a stove transformed from an asphalt bucket (a big bucket of gasoline invented by Americans in the early years, with a barrel of 53 gallons and 2 liters), a large flat-bottomed pot is placed on it. After the pot is heated, the master sprinkles oil on the bottom of the pot with an oil pot, puts the prepared small steamed buns into it one by one, and then pours heavy oil, some water and covers the wooden lid. Later, the master turned the pan from time to time for about 1 minutes. Then he uncovered the pan, sprinkled a handful of chopped green onion and sesame seeds, covered it with a heavy wooden pan for a minute or two, and lifted the pan, giving off a fragrant smell. Customers buy a few ounces (that is, a few customers), take a bite, and suddenly their mouths are full of fragrance, which is thick and delicious. This is the traditional Shanghai fried steamed bread, which is a snack that the general public likes to eat.

The origin of raw-fried steamed bread is actually in Suzhou. The raw-fried steamed bread of Wuyuan Teahouse, which was opened in 1911, is the most famous and popular in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. In the 192s, the raw fried steamed bread entered Shanghai, which was sought after by the public because of its economy and benefits. So most people only knew "Shanghai raw fried steamed bread", but not many people knew about its past life. Fried steamed bread has been in Shanghai for many years, and it has been developing continuously, and different schools have emerged.

Speaking of fried steamed bread, I want to mention a Huang Chujiu. Huang Chujiu, whose ancestors were doctors, developed in Shanghai in his early years. With his smart mind and excellent communication skills, he was at home in Shili Foreign Market, but he also became a slippery businessman. He developed in medicine first, and then he got his hands on the entertainment industry. At that time, the new world and the big world in Shanghai were his industries. The Sino-French Pharmacy and Wuzhou Pharmacy he runs are very famous. Among them, only the product "Ai Luo Bu nao Juice" promoted by him was all the rage. He spared no expense in advertising in newspapers and outdoors, which made good use of the foreign worship psychology of some citizens and made a big profit in the market. Later, there was a "hundred-year-old machine" out of the cage, which made him

earn more and more money.

Huang Chujiu knows the importance of information in business. As early as the 192s, he opened Luochunge Tea House on Zhejiang Road in the city center. This is an important position for him to collect business information, and also a place to exchange information. You can smell business opportunities and meet more business partners in the teahouse.

At the beginning of last century, Shanghai's teahouses only drank tea, and the three major teahouses in the city center, such as Luochun Pavilion, Risheng Building and Yihuchun, were all the same. Tea drinkers only have tea and nothing else in the teahouse, which makes it impossible for the teahouse to keep customers for a long time, because tea drinkers will leave hungry. It is said that one day, Huang Chujiu went out by car from his home in "Zhizulu" on Aiduoya Road (Yan 'an Middle Road), passing through Sima Road (Fuzhou Road), and saw a stall of raw fried steamed bread in an alley, which was as prosperous as before, and made the driver stop. He specially got off the bus and bought a few early adopters, feeling much more delicious than the raw fried steamed bread elsewhere. He had a brainwave: if the fried steamed bread is also introduced into Luochunge Teahouse, then

tea customers will be satisfied. But where can I find a chef who can make such delicious steamed bread? Later, Huang Chujiu found that the stall head of raw-fried steamed bread in the alley suddenly closed down, thinking that the opportunity had come, so he asked the man to find out. I learned that the reason why < P > went out of business was that the small boss thought the master's stuffing was too authentic and added too much aspic (aspic melts into fresh juice when it is heated, so it tastes delicious), so the cost was too high and he could not make any money, so he stopped the master's business. Huang Chujiu listened, and Ma

invited the steamed bread master to Luochunge at a price higher than the original small boss's, and made fresh-fried and fresh-fried steamed bread on the pavement of the teahouse. Huang Chujiu knows how to run a business. He must earn popularity first, even at a loss. He asked the master to make steamed bread with more stuffing and aspic. So, for a time, Luochunge's tea customers were full of people, saying that Luochunge steamed bread was delicious. This move not only retained the original tea customers, but also attracted a large number of new customers who came for raw fried steamed bread. Yu

Yes, Luochunge fried steamed bread became the first brand of fried steamed bread in old Shanghai. After a long time, the tea drinkers mentioned Luochunge, first of all, fried steamed bread, followed by Chaze. Another way of saying it is that Wang Chujiu has a raw-fried steamed bread stall in the alley next to Luochunge

teahouse on Zhejiang Road. Because of its delicious taste and excellent business, Luochunge's tea customers are also the main customers. When people talk about fried food here, they will say "Luochunge fried food". Therefore, Huang Chujiu simply put this

stall head under his command. As a result, Luochunge ushered in a prosperous business with the help of raw fried steamed bread. By analogy, the title of founder of Luochunge fried steamed bread should be counted on Huang Chujiu. Although the above two statements are different, the head chef of raw-fried man

is one, that is, Tang, a native of Danyang, Jiangsu. Huang Chujiu lost in commercial speculation in the late 192s, and was attacked by Huang Jinrong and Du Yuesheng at sea. Huang Chujiu began to decline, and died of depression in 1931. In the end, Luochunge was taken over by Tang's family, and the business was getting better and better. In 1932, Tang Miaoquan, the nephew of Tang's family, opened a "Dahuchun Steamed Bread Shop" at Hankou Road, Sichuan Road, and the business was also very prosperous.

Therefore, Shanghainese, big or small, know that they should eat "Luochunge" and "Dahuchun" when eating fried food.

Whether Luochunge or Dahuchun, both the raw-fried steamed buns come from the Tang family in Danyang. Of course, these two recipes are secret

, but they can still distinguish one from another in the specific form, which also forms two major factions of raw-fried steamed buns in Shanghai, namely, "raw fried with mixed water" and "raw fried with clear water". At present, fried-in-water is quite popular. In the early days, it was represented by "Luochunge fried-in-water"

, and now the well-known "Fengyu fried-in-water" and "Xiaoyang fried-in-water" in Shanghai also belong to this category. This kind of fried-in-water mainly consists of fresh pork and frozen skin. In the treatment of flour and stuffing, semi-fermented flour is used, and jelly is put in the stuffing, so that soup can be obtained with < P >, and the steamed bread pleats face down. On the other hand, clear water fried without adding jelly to the stuffing is the most famous brand "Dahuchun", which was founded in 1932. Dahuchun uses full fermented noodles, with no jelly in the stuffing, less juice in the stuffing, and steamed bread pleats facing upward.

Tang Miaoquan, the boss, decided that the raw-fried steamed bread should look like a steamed bread. The skin should have certain elasticity and texture; Meat stuffing must be tight and solid; In addition, because the thick skin may cause poor eating, Dahuchun works hard on the hair surface to make it fluffy without losing its bite.

Both Luochunge and Dahuchun make "curry beef Soup" specially for diners to "eat" raw fried steamed bread. These, really old Shanghai knows. As fried steamed bread is one of the most common breakfasts in Shanghai, such snacks are sold by old Shanghai restaurants such as Qiaojiazha Restaurant, Wangjiasha and Wuyuan Bakery.

According to research, the store move of Dahuchun Steamed Bread Shop is actually "Dahuchun" but "Dayuanchun" (as evidenced by the photo). Zhang Xiaodong's book "Pidgin: Shanghai Past" states: "The original name of' Dahuchun' is actually not' Dahuchun' but' Da Bian Chun'". However, most people in Shanghai read the word "Bian" as the word "pot", so they will make mistakes and simply call it "big pot spring". The address of its old shop is next to the terminal of trolley-bus No.26 (Hai < P > Guan), and now it no longer exists. Incidentally, there was a story about Zhang Zhidong's strict rejection of "tin teapot", which was also related to "pot". Some Wang Qingzhe brought a gift and made a special trip to worship Zhang Zhidong, hoping to get an official position. Wang Qing looks like a well-educated college student, and it is said that he is a little intimate with Zhang Zhidong by beating around the bush. Zhang Zhidong was pouring tea from a tin teapot when he saw a gift. He scolded, "I don't need those things. Let me test your knowledge first." When Wang Qing handed in his own materials, Zhang Zhidong looked at the distorted handwriting and the words lacking literary talent, and looked at the tin teapot on the case. He had a brainwave, so he wrote the words "tea" in block letters and said: Can you recognize these three words

? Wang blurted out, "Don't make fun of me, Mr. Zhang. How can I not know the word' tin teapot'?" Zhang Zhidong said, "Please recognize it again carefully, are you right?" Wang Qing said positively, "I often use tin teapots. Is it < P > wrong?" Zhang Zhidong waved his hand and said, "Fujian!" The next day, Zhang Zhidong sent Wang Qing, the alternate magistrate, back to his hometown, and wrote the following words in the article: "My book is Yang, Tu, Kun, and I read it as a tin teapot. There are only a few words in each of the three characters, and the sound and meaning are obviously different and easy to make mistakes. Your son will face the wall for another ten years and never read the tin teapot again. " It can be seen that if you don't pay attention, you will mispronounce the word < P >.

after the change of political power in mainland China, Luochun Pavilion and Dahuchun continued to operate, and their names were once changed during the Cultural Revolution, and their original names were restored after the Cultural Revolution. During the "Cultural Revolution", the boss of Luochunge, who lived near Luochunge in Zhejiang Road and in a house in Tianjin Lane, was criticized for "cruelly" exploiting workers. In fact, he also got rich by hard work and shrewdness. In the 198s, the market economy rose, and collective enterprises such as Luochunge and Dahuchun

also experienced the ups and downs of the market economy. Except Dahuchun has a facade in Ninghai West Road, Luochunge has disappeared.

Since the reform and opening-up, in the 198s, there used to be "Youlian" fried steamed bread on Shaanxi North Road, which was famous in Shanghai. Later, the municipal government moved, and "Youlian" moved to Haiphong Road, Jiangning Road. Later, "Xiao Yang fried" rose again. Yang Lipeng, the female boss of "Xiao Yang Pan-fried", is the child of educated youth who returned to Shanghai. With a keen sense of business smell, she opened "Xiao Yang Pan-fried" in Wujiang Road in 1994, and has been expanding since then. At present, there are nearly 1 stores in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Another "abundance" is not bad, these fried noodles are semi-fermented, and the pleats are facing down. At present, most of the fried steamed buns in Shanghai are run by foreigners, except for a few fried shops opened by local people. These shops have both the style of Shanghai style and the local food culture. It can be said that hundreds of ge

struggle for current, each leading the way. However, it may be based on the convenience of operation, and some shops even use dead noodles in the treatment of flour. This kind of raw fried steamed bread made without fermented noodles has thin skin and large stuffing, otherwise it will collapse and collapse < P > and will not be shaped. In this way, the taste of raw fried steamed bread is always slightly inferior, because it is not eating steamed bread, but eating stuffing and meatballs. The proportion of skin and stuffing is out of balance, and it must be uncomfortable in taste.

Some diners from other places

asked why Shanghainese called it "raw fried steamed buns" when it was clearly "raw fried steamed buns". In fact, this is due to the dialect. In Shanghai dialect, there is no such thing as "steamed stuffed bun". Shanghai dialect refers to the "steamed buns" in northern dialect as

"×× steamed buns", such as "vegetable steamed buns" and "meat steamed buns". There are monosyllabic words of "Bao" in Shanghai dialect, such as "big meat bag", "vegetable meat bag" and "soup bag". Shanghai dialect will also call the "steamed bread" without stuffing in northern dialect "steamed bread

head", while the old Shanghai dialect will call it "bread". This is a linguistic problem, so we won't go into it in depth.

This delicious dish of Shanghai residents has also attracted the attention of foreigners. Forbes magazine selected the most wonderful and unique "must eat" food in the world, and Shanghai fried steamed bread was on the list. From the historical and cultural point of view, Shanghai fried steamed bread is a reflection of Shanghai's modern economic development and a part of Shanghai culture. Shanghai residents can't live without fried steamed bread, which is a part of citizens' life.