Early Mapo tofu was made of vegetable oil and yellow beef. The cooking skill is to fry a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a pot, then put a handful of chopped peppers, then add beef, cook until crisp, and then add lobster sauce. Then add tofu, add a little water shovel and mix well. Finally, cover the lid and drain the soup with low heat. Sprinkle pepper powder before cooking.
In the 1960s, when making Mapo tofu, peanut oil was used as oil, but beef was not limited to cattle and pigs. Stir-fry meat, add bean paste, fermented soybean, red pepper powder, soy sauce, salt and sugar, stir-fry until fragrant, then add tofu slices and soup stock, bring to a boil, add onion, ginger and garlic, thicken with water, and add pepper and sesame oil before taking out. There are some changes in ingredients and processes, and the taste emphasizes hemp, spicy, spicy and salty.
Allusions and legends
At the end of Qing Dynasty, there was a small restaurant next to Wanfuqiao Wharf in Chengdu. Its boss's wife Wen is beautiful and white, while her husband Chen Chunfu is called pockmarked by her neighbors because of pockmarked face. Therefore, Wen nicknamed Chen Mapo. This shop is famous for serving delicious tofu, so people named this dish "Mapo Tofu".
In the first year of Tongzhi (1862), Chen Mapo received a group of dockers and porters. There are not many dishes in the shop. Just before closing time, another group of people ordered a hot and cheap dish. Chen Mapo made a fragrant and spicy tofu with the remaining tofu and minced beef, as well as watercress, lobster sauce and other raw materials.
This group of people were full of praise and shouted happily after eating. Later, this dish gradually became the signature dish of the Chen family, attracting many people to taste it. Because this kind of tofu is hemp and spicy, the proprietress is also called Chen Mapo. Therefore, this tofu dish is called Chen Mapo tofu.