Tenderloin refers to the meat on both sides of the spine of all animals. This part of the meat is the best quality meat among animals because of its high activity, tender meat and delicious taste. Wrap the best meat in flour and fry it thoroughly, then pour it with hot and sour soup. If it's not delicious, I'm sorry for the great ideas of the chefs. Of course, the tenderloin also has a sweet mouth, called sweet and sour tenderloin, but the formal banquet of Qinghai people-eight-plate banquet-has always been a hot and sour tenderloin, which is related to the strong and heavy taste that Qinghai people like. At the same time, it is also related to the spread of this dish in Qinghai.
A long time ago, the indigenous people who lived on the vast plateau of Qinghai lived by grazing cattle and sheep, and their staple foods were beef, mutton and highland barley. Therefore, they know which part of cattle and sheep is the best. "Cows eat ribs and sheep eat breast forks", which means that the ribs of cows and the breast forks of sheep are the best, and they are excellent for entertaining guests. For the elderly, holding a fat sheep's tail, because the sheep's tail is delicate, fat and soft, is most suitable for the elderly with bad teeth.
Until one day, some travel-stained businessmen traveled long distances to Qinghai. They brought fresh exotic goods and unique eating habits in their hometown. As a result, chicken, pork, fish and seafood, except beef and mutton, were slowly brought to the table of Qinghai people.
Shanxi and Shaanxi were the first businessmen to come to Qinghai. Although they are all from the northwest, their eating habits are basically the same, mostly pasta. However, people's pasta is relatively exquisite and varied. After seeing the noodles and rolls made by others, Qinghai people gradually saw the various practices of flour in their diet. For example, knead flour into dough, wash it in water, and then steam the washed flour juice and gluten in a steamer, thus steaming out the golden, shiny, flexible and delicious stuffing. For another example, if flour is mashed and wrapped in meat and fried in fish, the fried meat and fish will taste extraordinary.
People in Qinghai didn't have the habit of cooking before. The banquet for the guests is to cook large pieces of beef and mutton and bake steamed bread. If cooked delicately, some vegetables will be put in the broth and made into braised dishes with sliced meat, which is called cooking. Since these foreign businessmen with camels and mules came to Qinghai, Qinghai people have seen banquets hosted by others. In addition to all kinds of exquisite steamed buns, there are also carefully cooked dishes with different tastes. These dishes combine the northwest people's temperament of paying attention to the atmosphere and being affordable. Most of them are mainly meat, but they are quite exquisite, delicious and nutritious. Among them, fried tenderloin with flour is the best of all dishes and one of the signature dishes of Eight Tables.
The dry-fried tenderloin at the banquet was really delicious. The mellow and fragrant hot and sour soup boiled with Huangyuan black vinegar was poured on the tenderloin, which added icing on the cake and became the hot and sour tenderloin of Xian Yi and Xian Yi. The sweet and sour tenderloin, which is mainly sweet and salty, slowly faded out of the table because it is not suitable for local tastes. Hot and sour tenderloin occupies the absolute limelight, becoming an established dish in eight sets of seats, and gradually becoming the signature dish of Huangyuan County.
Of course, the creation of any brand has a step-by-step process. Huangyuan black vinegar made hot and sour pork tenderloin, but hot and sour pork tenderloin became a popular brand dish, which experienced the improvement and refining process of many excellent chefs.
Among them, the earliest Shanxi businessman, Wang Jinyou, came to Qinghai by camel from the distant place of Jinzhong, hoping to make money by selling local medicinal materials or livestock products, but found that there are rich meat ingredients and excellent mountain products treasures here, which are excellent materials for opening restaurants and making banquets. Shanxi merchants and local rich households here need some high-end hotels or halls for business exchange or reception of customers. Wang Jinyou took a fancy to this market demand. He sized up the situation and raised funds to open the first banquet restaurant-Kuisheng Hotel in Huangyuan County. Kuisheng Restaurant has established its position from the beginning, never selling low-grade meals, and specializes in contracting banquets. The banquet operated by the restaurant was a popular eight-plate banquet at that time, that is, there were eight hot dishes with their own characteristics, which were carefully cooked with local rich meat and gradually became local delicacies in Qinghai.
Among the eight hot dishes, Wang Ga is best at hot and sour tenderloin. The tenderloin he fried was golden, tender and crisp, and the broth made of Huangyuan black vinegar was sweet, sour, spicy and delicious. Poured on the freshly fried tenderloin, it is steaming and fragrant, which can't help but make people's index fingers move. Over time, Huangyuan Restaurant is famous for its hot and sour tenderloin. People actually go to restaurants to eat.
Wang Jiayou has been running a restaurant in Huangyuan for decades, and after painstaking efforts, he finally made the hot and sour tenderloin his own specialty. However, he is too old to cook. Fortunately, he carefully trained several apprentices, one of whom was Ma Zenghai, who was the best of all apprentices, and obtained the true biography of his cooking of sour and spicy tenderloin. Wang Jinyou decided to hand over his Kuisheng restaurant to Ma Zenghai to take care of and retire to his hometown.
When Ma Zenghai took over Kuisheng Restaurant, it was the most prosperous period of business in Huangyuan County. There are not only businessmen in Shanxi and Shaanxi, but also Tibetan businessmen in Tibet and Yushu, mainland businessmen in Tianjin, Dalian and Hankou, and foreign businessmen in the distant horizon. These people have different living habits and dietary tastes. But when I came to Huangyuan, I was attracted by the eight seats in Kuisheng Restaurant, and I was full of praise for the hot and sour tenderloin.
Ma Zenghai's confidence has greatly increased. He knows that it is difficult to adjust everyone's opinions, but if the food is cooked well, it can still win the unanimous praise of many merchants in all directions. In order to satisfy the tastes of more guests, he put a lot of effort into soup. The side dishes in the original soup are all made from local materials, which is economical and practical, mainly red pepper, egg cake, spinach and garlic seedlings. After Ma Zenghai took over, he not only made the original sour soup more delicate and long, but also improved the side dishes in the soup, replacing the egg cake and spinach with magnolia slices and black fungus. These two things are not produced locally in Qinghai and need to be trafficked from other places for a long time, which makes them more precious and raises the price of hot and sour tenderloin. Moreover, auricularia auricula and magnolia slices are two kinds of delicacies, one is black, the other is white, and the other is green garlic sprouts and shredded red pepper, which makes the color of the soup more pleasing to the eye. Poured on the golden crispy tenderloin, a plate of hot and sour tenderloin is colorful and fragrant, which is really a specialty of Kuisheng Restaurant.
The authentic hot and sour fillet should be fried three times.
When Niu Dekui, the third generation descendant, was very popular in restaurants, many restaurants in the county were already engaged in the business of hot and sour tenderloin, and some went straight to the door for advice and learned the secret of making tenderloin. Niu Dekui has no reservations about people who come to study, and always teaches them enthusiastically and patiently, so that they can master the production skills and make hot and sour tenderloin as delicious as Kuisheng Restaurant. As a result, hot and sour tenderloin bloomed everywhere in Huangyuan, becoming a unique food in Huangyuan.
Later, someone opened a restaurant in other places, specializing in hot and sour tenderloin. However, only by pouring the soup mixed with Huangyuan vinegar on the fried tenderloin can we have the unique flavor of tenderloin. Niu Dekui ordered his specialty-Huangyuan Li Ji. From this, it can be distinguished that Huangyuan's hot and sour tenderloin is different from other places and is a unique food. Therefore, Huangyuan mature vinegar made publicity and achieved a win-win effect.
Now, Li, the fourth generation descendant of Huangyuan, still runs this restaurant. Kwai Shing Restaurant is still very popular, with full customers every day. Li sticks to the food brand created by his predecessors, and dare not be careless and slack. He is very strict about the selection of tenderloin. He must cut the fresh meat slaughtered that day into strips of uniform size, wrap it in fresh and wet pea powder and fry it in an oil pan. This time, frying is called soft frying. After the noodles and tenderloin are solidified, take them out immediately to ensure the taste. Then pour the pure rapeseed oil into the oil pan, heat it, pour in the tenderloin and fry it again. The frying time is a little longer this time, and the tenderloin should be fried thoroughly.
Then there will be a third bombing. This time, the tenderloin that has been thoroughly cooked will be fried golden and crisp. After taking it out, it was oiled. Then, the waiter brought a big bowl of soup just made and poured it on the tenderloin while it was hot. Only the soup exploded with a bang, the soup boiled, the steam filled, and tiny water droplets and oil beads splashed around the dish. With the steam coming up, there is a strong hot and sour smell mixed with the smell of meat and soup, which makes people drool. The guests picked up chopsticks one after another and tasted the prestigious Huangyuan hot and sour tenderloin.
Hot and sour tenderloin has become the favorite food of Xining people.
Hot and sour tenderloin should be eaten while it is hot, so it tastes fragrant, spicy, crisp and waxy. Drink the soup while it is hot. Take a spoonful of steaming hot and sour soup with oil beads and send it to your mouth, and there will be a sweet and warm comfort flowing into your stomach along your esophagus, which will make you feel comfortable all over. Never imagined that there would be such a warm, unrestrained and gentle soup on the distant Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Chewing the fungus, magnolia slices and green peppers in the soup feels like the ingredients carefully prepared by the chefs, just like the tenderloin fried three times and cooked three times, which is another sublimation of food. Just like drinking the hot and sour soup of tenderloin for the first time, I don't believe that the already delicious meat can become so wonderful.
Eight banquets were once the best memories of childhood. Huangyuan's hot and sour tenderloin not only preserved this good memory, but also carried it forward and became a favorite food of Xining people in the new era.