Before talking about tofu skewers, it is necessary to briefly explain the origin of "tofu".

According to legend, tofu was invented by Liu An, the king of Huainan in Han Dynasty, and also by Guan Yu, Le Yi, Liu Chang and Wang Mang. Widely circulated, Liu An's invention theory is best known. When Liu An was burning medicine and alchemy, he accidentally ordered bean juice with gypsum, thus invented tofu. Although there was tofu in the Han dynasty, tofu did not heat soybean milk, but it was primitive tofu. Its coagulability and taste are not as good as the current tofu, so it has not entered the mainstream of cooking. It was not until the Song Dynasty that tofu became an important food. Lu You, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, recorded that Su Dongpo liked to eat candied tofu tendons. Wu's Liang Lumeng records that restaurants in Lin 'an, the capital, sell tofu and fried tofu.

With the cultural exchange between North and South, after thousands of years, tofu has gone to the whole country like tea, porcelain and silk.

The formation of tofu skewers evolved naturally on the basis of tofu, especially Quwo tofu skewers. In the ups and downs of the past 100 years, they were finally welcomed by the public because of their crisp and delicious taste and cheap price.

In the 1920s, famine, bandits and lack of soldiers frequently occurred in Henan. In the years of natural disasters and wars, people lived a miserable and hungry life. Most people choose to go out to escape and find relatives and friends to make a living. Wang He and Wang Changjia, wang xing brothers in Gongxian County, Henan Province, usually live in grinding bean curd. They have been running this industry since their parents, which can be regarded as their parents' business. There was war that year, and the war continued, plus the crop failure. Even if they work day and night, they can only starve to death. As time went on, they were not affected by the disaster, and their business became more and more difficult.

One day, Wang's parents said to his brother, "This day has passed. Most people in my hometown have gone out to hide, and they can't even eat grass. Who can eat tofu? "

Long hair was silent for a long time. He didn't know that the world was getting more and more difficult.

"Why don't we go out? Begging is better than starving. Don't you like it?" The dragon went home to see his brother without saying a word.

Long-haired wife Yulan came out of the room before Long-haired could speak. "How many people are there in this big family?". There is nowhere to be found nearby and you can't go far. "

Everyone fell silent. Long hair suddenly looked up at Chang Jia and said, "I have a relative in Quwo, Shanxi. I don't know what's going on there."

The glimmer of hope brought by Long Hair's words disappeared randomly in the eyes of the three people, and they couldn't eat any food these days, and their relatives were also having a hard time.

In this way, the family lasted for another two months. It's too difficult to make bean curd. Even if there is, no one eats tofu. Faced with difficulties, they had to make difficult choices. Finally, they decided to go out first, go to Quwo to go to relatives and settle down their long hair.

The dragon family simply packed their bags and went north, leaving only a little money for their brother and only a little dry food, but even if they were frugal, even if they couldn't get into the western hills, they would have to starve, live in the wind and sleep all the way and beg along the street. I have also met fellow travelers who have left their homes to beg. Along the way, I also saw where you would go, those who make a living by selling children and women.

After a long journey of nearly a month, the Chang family inquired along the road to calculate the boundary of Quwo. Only that Niangniangmiao Lane in Quwo City married an old aunt. The old uncle's surname is Du, and he has been tired for several days. The Chang family decided to have a rest first, and then went to town to find out where the old aunt's house was. At this time, Chang Jia has arrived at Xiapei Village and saw a bridge not far away, which is the bridge. Chang Jia washed her face by the river of Wrestling Bridge, found a haystack and lay down, thinking of having a rest. I didn't expect to fall asleep at once. It was almost dark when I woke up, and it was almost dark when I arrived in the city at this time. He waited for someone on the roadside to ask about the distance to the city, and decided to rest outside the city for one night before going to the city to find relatives.

The roads in the old city of Quwo are narrow, and there is no room for horses and chariots to enter. There are many shops and dense population. Today's Southwest Street Brigade Lane is Niangniangmiao Lane. The dragon family inquired all the way, and finally recognized the right door the next afternoon. The old aunt's family was warm, so she arranged a place for him first. In this way, the Long family had a place to live, and also introduced the situation of his hometown in Henan to the old aunt. Quwo can be better than home, but in wartime, it can be better. In order not to be idle, this long-term customer found him a job and helped sell oil tea cakes at a breakfast stall. Although the salary is not much, he can't go hungry. This wait is one and a half years, during which the long-term client sent a message to his hometown brother, saying that it was the situation here.

The next spring, he got married, had children, had long hair, and came to Quwo, and the disaster in Gong County, his hometown, became more and more serious, so he couldn't stay. Soon, the hardships of life diluted the joy of reunion. The two brothers discussed it and said, "You might as well go back to your old job if you listen to others. Grinding bean curd is not difficult, but he is a coolie and can't find another job at the moment. " The two brothers discussed it and asked their relatives to rent an empty yard. Now, in Xiaotongzhi Lane, the Chang family took out a year's savings and borrowed some money to start a new business under simple conditions.

Soak beans in grinding bean curd at night and sell them during the day. After a period of operation, the sales volume of input and output is not as good as expected. When he was in grinding bean curd at night, Long Mao said to Chang Jia, "Go to the store tomorrow and see if we can do some business, so there are always fewer scattered sales. Chang Jia also thinks that his brother is right. After dinner the next day, he went out early to talk about business and merchants.

The days are spent in the constant polishing with beans, and the business is gradually improving. Not only tofu, but also dried tofu. In addition to sporadic sales, there are some regular merchants ordering, tofu shops have their own stores, and magnolia flowers are sold. Long-haired and Longjia are still grinding tofu brains and selling tofu, working day and night.

The Wangs cooked tofu, and there were not so many dishes that year. Eating tofu, eating tofu, frying tofu, pickling tofu and frying tofu at home is considered as entering the tofu nest, repeating the work and consumption of each meal every day. Yulan used her brains on dried tofu. Her family makes tofu and she eats tofu every day. She cuts tofu with a knife before meals every day. After a long time, she carved patterns on the dried tofu, and the initial prototype of tofu skewers appeared. Now the tofu skewers we eat are all cut on both sides. I just cut one side at first, but it didn't take long. This kind of one-sided tofu string was fried at first, just to preserve it for a long time. In the long-term dealings with shops and early stalls, the Wang brothers thought of selling this fried tofu. With the spirit of hard work and daring, the early tofu skewers quickly entered the market.

In order to save fuel, they dried the dried bean curd before frying it, but in order to be faster when it was cold-dried, they turned one side of the dried bean curd upside down and cut it obliquely, which was both creative and beneficial to cold-drying, and the water also ran fast. As soon as the two sides of the dried tofu are pulled, it becomes a grid shape, which is the shape of our current tofu skewers.

The tofu skewers we see now don't look troublesome, but they have been improved for a century. Tofu skewers were promoted by Wang Faming, but the real development was not in the hands of the Wang family, and they would not have thought that it was just a small gesture at first, and it developed into a famous Quwo cuisine decades later.

Before 2000, a piece of tofu string had to be cut twice with a knife. After 2000, with the manual machine, the slicing speed was accelerated. At that time, 50 yuan, most vendors selling tofu skewers in the night market made their own products. At that time, the most prosperous tofu factory was a tofu mill in Nanzhichang Lane, Dongguan County.

The production process of tofu skewers is quite complicated. First cut both sides of the dried bean curd and string it into bamboo sticks. Pull it into a grid, dry it, clean it up after drying, and wrap it in a tarpaulin. After a day or two, the covered tofu skewers were slightly wet. The frying pan begins to fry, so that the fried string will be much empty. Drain the oil after frying and moisten it, so that it can be put into the basket. The process goes through 1 1.

Tofu skewers were first created by the Wang brothers. After a hundred years, the production method has been continuously improved. At first, from single-sided flower arrangement to double-sided grid pattern, from simple frying and steaming to cooking with bone soup and aniseed, the taste was very popular and gradually became a famous food of Quwo. At the same time of its growth and development, the production method has also been radiated. Although there are production and sales of tofu skewers everywhere, the production of Quwo tofu skewers is the most authentic.

At present, there are several large-scale bean curd skewers processing plants in Quwo, and nearly a thousand people are engaged in this industry. Facing the constant challenges and opportunities in the market. Quwo's famous tofu skewers have been sold all over the country, bringing delicious food to the whole country, but also forming its own culture, adding a strong ink color to Quwo.