Fried stinky tofu

This is a unique local snacks in Jiangnan in winter.

When I was young, I ran to the street after school. Of course, this was when I had some money in my pocket. Through the alley and over the bridge, you can smell the smell of fried stinky tofu. The manager of fried stinky tofu is a thin old man with white eyebrows and beard. He always picks a burden. The burden is actually a box made of wood. In front of the box, there are stinky tofu, soy sauce, Chili sauce and a stack of small plates, as well as a can bottle with several pairs of chopsticks. There is a small coal stove and a pot in the back box.

The old man always stands at the corner of the street and devotes himself to frying stinky tofu. I have never heard his shouts, but there are always many diners looking for fragrance and standing in a circle in front of his small burden. His stinky tofu is very distinctive. At first glance, it looks black and no different from other stinky tofu, but once it is put into the pot and then taken out of the pot, it becomes golden and delicious, coated with a layer of soy sauce or Chili sauce (his Chili sauce is homemade, bright red, spicy and comfortable), yellow, red and beautiful. Take a bite carefully (because it is very hot), the outside is yellow and the inside is white, the outside is crisp and the inside is tender, spicy and exciting. At this time, you are not eating but swallowing with your tongue rolling.

Old people always fry only a few pieces at a time, and fry several pieces for a few pieces, so all the people waiting for them eat alone, while others pay attention to each other. Most people who eat fried stinky tofu are women and children. It's really strange that women in the south of the Yangtze River don't eat spicy food, but they all become "spicy girls" when they get to this burden. They have to apply a thick layer of Chili sauce, and women don't care about being gentle at this time. They eat until their lips are red, tears are mixed and hot and sweaty. The old man just kept saying: it's too spicy to stick, so don't eat too much. After all, he didn't stop it. Therefore, the elderly consume a bottle of Chili sauce every day.

At that time, my father gave me fifty cents a month, and at least half of the money was contributed to stinky tofu. A piece of stinky tofu costs a penny, and after eating one piece, the day can be quiet. Sometimes I don't plan to overspend, so I will refrain from running there for fear that hooks will grow in my eyes. However, at that time, as long as I accidentally slip to the old man's burden, the old man will always have an insight into everything, as if he found that there was no half penny in my pocket, and he would fry the most crisp and tender piece for me to eat with a smile. I'm sorry to eat for free. When my father sends me money next month, I'll return it to him immediately, and the old man will accept it, but I must fry an extra piece of stinky tofu for me.

It's been more than 2 years since I left that small town in the south of the Yangtze River, and I've never eaten such delicious fried stinky tofu (although I've eaten fried stinky tofu in other cities in the south of the Yangtze River, it always seems to taste a little worse). It always appears in my dreams, along with the thin old man with white beard and eyebrows who doesn't even know his name.

meat and bone porridge

I've only eaten meat and bone porridge once.

It was a Sunday morning in winter in the south of the Yangtze River, and my thrifty aunt suddenly offered to take me to eat meat and bone porridge. I was flattered and followed her all the way, for fear that she would suddenly change her mind.

Go along Qingshiban Road, cross the bustling food market and turn into an alley. Far away, I saw a small shop floating with white fog, and I heard the sound of an iron spoon knocking on the edge of the pot. My aunt led me into the shop, which was already full. Everyone is sipping this meat and bone porridge, as if it is really delicious.

The proprietress led us into the inner kitchen and said apologetically, "Let's eat here." The proprietress is a 4-year-old woman with ear-length hair and meticulously pinned behind her ear with a black hairpin. I was afraid that my aunt would run away when she got cold feet, so I quickly made my own claim and said, "Yes, yes." As a result, my aunt got two dirty eyes. "Ok, a bowl of meat and bone porridge." The proprietress grabbed the big iron spoon with one hand and uncovered the big pot cover with the other. Suddenly, a heat wave swept through the smell of meat porridge. She stirred the pot with a big iron spoon and handed me a big bowl of porridge. This bowl of porridge is gray, the rice has not been cooked to its original shape, and the porridge surface is dotted with a few small pieces of meat and bones. I tasted it carefully, well, it was fragrant and sticky. You really don't need to "eat", just drink. I just stood by the big stove, holding a big bowl, and sipped the meat and bone porridge for the first time in my life. Finally, I chewed up those bones like a puppy. That bowl of porridge cost my aunt 5 cents.

Later, my aunt told me that cooking meat and bones was very troublesome. First, the meat bones (bones connected with some meat) should be boiled for several hours, and then the new rice should be washed and put in before cooking. You can't cook the coke, the key is to master the heat, and slow down the fire. Finally, add salt and monosodium glutamate. Therefore, the average family does not make meat and bone porridge, which is time-consuming and laborious without drinking. She also warned me not to eat more meat and bone porridge in the street, because some bosses put the bones eaten by the guests back into the pot to save money. I don't know if what she said is true or not. Anyway, since then, I have never eaten meat and bone porridge again, not because I am afraid of being unsanitary, but because the money in my pocket is not enough to distribute.

However, I often go to that meat and bone porridge shop, mainly to see what they do with their finished bones. But the proprietress seems to understand my intention and always greets me with a smile: "Little girl, come and have a bowl." Then, I ran away.

Yangchun Noodle

Yangchun Noodle has a nice name and a noble appearance. In fact, it is the most popular pasta that the people in the south of the Yangtze River like to eat the cheapest, so it is also the most refreshing. In "Morning in Shanghai", the capitalist Xu Yide, in order to escape the public-private partnership and pretend to be poor, asked the waiter to send lunch, which is the Yangchun noodle. It can be seen that Yangchun noodle belongs to the patent of the working masses. As for why you chose such a name as Yangchun Baixue, it may be the antonym, but I am sure that the person who took this name is by no means from Xialiba.

Twenty years ago, my uncle's family seemed to like eating Yangchun noodles very much. Every Sunday, my uncle would definitely lead the whole family to eat Yangchun noodles in the noodle restaurant in town. My two cousins are in high spirits, but I don't like them very much. There is nothing on Yangchun noodles except some chopped green onion. It is bare and tasteless. I don't want to eat the second bite after eating the first bite. Every time I can't finish a bowl of Yangchun noodles, I always remind my uncle by innuendo that it's better to eat wonton, at least it's meaty. But my uncle resolutely refused, saying that wonton is too expensive, and it is not eaten. For the same dime, Yangchun noodles are full, but wonton can only be stuffed. Uncle's teeth are so big. I don't like eating, but I have to accompany my uncle's family to eat every Sunday, because this is their festival, and they have been waiting for this day for six days. Everyone in that noodle restaurant in the town knows my uncle. Every time I come, I don't have to tell him, I will soon serve Yangchun noodles. Then, my uncle's family began to work hard and make a happy sound. Whenever this time, I look at the sunny face in front of me and pull a long face.

Lu Wenfu specifically mentioned Yangchun noodles in The Gourmet, saying that Yangchun noodles in the first pot are the freshest and most delicious, so many people go to eat soup early. I don't think my uncles eat this kind of noodle. But anyway, I have no interest in Yangchun noodles, and my appetite fell as early as twenty years ago.

light cake

light cake is a snack in Fuzhou. It is said that he came in memory of Qi Jiguang. In short, he has a certain relationship with this national hero.

When I was young, I always liked to stand in front of a tall barrel stove and watch the master make light cakes. There are masters who make light cakes everywhere. A chopping board and a stove are all props. The light cake master rolled up his sleeves high, smashed the dough with alkaline water and salt water, then divided it into one dose, patted it left and right with his hand, and a small round cake came out. Then he poked a small hole in the middle with a bamboo stick and stuck it on the inner wall of the barrel furnace. Wait, soon, the fragrance floated out of the furnace. It's estimated that it's almost time, and the light cake master used a small shovel to shovel it neatly, and the brown light cake jumped out.

This light cake is hard and yellow. It's hard to bite. Without good teeth and tenacious fighting spirit, it can't be dealt with. But once it's in the mouth, it's more fragrant and chewy. In the end, I always want to take the second one away. Light cakes are chewy and storable. It is no problem to leave them for ten and a half months. They are tenacious and have a strong national spirit. Perhaps this is the relationship between them and Qi Jiguang. Light cakes are very cheap, a penny. At that time, I often patronized the light cake stove, bought one or two pieces, and chewed all the way to school.

In winter, the pastry chef is happier. He keeps the stove warm, but in summer, he is bitter. He goes shirtless and still sweats, and the sweat drips on the stove. I dare not buy it, because there must be hard-working sweat of the pastry chef in it.

Some time ago, I mentioned light cakes in my hometown in Fujian. They all said that they were delicious and good for my teeth. Chewing them often is definitely better than "white arrow" and "green arrow". But I don't know if there is any now. I haven't eaten it for years. Hopefully, this light cake stove can still be seen on a street corner in Fuzhou.

taro fruit

taro fruit is one of the breakfasts in Fuzhou, also known as triangle cake. It is said that areca taro is cooked, peeled and ground into paste, and then mixed with rice flour and kneaded. Then, cut it into triangular shapes, fry it in an oil pan until both sides are brown, and take it out of the pan. When eating, wrap the lower end of taro fruit with a piece of paper (because it is very oily), take a bite from a corner, the outer coke is tender inside (the inner color is gray), and there is a fragrant smell of taro. Well, it tastes great.

Taro-fried stalls are everywhere. Every morning, you can see stalls set up in the streets and lanes, filled with smoke and full of fragrance. People who buy Taro-fried fruits are holding bowls or small bamboo baskets, waiting for Taro-fried fruits to come out of the pot. Often fry a pot and buy a pot. But some of them can't buy the rest. It doesn't matter if they are put aside for an hour or two. They still taste delicious. Unlike fried dough sticks, they soon became chewy old dough sticks after landing. Therefore, the stall owners who sell taro fruits are very complacent. Sometimes it's 9 o'clock in the morning, and they haven't closed their stalls yet, slowly guarding a few pieces of taro fruits that have not been sold. They know that there are always hungry people who will find incense and go away.

People in Fuzhou usually solve the breakfast problem with a bowl of pot paste and a taro fruit. It is delicious and practical. After eating, they go to work with a full stomach. This revolution is too energetic to say.

Pot-side paste

Once I talked with my colleagues in the office, I said that the pot-side paste in Fuzhou was delicious. They asked in unison: What is pot paste? These guys who eat invincible hands all over the world on weekdays have something they don't know. I proudly began to introduce Fuzhou snacks-pot paste to them.

Pot-side paste is found in many places in Fuzhou and even Fujian, but I have never seen it in other places. The reason why it is not produced may be that there is no condiment called "shrimp oil" in other places, and pot-side paste will not become pot-side paste without shrimp oil.

It's very complicated to make pot paste. First, wash the rice and soak it for several hours, and then grind it into paste for later use. Take a big pot, cook a pot of soup, add shrimp, dried mushrooms, onions, garlic and celery to the soup, and finally add a few spoonfuls of essential shrimp oil, and this thick soup is made. This is not over yet, the first step of the long March. Pour out the soup and put it in another container. When the water is boiled to 7% heat, spread peanut oil evenly on the side of the pot, then pour a bowl of rice paste around the pot and cover it. After three minutes, when the rice slurry at the side of the pot rolls up, shovel it into the clear water with a spatula, then add the clear water, and repeat the above behavior. When the last pouring is finished for the fourth time, add a thick soup and add auxiliary seasonings such as shrimp oil as appropriate. After cooking, put it in another pot and keep the temperature with low heat for sale.

In a word, this is an iterative process, and you can't do it without patience. Therefore, ordinary families don't make pot-side paste, so they go to the street to buy it if they want to eat it. All the restaurants and stalls in the streets and lanes of Fuzhou are bought, and they are very cheap. The paste on the side of the pot has a special taste and a strong seafood flavor. Every piece of rice paste is rolled, white, like a tube of green onion, which is very refreshing. It is accompanied by yellow shrimp, dried mushrooms, black mushrooms and green onions and garlic. The color is bright and appetizing.

when I heard this, my colleagues' throats moved. Then discuss, when you can go to Fujian on business, you must try this pot paste. I added that in Fujian, pot paste is used as a snack for breakfast and after-dinner, and it is not regarded as a dinner. Perhaps it is because it is not full. Think of the local snacks that are single and sweet, and everyone says: the people of Fujian are really happy.

Yes, the people in Fujian are really happy.

wonton

I think there are probably no snacks as popular and diverse as wonton. Wonton is called flat meat in Fujian; In Sichuan, it is called wonton soup; It is called Wonton in Guangxi, Yunnan; Only in Jiangnan is it called wonton.

the content is similar, but the form is somewhat different. Fujian's wonton pays attention to freshness, and adding shrimp oil is a major feature. When I was a child, I was always paid by my mother who liked wonton to buy wonton. When I bought it, I bought experience. I know that the wonton on the street is too strong, so I have to fill it with boiling water after eating. The wonton at the end of the street tastes good, but the skin is not meat; The best one is the "wild" shop across a few blocks. It's called wild because it doesn't open when it opens, as if it's all up to the owner's interest. The wonton in this family is the most authentic. Each wonton is white and transparent, with a little red meat filling looming in the middle and a few chopped green onion, just like a pool of white lotus in autumn water. Wonton in Fujian is generally frugal. A small wooden stick is put on the minced meat and then turned on the skin of the wonton, and a wonton is finished. Often, a plate of minced meat can handle the wonton to be sold in one day. Wonton eaters are usually girls. They can slowly tilt their orchid fingers and carefully scoop up the wonton with a small spoon and send it to a small cherry mouth, regardless of gains and losses. Therefore, compared with other snacks, Fujian wonton is more feminine.

Sichuan wonton, on the other hand, has a distinct personality and is full of masculine flavor. First of all, there is no soup, and the second is that it is too spicy to forget. That year, I went to Chengdu for research and specially visited "Chaoshou". Who knows that a few dry and solid jiaozi-shaped wonton were served, and a layer of red pepper oil was poured on it. With my knowledge of spicy food, I struggled to swallow this bowl of "Chaoshou". As a result, I can't remember whether it has any other flavor except spicy.

In Jiangnan area, wonton is the most common snack. There are two kinds of wonton here: big wonton and small wonton. There are many fillings in the big wonton, including fresh meat and vegetables, but it is not as thick as jiaozi in the north. Jiangnan people always refuse to make jiaozi style as northerners do, and they always want to keep the tradition of wonton, even if it is bigger, the true colors of Xiaojiabiyu will remain unchanged. Jiangnan Big Wonton is an enlarged small Wonton, which looks like a nun's hat and has plenty of soup, so most people will feel full after eating a bowl.

the authentic Jiangnan wonton is the one with the most flavor of Jiangnan culture. The skin is carefully rolled, and you can see the patterns in the bowl when you stick it to it. It is really as thin as a cicada. The meat should be lean, handled delicately and without residue. After burning the wonton, the skin is crystal clear and stretched, "white inside and red, different", like a beautiful white butterfly. At this time, the attention will not be eating. However, there are not many such small wonton now, and the people who cook and eat seem to have lost this delicate mood. Instead, the street is full of popular small wonton, simply wrapped, finished, even the skin is not rolled