Sifen is one of the special snacks in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which has a unique flavor of spicy, refreshing, fresh, sour and spicy. It is a famous snack with the most local characteristics in Liuzhou. Snail powder is delicious because of its unique soup. The soup is made of natural spices, such as snail, kaempferia kaempferia, star anise, cinnamon, clove and various peppers. On August 20th, 20 18, "Liuzhou snail powder" won the trademark of national geographical indication. In 2008, Liuzhou snail powder handicraft skill was selected into the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In 2020, it was listed in the national intangible cultural heritage list.

Flavor characteristics

Snail powder is fresh, sour, cool and hot, and its spicy taste is also unique. The snail soup was boiled with soft glutinous and refreshing rice flour unique to Liuzhou, with sour bamboo shoots, peanuts, fried yuba, day lily, dried radish, fresh vegetables and other ingredients, with a rich and moderate sour and spicy taste. Because of the peculiar and delicious snail soup, people can eat it for a while. It's mouth-watering to see its color before you taste it. Red is a layer of Chili oil floating on it, green is seasonal vegetables, and delicious snail soup permeates every vermicelli. Chili oil in snail powder is different from ordinary spicy, aggressive, tender and crisp, which makes people forget their own standards.

Snail powder is called "snail powder" because its soup is made of snails. Outsiders may not like the spicy smell of snail powder soup, which is precisely the biggest feature of snail powder. Carefully boiled snail soup has a unique flavor of clear but not light, hemp but not dry, spicy but not fire, fragrant but not greasy.

Authentic Liuzhou snail powder will have a strong and wonderful "smelly" taste. This "smelly" taste comes from the sour bamboo shoots in snail powder, which is made from fresh bamboo shoots through technological fermentation and acidification. Its taste makes many people "stay away from it", but those who know how to appreciate its connotation will know that it is fragrant but not rotten, which makes people appetite, salivate and roll over.

Historical origin

Pepper was introduced to China from America in the late Ming Dynasty. At first, it was only used as an ornamental crop and medicinal material, and it didn't take long to enter the menu of China. After the strong entry of Zanthoxylum bungeanum into China, it set off a moderate diet revolution. Liuzhou people mixed it into snail powder to give full play to its role, thus producing snail powder. Many people who have eaten snail powder question why there are no snails in snail powder. It is said that the snail soup with snail powder is made from folk secret recipes such as snail meat, pig bones, medicinal materials and natural spices, and the snail meat after boiling will be discarded because its essence is concentrated in the soup.

Snail powder first appeared in the late 1970s. Although the history is not long, snails and rice noodles have a long history in Liuzhou. Liu Wen, who has been engaged in cultural relics archaeology in Liuzhou for more than 40 years, believes that from a small perspective, the historical and cultural development track of Liuzhou is a history of collecting edible snails.

manufacturing process

Making material

Ingredients: rice flour (dry-cut powder is also acceptable), snail, yuba.

Accessories: sour bamboo shoots, sauerkraut, pork spine, lettuce, fried peanuts, dried radish, black fungus, tsaoko, fennel, fragrant leaves and chopped green onion.

Seasoning: salt, monosodium glutamate, rapeseed oil, cooking wine, sauce wine, pickled pepper, pickled mountain pepper and Chili powder.

manufacturing method

Cut the lean meat from the pig bones and chop the spine directly.

Soak the snail in clear water for 1 hour to remove the sediment and earthy smell, and then clean it again.

Cut the material into shreds and diced, pour some oil into the pot to fry the yuba slices (when frying the yuba slices, the oil should be hot, but it should be fried away from the fire, otherwise it will paste), and then pour the remaining oil of the fried yuba into Chili powder to make Chili oil (be careful not to add fire, and use the residual temperature of the fried yuba).

Boil pork bones in a pot, add a tablespoon of rice wine to the water, stir-fry shredded sauerkraut and diced sour beans in the pot, add a little oil, but don't put salt.

Black fungus and pork (cut lean meat) are fried in a pot, and a little salt is added.

Put oil in the pan, add garlic and ginger slices and stir-fry until fragrant, then add snail and stir-fry until fragrant, add one tablespoon of salt and half a tablespoon of spices and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add half a bowl of water and boil in bone soup.

Boil the snail meat in soup 1 hour, and then put the Chili oil prepared in advance into the pot (you don't need to add it if you don't like spicy food).

Boil half a pot of water, add salt to the water (stir well to taste salty), scald the rice noodles in the water when the water boils, then pick them up, add the prepared ingredients, and finally add snail soup and snail powder.

skill

If there are no snails, you can use other kinds of snails at will.

Snail powder mainly depends on the bottom of the soup, and the taste of the soup must be adjusted.

The round rice flour prepared for making snail powder is not the usual fine rice flour, but rather sticky.

Attachments may not be added. After the snail powder is prepared, sour bamboo shoots, sauerkraut, fried peanuts, dried radish and chopped green onion can be added.

If the powder is dry-cut, the cross-sectional diameter is about 3 mm, it should be soaked in water 1 hour in advance, and cold water should be used, otherwise the powder will be broken and inelastic after being cooked.