When it comes to eating seasons, Suzhou people have the most say. The most important creed of Su Bang cuisine is "eat from time to time". In a specific season, you must choose the most seasonal ingredients to eat, and you can't confuse them, so that you can show your true colors.
In fact, in the era of relying on the sky to eat, the growth of everything is determined by the sky, and it is impossible to "not eat from time to time." However, with the development of agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry technology, many ingredients no longer need to stick to the season. Although there are criticisms of "anti-seasonal food", on the whole, people's seasonal concept is gradually dissipating.
Only Suzhou people still hold the ancestral motto of "Time waits for no one" and earnestly practice it day after day. Even if we don't exaggerate the health controversy about out-of-season food, it is different from the "one-time encounter" of seasonal ingredients and the regret that we have to meet again next year after missing it. It is also a kind of life interest.
Today, let's introduce Suzhou cuisine that can only be eaten in summer ~
The shrimps that Suzhou people eat every day can be roughly divided into two categories: one is a slightly larger, bluish-gray "green shrimp", usually called "river shrimp"; The other is "white shrimp", also known as "white rice shrimp", which is one of the "three whites of Taihu Lake".
Generally speaking, these two kinds of shrimps are very small, which is not enough for diners who are used to eating prawns, prawns and even prawns. But Suzhou people believe that "the essence is concentrated", and the smaller the shrimp, the more delicious it is; As for those prawns that are only big and tasteless, what are they for?
Shrimp is small enough, but Suzhou people still think it is not enough, so they have to dismantle shrimp one by one by hand, which is called "peeling shrimp by hand". Although it is called "hand peeling", it is actually not peeling shrimp shells, but squeezing out the whole shrimp skillfully, which requires professional technology and rich experience, otherwise the delicate shrimp meat is easy to break.
Suzhou people love to do this kind of "Dojo in snail shell". From time to time, I used to see several aunts sitting in front of the store, peeling shrimp or removing crab powder while chatting. It has been a long time inadvertently-so time-consuming and laborious, naturally expensive.
Early summer is the season for shrimp production. Sexually mature females embrace black and orange shrimp seeds, and the gonads on the head (shrimp brain) are also attractive orange. Remove the shrimp head when fresh, cook it quickly to solidify the shrimp brain, and shell it; Rinse the fish with clean water, leave all the shrimps in the water, filter, add onion and ginger to remove fishy smell and cook; Shrimp is "hand-peeled" and shelled, which is called "three shrimps" together with shrimp brain and shrimp seeds.
Ordinary fried shrimps are only added with salt and egg white and fried quickly in a pot. The heat is the most important, and the finished product is fragrant and sweet. When the season is ripe, add shrimp brain and shrimp seeds to fry together, and the umami flavor quickly turns several orders of magnitude, which is unforgettable. Many Shanghainese even come to Suzhou to eat fried shrimps.
Stir-fried three shrimps is of course the king of fried shrimps, or it can also be used as the topping of Su-style noodle soup. The smell of fried shrimp is confusing. If you put it directly into the soup, it will inhibit the volatilization of aroma, so it is usually served separately and moved to a noodle bowl to eat. The term is "crossing the bridge".
Shrimp seeds are the freshest things, and if they are only used to fry three shrimps, it is not enough to highlight their umami flavor. Suzhou people will cook soy sauce with shrimp seeds, and this delicious "shrimp seed soy sauce" is most suitable for cold dishes such as white meat and belly tip in summer.
Sun-dried shrimp seeds can also be used to make the famous "shrimp seed bonito" in Caizhizhai. First, fry bonito (dried salted fish) until it changes color, then put it into the marinade mixed with soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar and shrimp to collect the juice, and finally wrap it with a layer of dried shrimp, which is a double happiness, not to mention how fresh it is! A dish of shrimp tuna is an unparalleled gift for Suzhou people to send porridge in summer.
It is generally believed that Cantonese cuisine prefers to use fresh fruits, which can be explained as the south is rich in fruits, and it is logical to add them to dishes. In fact, there are not a few "fruit dishes" that are good at using sweet Su Bangcai. Representative pumpkin leg pineapple, watermelon chicken and so on. Ancient Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish also wanted hawthorn slices for seasoning, and cherry meat that looked like fruit.
When it comes to "fruit dishes" in midsummer, only watermelon chicken is available. Put the chicken, ham and lotus seeds in a crock to simmer chicken soup, then move it into hollowed-out watermelon and steam it in a cage. The delicious chicken soup is self-evident. Wearing a coat of green watermelon makes people cool for a while. Guapi has the function of cooling and extinguishing fire, which can just dispel the summer heat.
Other cuisines also have dishes with similar ideas. Watermelon chicken has the reputation of "two chickens hatched in one egg" in Confucian cuisine, and Cantonese cuisine also has a cup of wax gourd made of whole wax gourd. Whether it's winter melon or watermelon, skilled chefs will display their uncanny workmanship on the melon skin, carving dragons and painting phoenix.
Exquisitely carved, luxurious and exquisite watermelon chicken is enough to board the banquet of the highest specification. Unfortunately, this technology is now dying and rare. Nowadays, when visiting Suzhou in summer, only a few shops such as Deyuelou supply watermelon chicken, and the carving on the melon skin is rough, which makes people sigh that the prosperity and glory of the past have finally been washed away.
In Suzhou, a small family, Jasper, is good at making large pieces of pork, which is fat but not greasy, crisp but not rotten, and the meat is fragrant, which makes people unforgettable. This technology also spread to Beijing with the establishment of the Soviet Bureau of the Qing Dynasty. Legend has it that it was brought into the court by the famous chef Zhang Dongguan, and it is called "Su Zao rou" or "Su Zao rou".
The practice of "Suzhou produces meat" in Beijing is relatively clear, but when we return to Gusu City with four distinct seasons, Suzhou people refuse to give up the spirit of "time waits for no one" and cook pork in four ways all year round. Eat cherry meat or sauce meat in spring, steamed pork with lotus leaf powder in summer, braised pork with honey sauce or plum vegetables in autumn and soy sauce in winter. Eating "anti-seasonal meat" is not a big problem, but it is obviously not a senior "foodie".
Choose ribs and marinate them with soy sauce, yellow wine, sugar and fermented bean curd. , wrapped in seasoned rice flour, steamed in a bowl until crisp, then wrapped in lotus leaves and steamed in a cage. Similarly, you can also cook steamed chicken with lotus leaf powder, steamed eel with lotus leaf powder and other dishes.
Although oily eel paste is a classic dish all year round, eels are particularly fat in summer, and there is a saying that "eels compete for summer ginseng". Therefore, eating eel paste in summer is the most suitable seasonal tonic.
The most attractive thing about oily eel paste is that it is drenched with boiling hot oil after serving, and when it touches garlic, it makes a "frown" sound. This is the most exciting moment, so it is called "oil". But if the oil is not cooked thoroughly, or the waiter is too slow, the oil temperature will drop and the eel paste will be silent, which is quite embarrassing.
The eel paste with rich ink and bright color is stimulated by oil to induce appetite, and the aroma diffuses with temperature. After entering the mouth, the eel meat is tender and slightly elastic, and then the rich delicacy occupies the mouth. There is no doubt that oily eel paste can be called a kind of food that can fully mobilize the five senses, which is in the same strain as the "sensory cuisine" popular in western food circles recently.
It is said that Shanghai cuisine is "thick oil red sauce", but in fact, Subang cuisine is not too rich, and because of its high sweetness, it needs a heavier salty taste to reconcile. It is conceivable that oily eel paste is a natural meal, and the slippery eel shreds are wrapped in thick sauce and full of fragrance. Even I, a person who doesn't like rice, accidentally put down a big bowl of rice.
Su-style cakes are the best in the world, which not only have many varieties and exquisite skills, but also fully embody the spirit of "time waits for no one", and many varieties are expired limited colors. You can name all kinds of cakes, such as yellow sponge cake, lard cake, Ding Sheng cake, Chongyang cake, sugar rice cake, begonia cake and plum blossom cake, which are just a drop in the ocean.
My favorite variety is Soviet-style muffins. As the name implies, this is a square rice cake, which is rich in rice fragrance, soft and sweet. Because it is not mixed with lard like other cakes, it is more refreshing.
The essence of small cakes is stuffing. With the change of seasons, light makeup is always appropriate. The most classic fillings are roses and mint, as well as sesame, bean paste and lotus seed paste. Summer mint stuffing is the most special, as if a cool breeze is blowing in your mouth, which is refreshing.
Eat cake balls with tea, of course. Personally, I like osmanthus tea best, and some people think that Biluochun and Suzhou tea are a perfect match. If you feel that tea is hot, osmanthus sour plum soup is also an excellent choice.