron pan to burn it. As a result, he ate crisp and smelled fragrant, and spread from one word to another, forming this unique pot helmet steamed bun.
According to legend, during the Wu Zhou (Tang Wu Zetian) period, when officers and men built a dry tomb for Wu Zetian, because of the huge project, a large number of migrant workers needed to be busy with their work, and there were no cooking utensils on the construction site, so officers and men used helmets as cookers to bake cakes, so they were named Guo Kui.
"Guo Kui" is a kind of baked white flour cake in Sichuan and other places. There are many kinds of bowls with the size of the bowl mouth. The white flour Guo Kui is the most basic and simple variety. It is made by baking the bread without any seasoning with slow fire. It is crisp outside and soft inside, and has a unique sweet aftertaste of flour.
It is particularly emphasized here that Sichuan Guokui is not about quantity, but about quality.
Therefore, it is generally about two or two, and a bowl of bean jelly must be sandwiched in the middle.
The material must use the first-class flour, and it should be rubbed repeatedly.
After making it, add a little oil to the pan, bake it on both sides for two or three minutes, and then slowly bake it in a smokeless carbon furnace until it bulges.
The so-called good pot helmet, we call it a crispy pot helmet. When it is broken, it is layer by layer, such as a thousand-layer cake, but after cutting off the edge, it is empty in the middle, so it can be sandwiched in.
If there is no floor and the middle is not empty, we think it is a crooked pot helmet and something like that.
Guo kui should have been introduced to Sichuan from Shaanxi, but whatever food is eaten in the hands of Bashu children becomes varied, sweet and delicious, not only the variety of Guo kui increases, but also the eating method of mixed sugar Guo kui, white sugar Guo kui and beef Guo kui ..... is even more fancy, with color, fragrance, taste, shape and economy, and it suddenly enters the homes of ordinary people.
There is also a braised pork pot helmet in Sichuan, that is, the pot helmet is cut open and the fragrant braised pork is sandwiched in the middle. Not only braised pork can be sandwiched, but also various dishes can be sandwiched, such as husband and wife's lung slices, Sichuan-style pork, chicken rice sprouts, pickled cowpea minced meat, or vegetarian shredded kohlrabi, Dutch beans, Sichuan bean jelly, etc. In short, everything you can think of can be sandwiched in the pot helmet.
As far as I can remember, the general public still likes pot helmets with bean jelly and northern Sichuan bean jelly.
As mentioned earlier, the authentic pot helmet method, the following special account of bean jelly.
Sichuan is most famous for bean jelly in northern Sichuan, and the bean jelly in crispy rice is especially fragrant, because it is at the bottom of the pot, and the amount is very small, so it is generally enjoyed by the producers themselves.
Let's briefly talk about the authentic bean jelly in northern Sichuan in my hometown.
North Sichuan bean jelly, originally a farmhouse snack, has a history of more than 90 years.
North Sichuan bean jelly has been well-known in Bashu for its unique red, spicy, mellow, delicious and refreshing Sichuan style since it came out in the late Qing Dynasty.
At that time, Xie Tianlu, a former farmer in Jiangcunba, Nanchong County, set up a shed in Zhongdukou to sell bear bean jelly. His bean jelly was exquisitely made, from grinding and stirring to seasoning and flavor matching, which was praised by pedestrians after tasting, and Xie bean jelly became famous.
Later, farmer Chen Hongshun carefully studied the production technology of Xie bean jelly, took its advantages and improved it, and the production technology of Xie bean jelly was further improved.
He chooses fresh white peas and grinds them with a small mill. He pays great attention to the stirring temperature. The bean jelly he makes is fine and tender, soft in strength, clear and opaque, fine and continuous, and the seasoning is more ingenious.
In less than a year, Chen's bean jelly became famous in northern Sichuan, and "North Sichuan bean jelly" spread like wildfire.
Up to now, some bean jelly shops in Nanchong, Chengdu and Chongqing still take "North Sichuan bean jelly" as their signboard, and their business is booming.
When Zhu De and Luo Ruiqing returned to Nanchong to inspect their work before their death, they specially tasted the bean jelly in northern Sichuan.
In the past, bean jelly was mostly sold by handfuls, or on the street or at intersections. As soon as the handfuls were released, customers came from all directions.
Another convenience of eating bean jelly with Guo kui is that you are busy on your way and buy one. You don't need chopsticks, just take it and leave. There is a bowl of bean jelly all over the place. You can eat and walk, or you can even talk about the dragon gate array while eating. You can also find a shady place to avoid the sun and sit on the wandering bluestone. It is really comfortable to have a cool breeze and taste freely.
Of course, due to the different times, things in the countryside have entered the metropolis and changed.
There is a chain store in Chengdu that specializes in selling braised pork pot helmets. There are not only dozens of dishes for you to choose from, but also two or three kinds of dishes can be placed in a pot helmet at the same time. Moreover, if you have a small appetite, people can cut the pot helmet with stuffing in half for you and pack it in paper bags, so that you can share it with your partners. A few dollars of business can warm your heart and stomach, which not only satisfies the appetite of delicious mouths, but also leaves room for everyone to continue looking.