Is Loach Diamond Tofu really just a legend?

This is the only picture of the dish of "Loach Drilled Tofu" on the Internet, but there are still heavy traces of artificial insertion.

No matter which method is used to cook it, it is best to starve the loach for about 7 days to vomit out the dirt and impurities in the body.

As long as the water temperature reaches above 30°C, loaches will die quickly.

Loach is rich in protein and multiple vitamins and is known as "water ginseng". If you often watch Korean dramas, you will often see scenes of Koreans giving loach soup to pregnant women.

Among all loach dishes, the most legendary is the "loach drilled tofu" - tofu and loach are placed in a cold water pot. As the water temperature continues to rise, the loach has nowhere to hide in the hot soup, and finally dives into the cold tofu.

, but still couldn’t escape the fate of being cooked.

Therefore, this dish is also called "borrowing arrows from a straw boat", "Diao Chan tofu" (Dong Zhuo means loach, Diao Chan means tofu), "Han Palace Cangjiao" and so on.

"Loach drilled tofu" is said to have originated in the Zhoukou area of ??Henan Province. It is said that a fisherman named Xing Wenming sold the big loach and no one cared about the smaller ones, so he had to take it home and cook it himself.

One time, in order to adjust the taste and innovate, he simply cooked the small loaches with tofu, and added onions, ginger, garlic and other condiments. When he opened the pot, he found that the small loaches had all got into the tofu.

The biggest advantages of this soup are firstly its unique appearance, and secondly the animal protein of loach and the vegetable protein of tofu are integrated into one, making it delicious and the soup is greasy and fragrant.

Everything sounds reasonable. The loach can't stand the hot water and bumps around in the pot, so it will naturally choose to get into the cold tofu.

I checked online and found that many regions such as Eastern Hubei, Henan Zhoukou, and Jiangxi say this is a local specialty, and the recipe is quite impressive. However, the problem is that there is no photo of the finished dish, let alone a video to prove it.

There is no record in any of the major Chinese cuisine genealogies.

Can a heated loach really dig into tofu?

Words are unfounded, but experiments are proof. "Express Time·Curiosity Laboratory" will do a kitchen experiment for you to see.

Loach Health Center, which has been open for 4 years, has basically never had tofu. The loach dishes in most restaurants and hotels in Hangzhou are mostly salt and pepper and braised. Finally, we found a health restaurant on Wangjiang Road that specializes in loach dishes.

- "Little bird loach", owner Pi Weiqiang said that in the 4 years since the store has been open, loaches have gotten into tofu, but they have only encountered them once by chance (can't remember how many loaches got in), "With 10 loaches, you can get

If you get one in, your luck will be extremely good." Boss Pi is happy to do this experiment together.

Experimental props: a pot, a thermometer, a pound of fresh pink loach (the most common variety on the market), and a few pieces of flat tofu with a rough texture.

Boss Pi said that no matter which method you use to cook loach, you must first starve the loach for about 7 days to allow the loach to vomit out all the dirt and impurities in its stomach. If you want the dying loach to still have the strength to dig into the tofu, you must

Feed egg whites to replenish physical strength.

In the kitchen of "Little Bird Loach", we first put the loach and tofu into the pot together, add cold water and turn to a simmer.

Three minutes later, the water temperature rose to 20°C, and the loach was jumping around in the pot without taking the tofu seriously.

After a while, the water temperature rose to 30°C, and the loaches began to turn over and die. When the water temperature rose to 40°C, all the loaches in the pot were scalded to death. I took out the tofu and checked, but not a single loach got in.

We burned three pots in a row, but they all ended in failure.

Boss Pi said that many diners who came to the store in the past did want to order "loach stewed tofu", but they had no idea, so they all tried "loach stewed tofu" as an excuse. After a long time, the diners gave up.

The secret recipe of the Qigong master is not reliable. "Curiosity Lab" asked the audience for help, asking for a good way to make the loach take the initiative to dig into the tofu.

On October 20, 70-year-old Uncle Guo, who lives in Jiayuan, Xixi, called and said that he had an old book at home that might be helpful.

This book is called "Qigong Medicine Bait Therapy and Treatment of Deviation Surgery". It was written by Zhou Qianchuan (1908-1971, a representative figure of Qigong in my country). The traditional Chinese characters are arranged vertically and are old and yellow.

Printed on the back of the book: Shanxi People's Publishing House, first published in August 1959, priced at 1.4 yuan, available in all Xinhua bookstores.

This is a traditional Chinese medicine diet and health book, in which the dish "Loach Drilled Tofu" has been given an elegant name - "Yuhan Ni", which comes from the fact that the tofu is as white as jade and the loach is as gray and black as mud.

Uncle Guo said that he bought this book in Zhoushan when he was young, but he had never made the "Yuhan Ni" dish.

The method of "Yuhan mud" is: add salt to the flat tofu and cook it in the pot for 5 minutes to remove the astringency of the brine; then use cold water to cool it thoroughly, and then put it into the pot with the loach; when the loach is put into the pot, add salt, ginger, pepper, etc.

Mix the ingredients evenly, add them at the same time, and cook slowly over low heat.

The book also said that a hungry loach will first eat the soup continuously, and when the fire gets higher, the loach will get into the tofu.

The biggest difference between "Yuhan Ni" is that the tofu must be boiled with salt first.

Boss Pi said that this makes sense. After adding salt to the tofu, the toughness will be strengthened and it will not break easily.