Shanxi people like to raise sheep, like to eat sheep, but also good treatment of sheep. There has been this tradition since the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties. The ancient city of Chang'an for thousands of years there are many specialized beef and mutton market, and still called the East Sheep Market Street, West Sheep Market Street. Sheep is a treasure, and there is almost no part of it that cannot be used as a delicacy. Sheep oil is used to make fried noodles and drink oil tea, which is a great hobby of Xi'an people. Sheep's blood is even more popular among many people. Sheep's blood can be eaten in various ways by cutting it into pieces after it has solidified, and sheep's blood with chili and garlic is probably the easiest and most popular way to eat it. Its method, with a good chili pepper grinding surface, on the good oil red, splash made of chili oil; with high-quality garlic crushed into mud; lamb blood block in the broth boiled, into the bowl, mainly with chili oil and garlic mud, and then appropriate to add salt, soy sauce, vinegar, sprinkle some cilantro, green onion, can be eaten. Chili oil and garlic paste, within the limits of personal tolerance, the more the better. Well served up, but see the bowl full of red, bright red chili oil coated with black and red sheep's blood, pepper and garlic spicy pungent, not very spicy food is not even dare to look at the people, while the old Xi'an is a big mouthful of enjoyment, only to feel the aroma of incomparable. This food can be eaten hot, can also be eaten cold, cold food is more special flavor, like cold noodles and the real system of meat dishes, is the blood products but the usual vegetarian. Three or two friends meet, a plate of spicy garlic sheep's blood, a bottle of West Wind Wine, you can talk all night. The scene is just like a gathering of hermit ancestors in the countryside, or like some kind of heroic act of the Eight Immortals in a drunken stupor. Spicy garlic sheep's blood is such a food: hot and spicy stimulation of people, through the family and friends of a hot heart, is a picture of Guanzhong hometown simple and innocent character of the style of painting.
Sheep's blood in powder soup is said to have originated from Wang Jintang, a sheep's blood stall at the Nanyuan Gate in Xi'an City, in the early 20th century to improve the crude sheep's blood eating method. To this day, people still say that the best goat's blood in vermicelli soup is from Wang Ji's family in Xi'an. But this Wang Ji store has long since ceased to exist. When I was young, I used to live in Nan Yuan Men, and I knew about this store and went there to eat it, and in the 50s, the store was still doing good business, so I went there to eat it again. I remember when Wang Ji store, only a small front, a few simple tables, the stove is located in front of the store, customers sit down, the operation process to see clearly. This powder soup sheep's blood was originally to soak the bun to eat, the customer will first break the bun by hand as a copper coin-sized pieces, and then sent by the waiter to the hands of the master of the spoon. At this time, the master of the spoon, standing in the red stove, from the table next to the pre-cut sheep's blood, into the boiling pot. The blood is about as thick as a matchstick, more than 10 centimeters long, and black and red. Blanch it for about a minute and put it into a bowl. Grab a little more water to soak the fine vermicelli, and put it into the bowl. Then use a spoon to the bowl poured hot soup, hot soup into the bowl for a moment, that line poured into the pot, and from the pot out of the rolling soup to the bowl poured, so repeated several times until the bun block has been soaking hot soaking soft until. Finally, the tofu block in the funnel, into the pot hot, add to the bowl, and then adjust the wax sizzling oil, chili oil, put the garlic mustard, parsley, and hot soup, that is, a bowl of hot and fragrant powder soup lamb's blood. The characteristics of this Xi'an snack, according to the book "Shaanxi traditional snacks" described as: "numb, spicy, salty, fragrant, light, tender. Sheep's blood is tender, smooth in the mouth, seasoned with a variety of spices, spicy and fragrant, helps one's appetite and is favorable for digestion." But for me, the most gluttonous or that "spicy", the whole bowl of powder soup goat's blood, even soup with buns with goat's blood with fans, through the red, often eat the corners of the mouth numb, eat lips are red, and often sweating profusely, and only feel its pain. From this point of view, powder soup sheep's blood, although modified, still extremely bold, should belong to the "man's food".
However, the production process of sheep's blood in powder soup is not simple, and each process has its own instructions. Boiled sheep's blood must be used to fine wicker over the impurities, and then add one-tenth of the salt, mix well, and then add and sheep's blood and the same amount of cold water. The soup in the hot pot must be seasoned with salt and seasoning: it is made with a mixture of more than ten flavors such as big red robe peppercorns, top cinnamon, cumin, strawberry, ginger, cloves, pepper, star anise, etc., among which the big red robe peppercorns and cumin should be heated up, dehumidified, roasted, and crushed into a fine powder first. Spoon master will pour hot soup into the bowl of the process, read as "bubble", the correct way to write this word should be 0 water side, a big word, under a d character. The Dictionary says: "Same as 'soak'. Soak things with water." It is also said that the Southern Song Emperor Zhao Gong had eaten a meal in this way in the wilderness when he was fleeing from the disaster. It seems that this way of eating is very some history, at least eight hundred years.
In addition to the traditional way of eating, in recent years, Shaanxi and Xi'an caterers have developed a new way of eating sheep's blood, called spicy sheep's blood. The originator may be the Wenhao Miscellaneous Food House, which specializes in Shaanxi local snacks, and which has become famous in Sanqin and has a place in the Beijing catering market. This spicy mutton blood is also full of a big bowl, a big pot, of course, that bowl or pot are much more fashionable, pay attention to elegant and beautiful. Before moving chopsticks, people see only chili peppers and peppercorns, too much can not be more than the blood of the sheep to be a lot more. It's also hot. Unlike the Sichuanese labeled "spicy hot", this is not hot pot food. Although chili peppers and peppercorns are spicy food, but most people who have eaten them say that they are not as spicy as they thought. Rather, it is to leave a kind of spicy in the pungent highlights the deep memory of the spicy flavor. Many people say: love, delicious.
According to some research in medicine and nutrition, sheep's blood is a scavenger, is an excellent health food. Including cardiovascular disease patients, diabetic patients, often eat have considerable therapeutic effects. I do not know whether this statement is based on. But the "Compendium of Materia Medica" clearly pointed out that sheep's blood "can system dansha, -, -, silver, salammoniac, -, sulfur milk, stalactites, empty green, Tseng Qing, mica stone, Yangqi stone, Kong Gong Tiller and other poisons," Li Shizhen also exclaimed: "sheep's blood detoxification function is so, and the herb does not speak of, sinc sinc sincelack of text also! ". Here the "Materia Medica" refers to Li Shizhen's previous books of traditional Chinese medicine literature, Li Shizhen is not satisfied with the achievements of his predecessors, only to complete the "Materia Medica Compendium" of the monumental work of lifelong energy. Chili peppers, on the other hand, are recognized to stimulate the appetite, help digestion, and can also be used medicinally, with the effect of insect repellent and sweating. So, now there are more and more people, such as spicy garlic sheep's blood, powder soup sheep's blood and spicy sheep's blood and other old Shaanxi love to eat flavorful food is quite interested in, there is a spicy sheep's blood to scrape up the wind of enthusiasts mean.