0 1 My name is steamed buns/Not steamed buns/
"Xiao Long", as its name implies, refers to the pastry steamed in a small steamer. Generally speaking, the weight of a "guest" cage should be controlled within the appetite of a single person to meet the standard. For example, Yangzhou soup-filling cage with one cage, Wuxi cage with four cages, Shanghai Nanxiang cage with eight cages and Shaoxing Shengzhou cage with ten cages are all regarded as "small cages" in a broad sense, although they are different in size.
This is a small cage | stock.tuchong
This is also a small cage | stock.tuchong
On the contrary, no matter how small the steamed buns are, they can't be called "small steamed buns". In Hangzhou, this kind of big cage small bag has another name "throat steamed bread"-meaning to swallow it at once. The most important thing is that the suffix of "Xiaolong" must be steamed bread, not "steamed buns". In the Taihu Plain with Su Xichang, Hangjiahu and Shanghai as the core, there is no word "steamed stuffed bun" in the Wu dialect spoken by local people. All those with stuffing and those without stuffing become steamed bread. Meat steamed bread, vegetable steamed bread, fried steamed bread, steamed steamed bread … In fact, wonton and steamed bread are all ancient Chinese words. Wonton comes from "chaos", which describes that boiled stuffed pasta has no seven tricks; Steamed bread comes from "hiding the head", which describes the pasta made into the shape of a human head and hides from the gods when offering sacrifices. After Mongolia entered the Central Plains, it collided with Chinese. Wonton and steamed bread, which have profound Chinese meanings, cannot be translated into Mongolian, but the folk abbreviations "jiaozi" and "steamed buns" circulating in the streets can be accurately translated into Mongolian "bansh" and "buuz". This is the language basis for the large-scale popularity of jiaozi and steamed buns in northern China, and it is also the cultural origin of Jiangnan, the hometown of the Southern Song Dynasty, which still insists on using wonton and steamed buns. Therefore, authentic indigenous people in the Yangtze River Delta will never connect the words "steamed buns". The serious reading method should be "steamed buns". In this sense, the "Hangzhou steamed buns" that can be seen everywhere in northern cities are undoubtedly knockoffs. The Common Steamed Bun Shop in Hangzhou in the North | flickr suuuki mo
Wu Pai Cage VS Yuepai Cage/Selection Based on Geographical Differences/
On the other hand, the popularity of "Hangzhou steamed buns" in the north, instead of Wuxi, Suzhou, Shanghai and Shaoxing steamed buns, also has unique cultural opportunities. The word "wuyue" often appears as a whole in the Yangtze River Delta region, but Wu culture and Yue culture are quite different. ■ Wu Pai Xiaolong is a fertile plain with Qiantang River as the general dividing line and Wudi with Suzhou as the core in the north. Here, graceful and exquisite gentry culture is advocated. Pingtan and Kunqu Opera are soft words of Wu Nong who are gentle enough to pinch water. The diet also advocates light and sweet wind. Steamed fish, fried sweet beans and salted shrimp are the dishes with high order rate in Suzhou restaurants. Specific to the small cage, Suzhou, Wuxi and Shanghai in the Wu culture area mostly use unfermented dead noodles as skins. This is in order to roll the dough thinner and make the stuffing appear translucent; And the dead dough can pinch out more wrinkles, reflecting the meticulous eating attitude. Most of the stuffing in Wu Pai steamed buns strictly follows the principle of "three fat and seven thin", and is chopped with pure pork, and flavored with different degrees of sugar and light soy sauce. For example, Wuxi steamed buns often sweeten foreigners to doubt their lives because of the high sugar content. In addition, in the old shops, a "water play" should be added to stir the broth into the meat stuffing. The small cage made in this way carries a soup. However, "water fighting" is laborious, which increases the difficulty of wrapping small cages and shortens the shelf life of meat stuffing. Therefore, today's shops are often lazy, and the effect of gravy overflowing can be made seven or eight points by mixing the frozen skin with the meat stuffing. Today, Ding Taifeng, the most influential small cage brand in the world, although its founder Yang Bingyi is from Shanxi. But after he traveled to Taiwan Province, he has been working in the Shanghai boss's industry; When I started to operate "Ding Taifeng", I was also instructed by my friends in Shanghai. Therefore, today's attitude of "Ding Taifeng" to pursue more than 18 folds is the tradition of Wu Pai's small cage. However, in order to mass-produce according to industrial standards, Ding Taifeng's small cage abandoned the water-playing method and standardized and digitized the ratio of frozen skin and minced meat in the stuffing, so it was criticized by many Jiangsu and Zhejiang gourmets as "losing the childlike taste". ■ To the south of Qiantang River, the Yuepai Xiaolongs are rolling hills in the south of the Yangtze River. The geographical pattern is broken and the business forms are diversified. Here, the market culture has an overwhelming advantage over the literati culture. Yue Opera and Lotus Falls, which are popular here, are all artistic forms full of fireworks. In terms of diet, most of them are dried plums, fermented bean curd, south bacon and duck in sauce. The small cages here also inherit this kind of market atmosphere, and most of them use fermented hair as the skin, not paying attention to wrinkles or pursuing translucent visual effects. Small as it is, it's full, and it's best to have meat oil spill from the mouth of the dough after steaming, which is oily and mouth-watering. Although many high-end restaurants now use dead dough for good visual effects, most roadside shops still use hair dough. The selection of fillings in Yue Pai Xiao Long also has diversified characteristics. In addition to pork, mushrooms, diced bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, dried shrimps and green vegetables will be selected in a frugal way, and the stuffing will be seasoned with a variety of ingredients, so that there will never be a sweet and boring taste. However, in fact, the economy of Vietnam has lagged behind that of Wudi for a long time, and the degree of wealth is far from the same. Especially in the mountainous area represented by Shaoxing Shengzhou, it used to be too poor to eat meat, so it also derived a tofu cage: cheap tofu mixed with minced meat as the stuffing in the cage. Using the smell-absorbing characteristics of tofu, it only costs a little pork to make more small cages. At that time, people didn't expect that tofu stuffing, which was unintentionally inserted under the embarrassment of life, could actually become a major category of today's small cages.
Hangzhou Xiaolong/Existence of Compatibility/
Hangzhou, a "backward molecule" sandwiched between two cultures in wuyue, is a very unique existence. The dining table of Hangzhou people will always be divided. One table of dishes is half of Wu cuisine advertised as light and far-reaching, and the other half is inseparable from the colorful Yue cuisine. The light fish-head tofu soup and the heavy-flavored steamed double-smelly Qi Fei are a normal match for Hangzhou people. The dishes with the word "West Lake", such as West Lake vinegar fish, West Lake water shield soup and West Lake beef soup, are tourist dishes that Hangzhou people don't eat themselves. Trying to make some cultural self-confidence different from other places, but unable to escape the influence of external culture, is the typical mentality of "nouveau riche" with a weak historical foundation, and is also the fundamental reason why Hangzhou is regarded as a "gourmet desert" by many foreigners. But when it comes to regional food like Xiao Long, Hangzhou can show great inclusiveness. Whether it's the elaborate Wu Pai small cage or the Yuepai small cage with fireworks in the street, you can find a place here. At the same time, Hangzhou, with its own attributes of online celebrity, is a new immigrant city. Here, the "steamed buns" in the south of the Yangtze River are called "steamed buns" by the students in the north, and they will get the greatest respect and understanding. The "Hangzhou Xiaolongbao" spread all over the country seems to be the invention and creation of snack bar owners, but in the bones, it reflects the small cage lovers from all over the country and the greatest affirmation of Hangzhou.