During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong visited the south of the Yangtze River seven times. Tangqi was the north gate of Hangzhou and the only place that Qianlong must pass through to get to Hangzhou. Because of the pleasant scenery of Tangqi, Qianlong was very nostalgic after arriving in Tangqi, so he ordered the construction of Qianlong's palace at the west end of Tangqi. Every time he went to the south of the Yangtze River, he would stay in Tangqi's palace for ten days and a half.

It is said that Emperor Qianlong had a very greedy mouth. Everywhere he went, the local reception officials would provide him with famous local delicacies for him to taste. That year, Emperor Qianlong was coming to Tangqi again.

"What can I offer to you, my emperor?" When receiving the emperor, eating is the first important thing. In order to allow Emperor Qianlong to eat novel Jiangnan specialties, the magistrate of Renhe County personally called the famous chefs from Tangqi to the palace and asked them to make famous dishes with local characteristics.

Although Tangqi has many famous dishes, Emperor Qianlong came here too many times after all. He has tasted all the famous dishes in Tangqi Town. What will he eat this time? ah? The famous chefs were all stunned. You look at me and I look at you, looking very embarrassed.

On this day, the spies came to report that Qianlong's dragon boat would arrive at Tangqi Palace in the evening. The county magistrate was so anxious that he gathered the chefs in the kitchen and lectured: "Listen, each one of you, show me your unique skills. If you do well, you will be rewarded. If you do not do well...hum!"< /p>

When the county magistrate said this, the chefs panicked. They all heard the implication of the magistrate’s words. Although they looked like officials in their uniforms, they would be in trouble if they couldn’t cook satisfactory dishes. . what to do? They can only rely on their own ability to choose the dishes they are good at. But he said that among these chefs, there was a chef named Wang who usually cooked wine and banquets in the neighboring villages. His specialty is braised lion head. So, without thinking, he took a piece of meat and chopped it into minced meat. He made a few meatballs and wanted to make a braised lion's head.

But as soon as the meatballs were finished, Chef Wang thought something was wrong, because he was called to the palace last time when Emperor Qianlong came. What he made at that time was lion heads, but Emperor Qianlong The reaction after eating it was not very good. If I make it for him this time, he will definitely get scolded.

What to do? Chef Wang was speechless. I have been a chef for decades and have always cooked these same dishes. Now it is really difficult to come up with something new. While he was playing with the freshly kneaded meatballs in his hands, he was thinking about a new method of cooking the meatballs. It seemed that he had to come up with some unique tricks.

Rouwanzi played from one hand to the other, thinking about one thing and another in his mind. Who knows, before I figured out the new method of cooking the meatballs, the meatballs in my hand accidentally fell into the wet glutinous rice that was ready to be wrapped in the rice dumplings next to me.

The meatballs fell into the glutinous rice, and the glutinous rice immediately stuck to the meatballs. Chef Wang was anxious now and quickly picked up the meatballs, but he found that the sides of the meatballs were evenly covered with glutinous rice, as if they were inlaid with beads, and they couldn't be removed no matter what.

An idea struck Master Wang and he created the first "spissed meatball"

At this moment, all the chefs watching the excitement were stunned. One of the chefs who usually had a good relationship with Chef Wang came forward and patted Chef Wang on the shoulder and said, "Lao Wang, what's wrong? Are you angry?" Lao Wang laughed and said, "Haha, I have an idea, look at me. Yes."

Chef Wang winked at everyone: "Hey, look at me." After that, he carefully wet the glutinous rice one by one. Roll the meatballs once so that they are evenly coated with glutinous rice. And arrange these meatballs stuck with glutinous rice neatly on the steamer, sprinkle with a handful of green onions, and then steam them in the pot.

After a while, the meatballs were steamed, and everyone couldn’t help but applaud after eating them. They all praised the chef for his quick thinking, which was a blessing in disguise. Everyone also gave Chef Wang some advice. This one said, "In my opinion, the green onions should be put into the minced meat." The other person said, "I think we need to add more minced ginger..."

Then, Chef Wang started processing the meatballs again based on everyone's opinions. After a while, a new basket of distinctive meatballs was steamed again. Look at the meatballs. The glutinous rice on the outside is crystal clear, like pearls.

Chef Wang smiled happily and immediately sent someone to notify the magistrate of Renhe County and asked him to come and taste it first.

The county magistrate hurried over to take a look, and couldn't help but feel his eyes light up: Hey, I have never seen this dish before, why are there shiny things on the meatballs? If you look closely, you can see that the rice is stuck to it, like pearls. It looks really good, but I don’t know how it tastes.

The county magistrate immediately took one and ate it. Before he finished eating, he was beaming with joy. He immediately gave a thumbs up and said to Chef Wang: "Haha, Lao Wang, you are really smart. This dish is really amazing. It tastes so good that I can't say anything! Now I can take charge of it." "

The Emperor Qianlong came all the way along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, firstly to visit the mountains and rivers, and secondly to taste delicious food. He had eaten almost all the delicacies from the north and south of the Yangtze River, but this dish But he didn't even see it. He read it several times and his appetite increased. He immediately picked one up and stuffed it into his mouth.

As soon as Qianlong ate, he couldn't help but say "good". At the moment, he didn't care about being polite. He finished the bowl of meatballs by himself.

After eating, Qianlong licked his lips and asked the county magistrate to find the chef who made this dish.

As soon as he heard the emperor calling him, Chef Wang couldn't help but have fifteen buckets in his heart to fetch water, and he was a little restless. He was brought to Emperor Qianlong tremblingly. Qianlong asked him: "Did you cook that dish just now?" "Yes, it was cooked by a villain!" Chef Wang nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

Qianlong squinted his eyes, as if he was recalling what he had just experienced. He looked at Chef Wang and asked him again: "Well, that dish tastes good. What's its name?" Chef Wang heard Qianlong ask his name and immediately replied: "Back to the Holy Emperor, the villain's name is Wang." Ah San."

After hearing Chef Wang's answer, Emperor Qianlong couldn't help laughing. He stroked his beard and said, "I didn't expect that you are not only good at cooking, but you are also funny. I'm not asking you what your name is, but what's the name of that dish?"

Chef Wang suddenly realized it. He scratched his scalp. He was about to say that this dish didn't have a name yet, but he thought about it. , it won’t work without a name. I remember that the sticky rice sticks on the meatballs stood up like thorns, so I casually said, "Oh, that dish is 'thorny meatballs'".

"Meatballs with thorns?" Qianlong wondered, what are thorns? The magistrate of Renhe County who was next to him immediately stepped forward and explained that hedgehogs are called quills among the people. Oh, that's it. When Qianlong thought about it, he was indeed a bit like a assassin. He was overjoyed and said, "Okay, what a wonderful name! Come on, I'll reward you with a hundred taels of silver!" As soon as he said this, Chef Wang was so happy that he knelt down immediately. Thank you Long En.

After Emperor Qianlong left, Wang Asan no longer went to the countryside to make wine and banquets. Instead, he opened "Wang Ji Restaurant" in the town, specializing in thorn-haired meatballs. In this way, the thorn-haired meatballs returned from the court to the people, and this dish became the flagship dish of "Wang Ji Restaurant".

Seeing that Wang Asan’s business was booming, colleagues in the industry started making thorn-haired meatballs one after another. For a time, all the restaurants in Tangqi started making thorn-haired meatballs. In this way, this dish has been passed down and has become a famous dish and snack in Tangqi. As time went by, some people thought that the name of "Chinese Hair" was not nice, so they called it "Chinese Hair Meatballs".