Beef and mutton paomo uses Shaanxi local cattle and sheep and their skeletons, refined salt, pepper, star anise, tsaoko, cinnamon, galangal and garlic seedlings as seasonings, and is divided into five processes: meat processing, cook the meat, meat fishing, bun breaking and bun boiling. To make a good bowl of bread in soup, you must first have a good soup cooked in one pot. The preparation method of good soup is of course a trade secret. Cook the meat is also very particular about the technology. First, the beef and mutton should be rinsed repeatedly, soaked for about 5 hours, and cut into chunks weighing about 5 kilograms. Then the beef and mutton should be put into the pot, and the old seasoning bag should be put down to taste, and the meat pieces should be cooked for about 4 hours. Then the meat pieces should be put into the pot, replaced with a new seasoning bag, covered and compacted, and boiled for 2 to 3 hours after high fire, and then simmered for about 6 hours. When the soup is thick and rotten, it should be put out of the pot and put on the upper plate for later use.
There are four traditional cooking methods of mutton soaking: single cooking, dry pulling, oral soup and water siege.
The so-called "single walk" means that steamed buns and soup are served separately, steamed buns (cakes) are broken into the soup to eat, and a bowl of fresh soup is drunk after eating, saying "each has its own taste". I thought the authentic mutton bubble was boiled steamed buns, so it was better to taste another snack in Xi 'an: mutton in a basin. "Dry pull" Some people call it "dry bubble". If you don't see soup in a cooked bowl, you can poke chopsticks. The other is called "oral soup". After eating the steamed buns, there is only one mouthful of soup left. "Water besieged city", as its name implies, is wide in soup, like a besieged city with big water. After you break the bun and put a chopstick on the bowl, the man will understand that this is "dry pulling". Eating "mouth soup" and "water besieged city" need not be indicated by chopsticks, because the size of steamed buns is the same as the cooking method. The principle is that the soup is wide and the buns are large, and vice versa. Experienced chefs will know how much soup to add when they see the size of steamed buns.
the breaking method of paomo is exquisite. Paomo is specially made, called Xiumo, one for two. It is said that it is made by kneading nine pieces of dead noodles and one piece of hair noodles together. All are dead noodles, which have a bad taste and are not conducive to digestion; It's all hair, so it won't be soaked. Some fake experts will say that the steamed buns should be like a bee's head, and the smaller the better. Actually, it is not. As mentioned above, the size of steamed buns is consistent with the cooking method, such as dry pulling, mouth soup and water siege, and the size of steamed buns is like soybeans, peanuts and broad beans in turn.
after the steamed buns are broken, please ask the waiter to present them to the chef, add mutton soup to cook quickly, add beef and mutton, vermicelli, chopped green onion, garlic sprout, coriander, high-grade (which is called "high quality" in Xi 'an), auricularia auricula, day lily and dried citron, and serve them. Such a big bowl of steamed bread made by myself, green chopped green onion, garlic sprout, coriander, reddish-brown beef and mutton, yellow day lily, white and glittering fans, dark fungus, full of fragrance, makes people's index fingers move greatly. It should also be noted that the steamed bread served should be the bottom of the steamed bread, the vermicelli should be covered in a net shape, and the chopped green onion, parsley, beef and mutton should be placed in a fish shape on the top. Otherwise, you can make fun of whether the master invited by the boss is called Nan Guo.
When eating, hold a spoon in your left hand and chopsticks in your right hand. After the steamed buns are served on the table, spread the chili pepper sauce on it. Avoid stirring, and pay attention to "nibbling" from one side to maintain the umami flavor. An old eater says that such fresh and hot air can't run away, but I think that if you stir too much, the steamed buns will not be steamed buns, and the mutton soup will become mushy. Whether to use sugar and garlic is voluntary. After a meal, drink a small bowl of broth cooked with raw juice to clear your mouth.
The two most famous paomo restaurants in Xi 'an are Laosunjia Paomo Restaurant (No.364, East Street, Xi 'an) and Tongshengxiang Paomo Restaurant (Bell and Drum Tower Square, Xi 'an). Huang Zhou, the late master of Chinese painting, was very happy after he went to Tongshengxiang to eat steamed buns. He proposed to write a picture as a souvenir, so he started to write down "the first bowl in the world". Later, after Comrade Liu Huaqing went to my grandson's house to taste steamed buns, he also wrote "the first bowl in the world" with great interest. This is the story of two "the first bowls in the world" in Xi 'an. However, it would be too petty for anyone who insists on separating the paomo of Lao Sun's family from that of Tong Shengxiang. In fact, for Chinese and foreign diners, this "first bowl" story has become the most interesting quote when going to these two restaurants to taste authentic beef and mutton buns.