It's stinky tofu.

The most heavily flavored food on Changsha's Taiping Old Street is probably the black classic stinky tofu. This kind of stinky tofu is a little-known specialty in Changsha that has been featured on programs such as CCTV and Hunan TV's "Everyday Up". Stinky tofu may be small, but the process of making it is complicated, as it must go through several procedures, including deep-frying, adding marinade and fermentation.

After the original billet of stinky tofu is deep-fried, it is gently tapped with chopsticks on the surface of the tofu to thwart the opening of a small hole, and then dunked in the sauce and soup featuring freshness, spiciness and aroma. When you take a bite, it is typically crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a mouth full of juices and a lingering aftertaste. Nowadays, the most prestigious in Changsha has to be the stinky tofu in Huogong Palace, which not only produces Changsha's famous dishes and points, but also makes stinky tofu its signature dish.

Origin of the dish

According to Changsha Dietary Records, Changsha Stinky Tofu originated from Xiangyin deep-fried tofu, and in the twenty-second year of Guangxu (1896), Jiang Yonggui, a native of Xiangyin, went to the old townsmen of Lopengqiao to learn the technique of deep-frying tofu, and because of the master's poor health, he went back to his hometown for retirement and gave his deep-fried tofu to Jiang Yonggui to run the business.

Jiang Yonggui in the oil fried tofu brine on the basis of selected raw materials prepared to do stinky tofu brine recipe, from the Lokpang Bridge flow of small quan, and then to the Palace of Fire fixed stall, so that stinky tofu to become a "smell stinky to eat," the skin is crispy inside the soft texture of the snacks excellent.

Fire Palace, also known as "Qianyuan Palace", was built in the Qing Dynasty Qianlong twelve years (AD 1747), the Daoguang six years (AD 1826) underwent restoration. Every year on the 23rd day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, a large-scale festival will be held, and on this day, the Palace of Fire is bustling with people, thus gathering Changsha stinky tofu and other Xiaoxiang gourmet snacks.