1. Xingtai cauldron dishes
In the traditional customs of Xingtai, this is the indispensable part of the banquets for New Year gatherings, weddings and funerals, and entertaining guests. Big pot of food.
To cook big pot dishes in the village, a very large iron pot is used. The iron pot is fixed on a large mud stove with a bellows next to it. Sliced ??pork belly, diced cabbage, winter melon, potatoes, soaked kelp until soft, vermicelli, pre-fried tofu dumplings, vegetarian meatballs, etc., as well as seasonings such as onions, ginger, garlic, miso, salt, etc. Pour oil into the pot, burn firewood under the stove, and pull the bellows to make the fire strong. After the oil is hot, add peppercorns, then scoop a large spoonful of sauce from the sauce jar into the oil, and use a large iron to After stir-frying for a few times, with the sound of "sizzling", the rich aroma of the sauce soon filled the whole room. After the sauce becomes fragrant, add onions, ginger, garlic, and meat slices to the pan and stir-fry. Then add water to the pot, put the tofu soaked vegetarian meatballs, turn on the bellows, increase the firepower until the water boils, then put the cabbage, winter melon and potatoes in, add salt, after the water boils, reduce the heat to simmer. Finally, put the vermicelli and kelp in and simmer until soft and cooked, then stop the fire.
The big pot of cooked food is hot and fragrant, which makes people salivate. Each person uses a blue and white porcelain bowl to fill a large bowl, drops a few drops of vinegar, and eats the freshly made steamed buns steamed by himself, one bite of vegetables and one bite of steamed buns. The taste is, in one word, beautiful! Some people can't help but drink three large bowls, and at the end they have to drop the remaining vegetable juice in the bowl into their mouths, smack their mouths, burp, and touch their belly, it feels good!
It should be said that cauldron dish is a unique home-cooked dish in Xingtai. Whether in the city or in the countryside, it is a favorite on people’s tables. It uses common ingredients and home-style cooking methods, and can be made in every household. , every household can do it. Perhaps what people like is the rich flavor created by slowly simmering the most common ingredients together using the most homely method. This is not like life, which consists of countless ordinary and trivial days, but it depends on your meticulous heart to make it enjoyable. So many vegetables are stewed in one pot. Although each has its own taste, they have undergone many changes because during the stewing process, they have absorbed each other's essence and enriched their own taste. Many dishes are both independent and close together, both flamboyant and inclusive. They learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses, and together they form a brand new taste. Think about it, isn't the big pot dish just like the honest, straightforward, friendly, open-minded, and tolerant character of our Xingtai people?
2. Longyao Mutton Soup
In this cold winter, when you go out, you feel "frozen" everywhere. At this time, you are most willing to go to the tavern for a drink. Zha, a few people gather around to eat hot pot, or have a pot of braised mutton, serve two ounces of wine, and enjoy the meal. If you are alone, drinking a steaming bowl of mutton soup on a cold day is the most beautiful enjoyment. Speaking of mutton soup, there should be no one in Xingtai who doesn’t know about Longyao mutton soup, right?
In my impression, those who sell mutton soup always have a big pot on the street, with milky white mutton soup stewed in the pot. The white mutton bones are undulating in the soup, and even the soup is thick. . It is said that the sheep are slaughtered early, chopped into large chunks, and stewed slowly in a large iron pot. The soup is clear from slow fire and turbid from Wuhuo. It is not easy to stew it into a milky white color. The stewed mutton is taken out and sliced, and the mutton bones are added to the soup to stew the haggis. Haggis include sheep heart, sheep eyes, sheep face, sheep liver, sheep blood, sheep lungs, etc. Anyway, everything that can be eaten from a sheep except mutton is included in haggis. After the haggis is stewed, take it out and slice it, and put it aside. Only the mutton bones were left in the pot and continued to be heated on the fire. When a customer comes, shout "Here's a bowl of mutton soup", and a waiter will ask you what price you want. The cheap one is two ounces of haggis, the expensive one is more mutton. Put the haggis or mutton into a large bowl, first scoop a large spoonful from the pot into the bowl, let the soup fully cover the haggis, then turn the large spoon over to cover the haggis, pour the soup back into the pot, and then start again Pour a ladle of hot soup into a bowl, repeat this three or four times, wait until the hot soup has completely soaked the offal and heated it up, then sprinkle some chopped green onion and coriander before serving it to you. Sounds troublesome, right? But after such a tossing, the aroma of the offal and mutton can be integrated with the deliciousness of the soup. Just taste it slowly.
Drinking mutton soup at Longyao Mutton Restaurant is a pleasure. When the mutton soup was served, it was oily and thick, with a milky white soup color and bright green chopped green onions. It was steaming with white heat and a fresh and rich aroma hit the nostrils, which instantly whetted the appetite. I couldn't wait to take a sip first, and as soon as I put my mouth to it, my eyes were blurred by the heat. When the soup first enters the mouth, the smooth and mellow taste spreads from the tongue to the throat, flowing down the river, and the warm feeling extends to the stomach. The haggis is boiled soft and soaked with the essence of the lamb bones. When you chew it gently, the juice inside will overflow, and a unique fragrance will fill your mouth. If you like spicy food, you can also add a spoonful of chili pepper, red chili pepper and white soup, you can't help but be fascinated just by the color. Then you can eat the golden cakes in the store, soak them in the soup or eat them dry, the cakes are crispy With the warmth of the mutton soup, sweat breaks out on the forehead after drinking it, and a warm and comfortable feeling spreads all over the body. Finally, you can have another bowl of clear soup without any seasoning, and slowly enjoy the freshness.
It is said that the taste of mutton soup depends on careful selection of offal, the use of various seasonings and the control of heat. If there are too few seasonings, the fishy smell will not be eliminated, and if there are too many, it will easily have a medicinal smell. However, the heat requires a high fire to melt the mutton fat and achieve a blend of water and milk, so that the soup can be milky white, not fishy, ??not smelly, not sticky, not greasy, and unique.
Sheep soup is very nutritious and has health effects such as warming the body and dispersing cold, strengthening the spleen and stomach, nourishing yin and strengthening yang, aiding digestion, increasing disease resistance, and anti-fatigue. In the season of heavy frost, cold and dew, you might as well have a bowl of Longyao mutton soup, which will warm your stomach and heart, and warm you up throughout the winter.
3. Qinghe Vegetable Tofu
In Qinghe, Wu Song’s hometown, there is a very homely but very famous delicacy, and that is Qinghe Vegetable Tofu.
Cai Tofu sounds like the name of a dish. As the name suggests, it should be made of vegetables and tofu, but it is not. Vegetable tofu is actually a porridge.
Bean curd is a porridge made from soaked soybeans and then grinding them into bean curds. They are mixed with thick flour made from millet and minced green cabbage leaves and a little salt are added for seasoning. Because the small grinder used when grinding beans has a handle on it and is ground with a hand, the green tofu is also called guamozi porridge. I heard from the locals that this dish of tofu was actually invented by the poor in the past. It is said that before the liberation of Qinghe County, "sorghum and millet were the staple foods in both urban and rural areas, with corn and beans as secondary foods", and "except for eating wheat at festival banquets," daily life was only eaten by "rich families and businessmen" because there was not enough food to eat. The poor people try to mix grains with vegetables to make a variety to wrap their bellies. They grind the beans with a small cane, boil them and add the rice, which is called "sweet mill" or "grind paste". If you chop the green vegetable leaves into a pot and add a little salt to cook them before eating, those with less vegetables are called "caihehe" and those with more vegetables are called "vegetable tofu".
It sounds like vegetable tofu is not something that is very popular on the table, but it tastes great, with the fragrance of millet, the strong fragrance of soybeans, and the fresh fragrance of vegetables. , and the slightly salty taste blends these aromas together, setting it off just right. People who eat too much fish, meat, delicacies from the mountains and seas, occasionally change their taste and have a bowl of vegetable tofu, which is a refreshing taste. Moreover, the ingredients of this tofu dish are reasonably matched, rich in nutrients and balanced, and eating it regularly is very beneficial to the body.
Every time I encounter Qinghe vegetable tofu, I always drink two big bowls of it, and I don’t give up until I feel exhausted. The lingering aroma of beans and rice in my mouth can still linger in my mouth for a long time. You can actually eat vegetable tofu elsewhere, but it is far less fragrant than Qinghe vegetable tofu. Why is this? But I don’t know anymore.
4. Renxian Lao Fried Pork
The first time I heard about Renxian Lao Fried Pork was on the blog of a friend, Lao Miao. Lao Miao is a native of Ren County. He wrote in the article: "There is not much food in Ren County, but the old stir-fried pork is very famous. Locals love it, and outsiders also come to taste it." "Stir-fried old stir-fried pork, pay attention to it. A quick word, after the sauce is fried, quickly put the oiled meat into the sauce and stir-fry quickly. At the same time, grab a large handful of mung bean sprouts or chopped green onions, throw them into a spoon, and stir-fry the mung bean sprouts or green onions together. Green onions are suitable for quick stir-frying, and white mung bean sprouts or green and white green onions are paired with sauce-red oiled meat. The color is attractive and the taste is mouth-watering. It is indeed a delicious dish," he said. Freshly baked biscuits or roasted meat, combined with freshly fried pork, the aroma of meat, sauce and hot wheat are all mixed together, making it so delicious. "Reading his blog, it feels like it is filled with sauce. The tempting smell of incense drifted through the computer screen. I was about to call Lao Miao, but another friend sent me a text message first: "The Lao Fried Pork in Ren County seems to be delicious. When are you going to eat it?" I immediately texted back: "Just tonight. !" So I made an appointment with a few friends and drove straight to Ren County after work - look at these food-loving bosses!
When we arrived in Ren County, Lao Miao did not take us to a big hotel, but led us to a small restaurant in a remote alley. The small restaurant is very simple, with nothing but the necessary items such as tables and chairs. Who would have thought that such an inconspicuous shop is actually a famous century-old shop in Ren County. The delicacies introduced in Lao Miao's blog - Lao Fried Pork and Shaobing are both signature foods here.
Before entering the door, the aroma of sesame cakes hit my face. I, who never like to eat sesame cakes, couldn’t help but get greedy when I smelled it. I grabbed one and took a bite first - the dry rosin smell was hot, As expected, I was full of food before I even started eating. There was only one table available in the small restaurant, so everyone took their seats one by one and ordered dishes, of course two dishes of stir-fried pork.
Not long after, a plate of stir-fried pork was served, and everyone put their chopsticks towards the plate without even bothering to serve wine to the boss. , not to mention the fragrance that goes straight to your nose. Sure enough, it was tender and soft in the mouth, rich in sauce aroma, fat but not greasy. It made people want to take another bite after one bite. As they ate, they mumbled: "Hmm~~ It's really good!". When the second plate of old stir-fried pork came, we realized that the old stir-fried pork was stir-fried with different vegetables, so it was two different delicacies. The former stir-fried with diced lotus root was a little more crispy, tender and smooth. The latter dish is served with stir-fried scallions, adding an extra hint of scallion aroma and deliciousness.
After finishing the meal, the taste of this century-old fried pork is deeply engraved in my memory. As for its cooking method, Lao Miao's blog has an introduction. If you have the chance, you may be able to see it. If not, you will have to go to Ren County to taste it in person.
5. Guangzong Pizza
There are stews, soups, porridge, and meat. It seems that the only staple food is missing. Let’s try Guangzong Pizza again.
Guangzong pizza is also called "wind-blown pancake". The origin of this name is probably because of its "thinness" - a piece of oil cake with a diameter of one and a half feet only weighs three or four taels. You can imagine how thin it is - you can actually read the newspaper through the cake. It's really It's thinner than paper, and I'll run away if the wind blows. If you use this pizza to make meat rolls, the meat inside will show an attractive color through the pizza, which will really make people want to eat.
Guangzong pizza originated from Lihuai Village in the northeast of Guangzong City. Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the scale of Lihuai Market has expanded. On market days, merchants from all over the world gather, and Lihuaiji is very lively. Guangzong pizza is unique in Lihuaiji with its unique flavor and is favored by people. Business It is becoming more and more prosperous and its reputation is getting louder and louder. After it was broadcast on the "China's Unique" column on CCTV, it became famous all over the country.
Guangzong pizza is not only golden and transparent, uniform in thickness, and looks great, but more importantly, it is fragrant, soft and extremely delicious. To achieve these points is not an easy task. Guangzong pancake is different from ordinary pancakes from the beginning of kneading the dough. It does not knead the dough with hands, but uses a rolling pin to stir the dough. In summer, a small amount of salt is added, and in winter, warm water is used to knead the dough, so that the dough is more pliable. . After the dough is mixed, use a rolling pin to pick it from the basin to the chopping board, then grab a fist-sized piece of dough, mix in an appropriate amount of flour, knead for a while, roll it out with a rolling pin, sprinkle a little fine salt on it, and drop some Add a few drops of sesame oil and roll it with a rolling pin to make a paper-thin round cake about one and a half feet in diameter. During this process, the fragrance has already started to bloom. Then, gently lift the rolled out dough with a rolling pin, use your wrist to gently place it on the oiled spatula, and start to heat it up. As the saying goes, "Three points for flour and seven points for heat." The most important thing about pancakes is the heat. If the heat is too high, the pancakes will become dark, sticky, dry, and hard, making it difficult to eat. If the heat is low, the pancakes will become "" "White Bald" is not only ugly, but also ripe on the outside and raw on the inside, making it impossible to eat. Only when the heat is well controlled can you make pancakes that look good and taste good.
Although Guangzong pizza is becoming more and more famous, its civilian and popular attributes have never changed, and the price is still so cheap. Guangzong pizza comes from the people, and ultimately belongs to the people.
6. Xingtai Rice Noodles
I remember when I was a kid, every time I went to the temple fair, there were many fried rice noodles in the market. I saw one person thinning out the noodles from the oil basin and wrapping them around his arm, twisting them around ten times. Another person holding a pair of long chopsticks picked up the two ends of the wrapped noodles and stretched them out. Thin, then add oil to blanch it, immediately turn over the two chopsticks and coil them into twisted wires, or combine the two chopsticks and fold them into a fan shape, then deep-fry them. After forming, take out the chopsticks, flip the dumplings constantly, and take them out when they are cooked. .
The fried dumplings are gently placed in a large dustpan, in the shape of a small open fan. The thin and uniform strips are bright yellow in color, and the surface is covered with small bubbles the size of millet grains. They are oily, crispy and fragrant. It was so rich that we kids were so greedy that we couldn't walk anymore and had to pester adults to buy it. Fortunately, the dumplings are not expensive, so if we act coquettishly, we will surely have a full meal. The slightly salty and crispy dumplings break into pieces with a slight click, filling your mouth with fragrance and making you unable to stop eating.
Songzi is also called "ring cake" or "jiaohuan", and in ancient times it was called "hanju". The history of Sanzi is quite long, and it is said that it was first invented by the Hui people. Qu Yuan once mentioned the oldest steamed rice dumpling in "Chu Ci: Zhaohun", "粔籹 honey bait, some are steamed buns." This "粔籹" refers to steamed rice dumplings. Using rice dumplings to entertain the king's soul shows how delicious they are. Su Dongpo, a great writer in the Song Dynasty, wrote this poem after tasting the steamed buns made by an old woman:
The jade color is uniform when rubbed with delicate hands, and the green oil is fried to a tender yellow color.
Do you know the importance of sleeping when spring comes at night? Crush the beautiful lady and wrap her arms with gold.
Using vivid metaphors to describe the characteristics of fresh and crispy dumplings.
Rice dumplings are not unique to Xingtai, but each place has its own characteristics, including those with salt and some with sugar. Xingtai rice dumplings are usually made with salt. When making steamed dumplings, besides the frying temperature, the dough is the most critical. Add warm water and dissolved salt water to the flour, and knead it three times. Press the dough into a 3 cm thick cake, cut it into strips with a knife, and then roll it into long strips as thick as chopsticks (cannot be broken) and put a dustpan on it. Roll it up like a snake in the middle, sprinkle with half-wet millet noodles and cover tightly (only three layers at most, otherwise it will stick easily). Let it bake for half an hour (15 minutes in summer) at a temperature of 30°C before frying. The fried dumplings can be eaten dry, made into soup, boiled without breaking, or broken into pieces to make dumpling fillings. "Compendium of Materia Medica" states that steamed buns can "ease defecation, moisturize the intestines, warm the body and replenish qi." Therefore, steamed buns have always been a favorite of the common people.