Why do you always meet Texas braised chicken by train?

Chickens have always played a very important role in the diet sequence of China people. Chicken, duck, fish, chicken comes first. In many areas, there is even a saying that "no chicken is a feast".

Throughout the country, no matter how different the eating habits are, chickens can basically be used to make signature dishes that meet local tastes. It's really difficult to say who did the best.

Nevertheless, China still has the legendary "four famous chickens"-Dezhou Braised Chicken, Goubangzi Smoked Chicken, Daokou Roasted Chicken and Fuliji Roasted Chicken.

The reason why the "four famous chickens" stand out among all the chickens in the country is not only because of their delicious taste, but also because of the railway.

Dezhou paji is a Shandong specialty, not a Dezhou specialty.

There is nothing better to take on the train than Texas braised chicken.

In the slogan of "Four Famous Chickens", every chicken calls itself "the first of the four famous chickens". But in terms of popularity, "the first of the four famous chickens" may have to say that Texas braised chicken.

This Texas is not another Texas. The hometown of Dezhou paji is Dezhou, Shandong Province, not Dezhou, USA.

People lucky enough to have experienced the era of green leather trains will probably never forget the scene when the train went to Texas and passengers snapped up braised chicken-passengers waited behind the door early and rushed to the platform as soon as the door opened. In an instant, all the trucks on the platform were packed, and then they returned to the carriage with braised chicken wrapped in oil paper.

In the 1980s, Dezhou Railway Station snapped up braised chicken.

No kidding, Texas braised chicken is definitely the best food to board the train. Texas braised chicken takes local materials and pays attention to the whole chicken boneless, even the bones are very brittle, and you can have a beautiful meal without hard chopping or even tableware. In the long journey of the green leather train era, a braised chicken with a pot of wine can definitely climb to the top of the train food contempt chain.

When Mr. Tang, a famous diner, worked in the Ministry of Railways of the National Government, he took a bus from Shanghai to Tianjin one year, passing through Dezhou, and specially bought a Dezhou braised chicken. In his words: "This kind of braised chicken with tender skin and fat is very enjoyable. It is really a pleasure to eat so much on the trip." Mr. Tang even missed his stop because of this braised chicken.

Texas braised chicken should be sprayed with honey and fried before marinating. The "four famous chickens" are actually similar in technology.

How did Texas braised chicken get on the train?

Dezhou, located along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, was a place where merchants came and went during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. To study the origin of braised chicken in Dezhou, it is recorded that there were roast chicken dealers carrying baskets in Dezhou city and on the docks in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Later, after many years and the development of many businesses, dock roast chicken gradually became known as "boneless braised chicken".

The biggest difference between braised chicken in Texas and roast chicken and roast chicken that people see every day is the word "roast".

"Roasting" is one of the most commonly used cooking techniques in Shandong cuisine. Generally speaking, it is to replace the raw materials that have been preliminarily processed with knives, put them face down in a spoon or put them in a pattern, add a proper amount of soup and seasoning, heat them with slow fire, thicken them, turn over the spoon, pour the noodles and put them on a plate. The most typical dishes are roasted sea cucumber and fish belly, roasted beef strips and so on.

Shandong cuisine famous dish roasted sea cucumber

However, the braised chicken in Texas is mainly reflected in the heat. First, you need to cook it with high fire, and then simmer it with low fire. The chicken needs to be stewed for 6-8 hours, and the old chicken needs to be stewed for 8- 10 hours. Stewed chicken for a long time can be separated with a gentle shake.

Delicious, Texas braised chicken can go out of Texas and is famous all over the country. The most grateful thing is the train.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Jin-Pu Railway (now beijing-shanghai railway) and Shide Railway (Shijiazhuang-Dezhou) were opened to traffic one after another, making Dezhou a very important railway hub in North China at that time. Today, the status of Dezhou railway hub has not declined, and the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and Shiji high-speed railway also meet at Dezhou East Station.

The railway hub brings a large number of passengers, who want to eat, which gives the braised chicken a chance to rise. At that time, most of the braised chicken shops were concentrated in front of the railway station square, and there was a phenomenon of paving.

Former Dezhou Railway Station of Jinpu Railway, Source: Dezhou Daily.

Jin-Pu Railway connects Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Nanjing, Shanghai and many other big cities in series, and it is one of the most important railway trunk lines in China. Texan braised chicken also went north and south along the railway, becoming a famous food in China.

Of course, the evaluation of Dezhou paji has been mixed, and many people think that Dezhou paji is "more famous than strength". There are two reasons for this evaluation: first, Texans think that braised chicken is delicious only when it is fresh, but now many braised chicken in Texas are vacuum-packed; Second, buying braised chicken in Texas is the same as buying roast duck in Beijing. Many people have suffered losses, even Mr. Tang was once in trouble.

According to Mr. Zeng Yangfu, "When you pass through Texas by train, you must ask the waiter to buy you a braised chicken outside the platform." But one thing, don't buy it from vendors on the platform. It happened that you didn't eat braised chicken, but roasted crow. When the express train passes through Texas, it is mostly around dinner. The oil lamps held by the vendors are dim. Every braised chicken is wrapped in cellophane, just fat. When I buy a car, I will tear open the cellophane and eat it. I know I didn't fall for it, but the car has already left. "

-Don, "Texas Braised Chicken Pillow Melon"

It is the biggest selling point of Texas braised chicken to take off the bone with a slight shake.

If you don't cross the line, there will be no ditch to smoke chicken.

Goubangzi is located in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province. In the propaganda language of Goubangzi smoked chicken, he also claimed to be the first of the four famous chickens, but to be honest, the popularity of Goubangzi smoked chicken was much worse than that of Dezhou braised chicken.

Commissioner, Goubangzi smoked chicken still has some popularity. Liaoning TV station used to have many advertisements for Goubangzi smoked chicken, often at important times.

Goubangzi is also a railway hub. It is the intersection of Shenshan Line (Shenyang-Shanhaiguan) and Gouhai Line (Goubangzi-Haicheng), where the trains from the customs depart for Shenyang and Dalian respectively.

Goubangzi Railway Station 1926

Similar to the braised chicken in Texas, the railway hub has become the most important factor for Goubangzi's famous smoked chicken. About the founder of Goubangzi smoked chicken, there are different records in different historical materials, but most of them recognize that the founder is from Anhui, and the people who followed Dongdu went to Jinzhou Goubangzi, the main road of customs clearance, to smoke chicken here.

With the influx of immigrants and economic development, as the most important railway hub, Goubangzi has become an important distribution center for people and materials, and Goubangzi smoked chicken is also famous with the construction of railway lines.

It is very particular to judge the quality of a smoked chicken. You can smell it from its color.

In fact, foods such as roast chicken and smoked chicken are common in many places in the north. Goubangzi's smoked chicken flavor is not necessarily outstanding, because it is originally suitable for northerners' tastes, while people traveling by land and road mainly come from Shandong, Hebei and other places. Roast chicken cooked food is not easy to deteriorate, which is very suitable for long-distance train travel.

When more competitors appear, Goubangzi smoked chicken will no longer have an advantage. Moreover, with the opening of Panjin-Yingkou high-speed railway, Goubangzi's pivotal position is no longer important, and Goubangzi smoked chicken has gradually become a nostalgic food.

Daokou roast chicken: Probably the best of the four famous chickens.

Daokou roast chicken originated from Daokou Town, hua county, Henan Province. Unlike Dezhou and Goubangzi, the crossing is not a railway hub, and the Daoqing Railway (Daokou Town-Tsinghua Town) where the crossing is located is not a railway trunk line like Jinpu Railway and Luhan Railway (Lugouqiao-Hankou), but a provincial railway, so the spread of roast chicken at the crossing is not as extensive as that of braised chicken in Dezhou and smoked chicken in Goubangzi.

Now on the train passing through Anyang, the broadcast is still like this: "Emperor Qianlong made a southern tour and crossed the crossing. He is hungry. The poor emperor has no food except chicken? " There are countless delicacies in China that claim to be related to Qianlong.

In this case, Daokou roast chicken can still occupy a place among the "four famous chickens", largely because of its taste. Daokou roast chicken may really be one of the four famous chickens.

In terms of material selection, the tender chicken within two years is generally selected for crossing roast chicken. When it is made, honey is first coated on the chicken, and then it is fried in a pot until it is pink. After frying, it should be marinated for at least three to five hours, and it can also reach the state of deboning.

In the process of making Daokou roast chicken famous, the railway factor is not so absolute, but the relatively good taste makes Daokou roast chicken not decline even after the decline of local railways.

Fu railway station is gone, and Fu roast chicken has also declined.

Among the "four famous chickens", Fuliji roast chicken has a low sense of existence.

Liv Zhan Ji, check the watermark of the image source.

Fuliji roast chicken originated from Fuli Town, Suzhou, Anhui Province, and developed from Dezhou braised chicken. Similar to the braised chicken in Texas, Fuli Town also set up a station because the Jinpu Railway passed by and set fire to Fuli Chicken.

However, Fuliji Railway Station is not like Texas, and it was still a railway hub until the high-speed rail era; Unlike Goubangzi, at least it persisted in the high-speed rail era. In 2006, the passenger service of Fuliji Railway Station stopped, and the presence of Fuliji roast chicken was worse than other chickens.

Why can these four chickens become "four famous chickens"?

To be reasonable, the "four famous chickens" can't say how prominent they are. Roasted chicken, smoked chicken and sauced chicken are common all over the north, such as Sanyuan smoked chicken in Shaanxi and Wuwei salted duck in Anhui, which are not inferior to the "four famous chickens" in taste, but their popularity is much worse.

Without the railway, there would be no "four famous chickens"

Therefore, the reason why the "four famous chickens" can become "four famous chickens" is really thanks to the railway and the historical journey. Now take the high-speed train, unless it is a very long journey, it will only take a few hours at most. It's not impossible to eat on the train and endure getting off the bus before eating. But it took eight hours to sit in beijing-shanghai railway during the Republic of China. Not from Beijing to Shanghai, but from Nanjing to Shanghai. It can be said that the arrival of the railway era also gave birth to the demand for train catering.

The "four famous chickens" are basically local specialties in the north, mainly because the main railway lines from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China were mainly in the north, such as the Jinpu Railway to Nanjing Pukou and the Lu Han Railway to Hankou. When people get on the train, the first thing they find is these specialties from the north.

In the era of green leather trains, there were mobile trucks running with the car on the platform.

It is also very important that Dezhou, Goubangzi, Daokou and Fuliji were all small stations at that time, and there was still a distance from the core station. If passengers get on and off at the big station, or arrive at the big station soon, it is completely affordable, because there are more dining options in big cities. However, in a small station in the middle of nowhere and a relatively dense passenger distribution center, local food such as roast chicken is the best choice.

In addition, the "four famous chickens" have a heavy taste, and the chicken is cooked thoroughly, which completely inherits the characteristics of Shandong cuisine and is very suitable for the preservation and consumption of train travel.

Therefore, the rise of the "four famous chickens" is largely due to the mutual improvement with trains. Taste is not necessarily the decisive factor, but the right one is the best.