There is a saying that to test whether a Beijinger is a real aboriginal, give him a bowl of bean juice. If he can drink it with burnt rings and spicy pickles, he is considered qualified. If he can drink it with a clear mouth, he is qualified. There is no doubt that generations of old Beijing. However, this test has become somewhat dysfunctional. Since the 1970s, many people, including me, have become less and less accepting of soy juice.

In fact, I think the food that better represents the taste of Beijingers is another kind of food that almost everyone loves without testing. It can be used as a dipping sauce, as a condiment, as a condiment, and is suitable for everything. It occupies an irreplaceable position in the hearts of Beijingers. That's right, it is the sesame sauce that can be used to "dip the world".

Just like many Beijing snacks, foreign friends cannot understand the beauty of sesame sauce that has a smooth and even "mushy" texture. After many foreign snacks were introduced to Beijing, they were also captured by it. Shaanxi Liangpi is topped with sesame sauce, and Sichuan Malatang is also topped with sesame sauce. The locals almost collapsed when they saw it. However, Beijingers do not accept various objections about sesame paste. It is omnipotent, ubiquitous, and unreasonable.

Beijingers can wrap up three meals a day with sesame paste. A bowl of hot noodle tea must be topped with a spoonful of sesame sauce, and you can sip it round and round; at noon, have a bowl of sesame sauce cold noodles, soaked noodles in cold water and coated with sesame sauce, and you can't stop eating; at night, you can enjoy it You Laidun is boiling the mutton. He picks up a chopstick and swats it in the water a few times. It sinks into the bottom of the sesame sauce bowl. Just like Lao She said, "That is the essence of the combination of animals and plants!" Look, what a day with sesame sauce. happiness!

Today we will discuss in depth the issue of tahini. Sesame is an imported product. It was brought back from the Hu region in the Western Regions by Zhang Jian during the Han Dynasty. It was used for oil extraction at that time. Due to its high oil yield, it has always been the main oil crop. Although it’s unclear when sesame paste appeared, I believe it won’t be too long before sesame oil appeared.

Sesame sauce appears in the "water-slippery noodles" recorded in the Jinhua local cookbook "Wu Shi Zhong Ji Lu" in the Song Dynasty: "Use very white flour and knead it into a paste, make ten pieces per pound, and put them on the In the water, when the texture is very satisfying, pull it out piece by piece, and cook it until it is wide and thin. It is good to make it thick and thin. Pickled leeks and cucumber shreds can be used as dumplings, or fried with meat. "It looks delicious, and the "spicy" mentioned in it is sesame paste.

Yuan Mei's "Suiyuan Food List" mentions the method of making noodle tea, which also includes sesame paste: "Boil the coarse tea juice, add fried noodles, add sesame paste, milk, and a pinch of salt . If it’s dairy-free, you can also add soufflé or milk skin.” The three characters of sesame paste have finally made their way into celebrity recipes.

The fact that sesame paste has left such a deep mark on the lives of Beijingers may be related to the "poor people's happiness" in the era of material scarcity. Since 1954, sesame paste has been supplied in a planned manner and managed by the food department, with a limit of one or two per person per month. Since there was little oil and water in daily life, going to a state-owned grocery store to "make sesame paste" and then holding the bottle and licking it while walking home became the collective memory of children of that era.

There was a widely circulated joke at that time. Adults sent their children to a grocery store to make sesame paste. When they came back, they found that the portion was not enough, so they went to the grocery store to argue and asked for a new weighing. The salesperson said, you'd better weigh it first. The child, because the short sesame paste got into the child's stomach.

Sesame paste also has an interesting story with the writer Mr. Lao She. One summer, the supply of sesame paste in Beijing exceeded the demand, and the limited amount was simply not enough. As a people's representative, Mr. Lao She made a proposal to the Beijing Municipal Government: He hoped that the government would solve the problem of sesame paste supply. He said, "Beijing people love to eat cucumbers in summer and cannot do without sesame sauce!" Soon, sesame sauce was sold in Beijing's non-staple food stores, and each household also increased the supply of one tael. Mr. Lao She really understands Beijingers and knows that sesame paste is the "life" of Beijingers in the hot summer.

There are many fun things to do in making sesame paste. At that time, each house had different bottles for storing sesame paste, and the bottle mouths were of different sizes. The salesperson first puts the bottle on the scale, adds the weight of the bottle, and then moves the weight to a certain position based on the ration. For example, if the ration is three liang, the weight is usually set to a little more than three liang. Then she picked up the big spoon of sesame paste in the store. There was always sesame paste in the spoon. The very viscous sesame paste flows down from the large spoon, forming a thin line of light brown color, and slowly flows into the customer's sesame paste bottle. As the scale beam slowly rises, the salesperson must constantly turn the spoon in order to control the flow of sesame paste and cut off the flow of sesame paste at any time. This is a tricky job, otherwise the sesame paste may fall on the scale or be over-measured. Finally, the salesperson will say in Beijing movies: "Look, more than three taels, I'm not short of you."

Shopkeeper Li, who has worked in the state-owned Zhaofu Street non-staple food store for more than 30 years, still keeps this saying. With its unique skills, this old shop is one of the few remaining non-staple food shops in Beijing where you can make sesame paste. He recalled, "Before 1992, you needed a ticket to buy sesame paste. At that time, one person per household cost two taels. If there were eight people in this family, it would cost more than one pound a month. It was not available all year round, only from May Day to November. When the weather gets hot, Beijingers crave sesame sauce noodles! This is a product of the planned economy. Sesame sauce can make up for people’s lackluster taste. Beijingers’ habit of eating sesame sauce was developed in that era.

You need to be able to make sesame paste with a spoonful of accuracy, and it takes three years to practice this skill as an apprentice in a grocery store. ”

There are various categories of sesame paste, including pure sesame paste, and some with other ingredients added, and the addition ratios are also different. The favorite among Beijingers is “Erba Sauce”. Because the aroma of sesame paste is strong after it is fried. , but it will taste bitter in the mouth, and usually contains 20% peanut butter. Balanced with sweetness, it becomes a fine-tasting "Erba sauce", with a texture as dense and pure as pea yellow, warm and transparent. It's full of flavor.

When using sesame paste as a topping for cold noodles, or as a dipping sauce for mutton shabu-shabu and stir-fried tripe, it is necessary to make the sesame paste thick and thin. For example, if it is too thin, the noodles will not be able to be wrapped and it will become a soup noodle; if it is too thick, the noodles will not be stirred and will stick together.

Gourmet Mr. Meng Chunming once described the process of making sesame paste cold noodles in detail. Beijingers’ summer delicacy: “Take an appropriate amount of sesame paste, add salt, add cold water to the sesame paste little by little, stir slowly to fully combine the sesame paste and water, don’t be impatient at this time, if you do it too quickly, it will not become watery. The sauce was mixed together, the appearance was very poor, and it was unusable. Some people use sesame oil instead of water-soaked sesame paste. I think it is not advisable because sesame paste already contains a lot of fat, and oil-based sesame paste is too greasy. ”

After making the sesame paste, prepare a small bowl of Sanhe oil, which is a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil. The ratio is 4:1:1. First put the soy sauce and vinegar into the bowl and cut in a little. Heat the chopped chives and fry some Sichuan peppercorns in hot sesame oil. Take out the Sichuan peppercorns and pour the hot sesame oil into the soy sauce and vinegar.

You don’t have to have as many noodles as Zhajiang noodles. Two or three kinds are enough. They are standard. It is raw cucumber shreds, cooked green beans, and cooked cowpea segments. Of course, garlic cloves are indispensable. If you have toon on hand, it is also a good combination to use with sesame paste. Wash and mince the fresh toon, add salt and put it in a bowl with boiling water. Soak to bring out the aroma, and cover it with a lid to prevent the aroma from escaping. Mix it with sesame sauce and Sanhe oil, or use it alone. It is a good choice for eating noodles in summer.

"Take out a bowl of cool noodles, add sesame paste, Sanhe oil, and an appropriate amount of noodles, stir evenly, and take a bite of garlic cloves from time to time. Beautiful! The bold way to eat the cucumber is not to cut it into shreds, but simply grab a whole cucumber in your hand, take a bite of the cucumber, eat a bite of noodles, and add a clove of garlic. Hey, even the delicacies of land and water are not changed at this time! "Have you heard your index fingers twitching and your mouth watering?

As for the mutton shabu-shabu, the bowl of sesame sauce seasoning is simply the soul. I don’t know who invented it. It’s a perfect match. However, this is not a bowl. Ordinary sesame sauce, but a complex blend of seasonings is a special skill for mutton shabu-shabu. The reason why it is kept secret is mainly because the famous shabu-shabu restaurants for hundreds of years have followed the principle of "not spreading the family information to others." /p>

Master Chen Lixin, a national non-hereditary expert in the skill of Donglaishun mutton-shabu-shabu, once generously introduced the traditional blending method of seven kinds of condiments: "Seven kinds of condiments are served in bowls. When blending, first add cooking wine, shrimp oil, Stir soy sauce and chive flowers evenly, then add soybean curd and sesame paste, stir clockwise with a spoon, and finally add chili oil according to the customer's requirements. The seasonings blended in this way can be stirred evenly, and since the liquids are put in first and the solids last, they will not stick to the bowl when mixing. Stir clockwise, firstly, the stirred seasoning will not disperse or loosen, and secondly, it means everything goes smoothly. "The order is told to you. As for the dosage, it can only be imagined but cannot be explained. How about you go home and try it yourself?

Let's take a closer look at the sesame-related foods in Beijing. If there is anything missing, you can remind me!

Noodle tea

A bowl of rice noodles, topped with sesame sauce, and sprinkled with salt and pepper for a salty taste. When drinking matcha, the old man would spin the bowl and suck it in. Of course, it's okay if you drink it with a spoon. Every time I drink it, I always feel that the waiter doesn't give enough sesame paste.

Bean Soup

< p> One of the traditional breakfasts of Beijingers can also be bean flour balls and bean dip, which is called "two kinds". The essence of this soup is to put sesame sauce and coriander, and it will be different immediately.

Sesame paste sugar flower rolls

The brown sugar is sweet and the sesame paste is overbearing. What Beijing kid doesn’t love this taste? After eating, my mouth is covered with sticky brown sugar and sesame paste, and I don’t care about the image at all.

Sesame sesame pancakes

The hot pancakes freshly baked are fragrant with sesame seeds, crispy and soft. After cutting them, add soy sauce beef, gravy and sesame sauce. It’s a blessing!

Sugar Fire

Put brown sugar, sesame paste, and osmanthus into the flour, and it will be soft and fragrant after being baked. This is what old Beijing loves!

Sesame Sugar Cake

The only way to make sesame paste cakes delicious is to put more sesame paste and more sugar! The best is to have a crispy outer skin and flowing sesame paste inside.

Spread the white sugar sesame paste on the steamed buns.

How many people are like me? They learned this destructive way of eating from Heping in "I Love My Family".

The hot noodle steamed buns have just come out of the pan. Break the buns apart, smear them with sesame sauce, add some sugar, pinch them with your hands, and take a big bite. Not to mention how happy you are!

Sesame Wafers

Daoxiangcun Sesame Wafers are stocked all year round. The sesame sauce tastes thick and does not leave residue. I am deeply impressed by it!

Sesame Steak

Call for Yili’s Sesame Steak. This is a food that tastes sweet, salty, sesame-flavored, neither hard nor soft. You can eat it on the side. Eating sesame sauce steak while playing real mahjong tiles!

Qianlong Cabbage

A dish created by the people of Beijing. The cabbage is wrapped in sesame sauce and sprinkled with sugar. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is "the most delicious kind of cabbage". But I don’t like its name. Why does it involve the emperor in everything? He also made up a story about a private visit incognito. It felt like the emperor finally managed to sneak out and eat around. How could he meet Xia Yuhe if he went on like this?

Mix everything with sesame sauce...

In Beijing, almost all cold dishes can be mixed with sesame sauce. In addition to cabbage, you can also mix with tomato puree, cucumber, spinach, and cowpea. , mixed with lettuce...I even tried sesame sauce fruit salad, in short, sesame sauce can be mixed with everything.

Among the many possibilities of sesame sauce above, you will find that in this city where sesame sauce is everywhere and wrapped in layers of sesame sauce, those foods that are originally really ordinary are exactly the same. After adding sesame paste, it shines brightly.

Even if they were once poor and stretched, people still strive to develop a kind of refinement and a kind of exquisiteness in limited ingredients. Although "steamed buns dipped in sesame sauce and white sugar" are no longer a rarity in the future, food memory and culture But it has survived and influenced generations of Beijing stomachs.