The origin of Xuzhou fried meatballs

According to legend, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi will hold a state banquet to celebrate the country's prosperity and people's peace, and ordered all localities to pay tribute to the court at the end of the year. On the imperial edict, big officials in various places beat small officials, pushing them from above to below, and pushing them from state to county, paying tribute to unknown dishes on schedule and beheading them for public display. On this day, Pockmarked Erh Lin, who is in charge of Fengjing Town, received an arrest warrant from the county grandfather. At first, he was very happy and thought it was time for a promotion. But later, he was afraid that he couldn't get food. The emperor's punishment is not for fun. He thought for a while and suddenly had an idea. It turned out that the other day he took a fancy to the little girl in Li's restaurant and wanted to take her as his concubine, but she would rather die than follow. Put this job on her now to show my resentment! I'm sure of my idea. I took a few attendants and went straight to Li's restaurant, which was small in appearance and operated by mother and daughter. Mother Li fried a good cake. My daughter's name is Maruko, and she is eighteen years old. She is smart, one in a million. She is a good player in jiaozi. Therefore, the restaurant specializes in selling jiaozi and oil cakes, and the business is average

Pockmarked Shang Er seemed to rush into Li's restaurant and shouted at the mother and daughter. "The emperor has an imperial edict, we pay tribute to a famous dish in jinjing town, and this job is left to you. If your majesty is satisfied, he will be rewarded a lot; If you make a mistake, be careful of your heads! " Hearing this, Li knelt down and pleaded, "Master Lin, look at my shop. It's just a living. How can I be so blessed? Please send another one! " "Pockmarked grape 2 opened his eyes wide and said," Cut the crap and I'll get something to eat then! "That night, both mother and daughter couldn't sleep. After thinking about it, they didn't know what to do, so Maruko said," Mom, since ancient times, "we can't delay business. Li Yi felt that her daughter's words made sense, so she got up and made a fire to fry oil cakes. Maru also began to load 1 cauldron, and jiaozi loaded several plates and half bowls of jiaozi. In a hurry, the dumpling stuffing was left in the bowl. Maruko just opened the door to sell, but unexpectedly, the northwest wind blew and snowflakes flew all over the sky. As soon as the snowstorm disturbed, there were no pedestrians in the street for a long time, so the mother and daughter had to sit around in the shop. Maruko sat on the desk, accidentally rolled the remaining dumpling stuffing into two balls as big as walnuts, put them on the chopping board, and went to the backyard to put the chicken.

Li tried to clean up the chopping board, but he heard two sounds of "staring, banging". I don't know what hit the oil pan. Suddenly, there was oil in the oil pan. Li called Maruko and asked her what was on the chopping board. Maruko looked into the oil pan and said with a smile, "Mom! It's not dirty. It's two balls of dumpling stuffing. Play! " . Angry and angry, Li complained, "I still have the heart to play." Take it out quickly! " Maruko was busy putting it into the bowl with chopsticks, and the ball turned black and red. First taste, crispy and tasteless. He put it in front of his mother and said, "mom, try this." More fragrant than jiaozi! " Li tasted it and thought it tasted strange. He wanted to eat it. Maruko said: "This is easy to handle. I'll fry some more for you to taste. " After that, I poured all those jiaozi on the chopping board, mixed some flour, rolled them into balls, put them in the oil pan together, and fried the back end for Li. She took a bite and took several bites in a row. Maruko said, "Mom, I will fry jiaozi and sell it tomorrow. I buy and sell alone and make money through insurance. When we earn more money, we will use the money to hire a famous chef and then cook tribute for the emperor.

"The next day, the snow stopped, and Fengjing Town has just gathered. Li burned the frying pan, fried the meatballs prepared last night, put six or seven meatballs in each bowl, poured tofu and vegetable soup on them, and sold them at the top of his lungs. Those carts, porters, vegetable sellers, and Mi Zhu, hearing the shouts, all entered the store, drinking and eating incense. When you are away from home, you will praise everyone who has eaten, and you want to taste all the things you haven't eaten. Mother and daughter are busy wiping sweat, but demand exceeds supply. I earned nearly half a month's money in one day at night. A few days later, pockmarked Lin came to your door. When he saw that the restaurant was booming and the food for the emperor had not been served, he flew into a rage and pointed at the mother and daughter and scolded, "If you can't serve the food tomorrow, I will fry your pills!" " "Mother and daughter didn't dare to talk back. After pockmarked Lin left, Maruko said, "Mom, present this dish to the emperor tomorrow and call it fried maruko!" " Li said, "Daughter, you are crazy. The emperor is used to eating delicacies and birds' nests. I'm afraid I can't even smell this folk vegetarian food! Dare not, dare not! " Maruko said, "Why not? Your majesty has sinned, and your daughter will bear it. "

That night, their mother and daughter carefully prepared the ingredients, specially picked two catties of lean meat, chopped it into pieces, added chopped green onion, garlic seedlings and other fine dishes, mixed with seasoning, mixed with some white flour, rolled ten bowls of meatballs, cooked them in boiling oil, fried them red and yellow, and packed them in boxes, waiting for Pockmarked Lin to pick them up. After the "decoction" was presented to the palace banquet, when the emperor and Wu tasted it together, they nodded and praised it frequently. Tang Gaozong happily said to Li Zhi, "It's a pity that there is no speculation. Call the cook to the palace quickly, so that I can eat enough every day! " Imperial edict down, who dare not follow. Soon, Maruko entered the palace and became a chef. One day, Tang Gaozong met Maruko and asked his name. He was surprised to find that meatballs had the same name as his favorite dish. After careful questioning, I realized that Pockmarked Lin had done a lot of evil in Jinjing Town, and now he sent a decree to put Pockmarked Lin in prison. In the future, people used to call "croquettes" "croquettes". Later, it spread from the court to the people and has been passed down to the present.

Brief Comment on Bian Xiao Cuisine: The story tells a famous dish that the imperial court wants to pay tribute to. On this day, Ma, the mayor of Fengjing Town, received a wanted order from the county grandfather. If you can't produce famous dishes, the consequences will be very serious. Li's restaurant is like a mother and daughter, but the horse wants to keep one in the restaurant, and she always disagrees. This is the horse's revenge. Her mother Li fried well, and her daughter called Maru Hotel, which specializes in selling jiaozi and biscuits. Inadvertently, Maruko put the dumpling stuffing into the oil pan for fun, and the fried taste was full of praise, so it was carefully crafted and presented to the emperor. After the emperor ate it, he praised it and let Maruko be a chef in the palace. Maruko came to the palace and asked what his name was. The emperor also had some atmosphere. How can the name be the same as the food that the emperor ate? Later, the croquettes were changed to croquettes. This is the origin.