Beef and mutton paomo is made of Shaanxi local cattle and sheep and their skeletons, refined salt, pepper, star anise, tsaoko, cinnamon, galangal and garlic sprout. It is divided into five processes: dividing meat, cook the meat, fishing meat, breaking steamed buns and boiling steamed buns. To make a bowl of soup dumplings, you must first have a pot of cooked soup. The method of making good soup is of course a trade secret. Cook the meat is also very particular about technology. First of all, beef and mutton should be rinsed repeatedly, soaked for about 5 hours, and cut into chunks of about 5 kilograms. Then put the beef and mutton into the pot, put down the old seasoning bag to taste, and cook the meat for about 4 hours. Then put the meat into the pot, put on a new seasoning bag, cover it and compact it, cook it on high fire for 2 to 3 hours, and then stew it on low fire for about 6 hours. When the soup is thick and rotten, take it out of the pot and put it on the upper plate for later use.
There are four traditional cooking methods of mutton bread in soup: single boiling, dry pulling, oral soup and water siege.
The so-called "going alone", steamed buns and soup are served separately, steamed buns (cakes) are broken into soup to eat, and a bowl of fresh soup is drunk after eating, saying that "each has its own taste". I thought the authentic mutton soup was boiled steamed buns, so I'd better try another snack in Xi 'an: mutton soup. "Dry pull" is called "dry bubble". There is no soup in the cooked bowl, so you can poke chopsticks. The other is called "oral soup". After eating steamed bread, there is only one mouthful of soup left. As the name implies, The Water Besieged City is as wide as the water besieged city. When you break the bun and put a chopstick in the bowl, the man will understand that this is "dry pulling". Eating "oral soup" and "water besieged city" need not be instructed by chopsticks, because the size and cooking method of steamed buns are the same. The principle is that the soup is wide and the buns are big, and vice versa. Experienced chefs will know how much soup to add when they see the size of steamed buns.
Pay attention to the breaking method of paomo. Paomo is specially made, called Hume. Buy two for one. It is said that it is made of nine pieces of dead noodles and one piece of hair noodles. They are all dead noodles and have a bad taste, which is not conducive to digestion; It's all hair. It won't get wet. Some anti-counterfeiting experts will say that steamed buns should be like the heads of bees, and the smaller the better. Actually, it is not. As mentioned above, the size of steamed buns is consistent with the cooking methods such as dry-pulling, oral soup and water siege, and the size of steamed buns is like soybeans, peanuts and broad beans in turn.
After the steamed bun is broken, ask the waiter to present it to the chef, add mutton soup to cook it quickly, add beef and mutton, vermicelli, chopped green onion, garlic sprout, coriander, high-grade (called "high quality" by Xi 'an), fungus, day lily and dried fragrant rice, and serve it on the table. I made such a big bowl of steamed bread, with green chopped green onion, garlic sprout, coriander, red-brown beef and mutton, Huang Chengcheng's day lily, white and shiny fans, black fungus, full of fragrance, which made people's forefinger move greatly. It should also be noted that the steamed bread served should be at the bottom of the steamed bread, and the vermicelli should be covered in a net shape, with chopped green onion, coriander and beef and mutton on it to make a fish shape. Otherwise, you can make fun of whether the master invited by the boss is called Nanguo.
When eating, you should hold a spoon in your left hand and chopsticks in your right hand. After the steamed bread is served, put Chili sauce on it. Don't stir it. Pay attention to "chew" from one side to keep the flavor. An old foodie said that this fresh hot air can't run away, but I think if you stir it too much, making steamed bread won't be making steamed bread, and mutton soup will become mushy, which is the most terrible thing. Whether to use sugar and garlic is voluntary. Drink a small bowl of broth cooked with raw juice after dinner, and clear your mouth.
The two most famous paomo houses in Xi 'an are Laosunjia Paomo House (No.364, Xi 'an East Street) and Tongshengxiang Paomo House (Xi 'an Zhong Gulou Square). Huang Zhou, the late master of Chinese painting, was very happy after he went to Tongsheng Lane to eat steamed buns. He proposed to write a picture as a souvenir, so he began to write "the first bowl in the world". Later, after Comrade Liu Huaqing went to my grandson's house to taste steamed buns, he wrote "The First Bowl in the World" with great interest. This is the story of Xi 'an's two "first bowls in the world". However, it would be too petty if someone insisted on separating the paomo of Lao Sun's family from that of Tong's family. In fact, for Chinese and foreign diners, this "first bowl" story has become the most interesting quotation when going to these two restaurants to taste authentic beef and mutton buns.