What kind of porridge is there in Yangjiang?

Yangjiang Food: White Porridge

There is a difference between Yangjiang porridge and Guangzhou porridge. In Guangzhou porridge, the rice is cooked into paste. We call it "mosquito wings". As for Yangjiang porridge, just boil the rice, which is closer to what the Central Plains people call "porridge."

Although the cooking method of white porridge is simple, it is also very particular. The porridge is divided into three layers to make good porridge. The thin and mushy layer on top of the cooled porridge is called "porridge skin", and children especially like to eat it. The second layer is porridge water, which we call "yin". It was the most popular nutritional drink among Yangjiang people in the past. When your mouth is dry and your tongue is dry, you can drink "yin" and you will immediately feel comfortable all over. The layer that settles at the bottom is boiled rice, which we call porridge residue. If you eat porridge with leftover porridge residue, you will be called a prodigal by the old man.

In the past, literati praised porridge. Zhang Wenqian of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote "Porridge": "Zhang Anding ate a large bowl of porridge every morning. His stomach was empty on an empty stomach, and grain gas was produced, so the supplement was not fine. "It's also very soft and greasy, and it's compatible with the intestines. It's the best food." Monk Miaoqi said: "The porridge is very beneficial. If you don't eat it, you will feel dry and thirsty all day long." Stomach qi produces body fluids. Now I advise people to eat porridge every day, thinking that it is important to maintain health. It is probably to nourish life and seek peace and happiness. There is nothing far-reaching and difficult to understand. "Everyone in Yangjiang hears. You must eat plain porridge for every meal, not because you are good at preserving your health, but because you are poor and cannot afford to eat. Therefore, others say that living in poverty is like "surviving the world", but we call it "being exposed to porridge and water". If an old man cannot enjoy his old age, he will have to lament that he is "eating frozen porridge in old age".

Yangjiang people used to eat porridge as their staple food for three meals a day, and at most they only had rice for dinner. Get up early every day and cook a big bowl of porridge. The whole family eats this from morning to night. As a side dish, the most common one is salted fish. "Porridge with salted fish larvae" is a daily meal for Yangjiang people. Another most common side dish is salted melon. It is sung in major dramas: "Bite the salted melon with the sound of porcupine." "Drinking a bowl of white porridge with a squeaking sound!" - "Taking porridge and water" is also so vivid, which shows the optimistic spirit of Yangjiang people.

(Melon salty - pickled cucumbers with a lot of salt)

What you use to make side dishes reflects the living standard of the family. It is said that at that time, meat and vegetables were expensive and scarce, so some people would find clean white stones, wash them and fry them with oil and salt. When eating porridge, they would pick up a piece of white stone and lick it before putting it back on the plate, and then drink a few mouthfuls of the porridge. In the past, there was a fortune teller who told a child's fortune. He counted on his fingers and shouted: "Good! Good! This child looks like a rich man. He will definitely eat lean meat porridge for every meal in the future!" Because at that time, "fish is included in three meals a day." "Or eating "wet and lean pig porridge" are all reflections of wealthy families.

Today, people in Yangjiang eat porridge for the sake of health, as Monk Miaoqi said, "thinking it is important to maintain health." Therefore, white porridge has become a must-have dish at meals. After the big fish and meat, Be sure to serve white porridge, and order some salted fish and fermented bean curd as side dishes. It not only supplements the nutrients that are not found in fish and meat, but also cleans up the fat in fried dishes.

Nowadays, you can see food stalls specializing in white porridge everywhere in Yangjiang. From the open space at the back gate of Zhongshan Park to the porridge markets in various townships, every porridge stall follows the same pattern: several porridge stalls lined up. On the square table, there are several pots of pickled cabbage, melon salt, melon sour, cabbage salt, ground beans, etc. on the table. Guests can spoon a bowl of porridge themselves and use small plates to choose their own dishes. Each bowl costs 1 yuan and 5 yuan, a Yangjiang-style buffet. .

(Cucumbers are marinated in salt water overnight)

People in Yangjiang now eat white porridge. The classic breakfast pairing is a bowl of white porridge with two pig intestines, which is eaten by the river. At the food stalls in Di, the most common late-night snack is plain porridge and plain-cut chicken. If you want to eat delicacies from the mountains and seas, have abalone porridge - but this is no longer "white" porridge. The "white" in Yangjiang white porridge means that there are no ingredients, just rice and water. Because of this, white porridge has now become a healthy food for women who want to lose weight.

As times change, the eating habits and cooking methods of Yangjiang people change every day, but white porridge has not changed at all from the cooking method to the eating method.

——It’s just that we eat plain porridge today, and our parents ate plain porridge yesterday. I’m afraid we are no longer in the same mood.