Past events in the ancient city----Yi Tang Yicai "Four Jinshi"

After the launch of CCTV's "A Bite of China 3", it did not receive the rave reviews expected by the audience, and was even criticized. But for me, I like the continuation of the familiar lines and background soundtrack of the "Tongue Series". It introduces traditional delicacies from various places and inherits the concept of "food is the first thing for the people". It is narrated in a eloquent way and accompanied by pictures, which is very down-to-earth.

My hometown, Dongshan Island, is located at the intersection of the East China Sea and the South China Sea. For a long time, there has been a well-known home-cooked dish called "Four Jinshi". To be precise, it is a traditional delicacy that is both soup and dish.

The preparation of Sijinshi soup is actually very simple: cut the washed squid or dried cuttlefish vertically into strips along its lines, and soak it in warm boiled water. Then add the soaked dried seafood and the soaked soup, add the pork pieces with moderate fat content and bring to a boil. Filter out the foam. Then break the tofu pieces and cook together. Finally, add the garlic segments and bring the whole pot to a boil. , add fish sauce according to your own taste, and remember to sprinkle "Lingdao brand" pepper when cooking to make the taste more fragrant and palatable. This is the traditional dish that people on the island never get tired of eating - Si Jinshi.

It seems very simple, right? But I can tell you that this is the ingredient of the improved "New Four Jinshi Soup" with today's taste. There are differences between the cooking method and food selection of traditional Sijinshi soup. According to the introduction from the elders, the four ingredients that the traditional Four Jinshi must use in the early days of the ancient city are: dried dogfish (snake mullet breast), pork belly with skin, local white tofu and seasonal garlic. part).

As far as the ingredients of dried dogfish are concerned, it is not simple. In fact, it is quite particular. To cook a "Four Jinshi" dish, first of all, you should choose the dried product of the fresh "black dog breast" that grows on the local islands and reefs and has darker skin color. If they are produced in peripheral sea areas such as the Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea, the taste of the caught "Fan Gou Mu" and "Hua Gou Mu" (Xiang pronunciation refers to foreign items) will be obviously much worse. Of course, the people with superb cooking skills in the ancient city even subdivided the female fish into "coarse scales", "young (fine) scales", "jin scales" and other varieties based on the shape and color of the fish scales, and judged the quality based on the quality. Choose the best and choose carefully.

For another example, when choosing pork bladder, choose the front breast of the pig, which is better because it has thicker skin and more fat and less lean meat; for white tofu, use local white tofu; because the above ingredients are durable The long-term cooking makes the characteristics of each ingredient complement each other, making it fresh, sweet and delicious. You have to pay attention to the choice of garlic segments, which are called "garlic guai", which means white garlic cut into segments. There is a taboo folk saying here. In the early days, people described a certain family as "extremely poor." They used a common saying to describe it: "It's so poor that it boils a lamp to hook urine." fuel waste). Therefore, the garlic ingredients used in the Four Jinshi only use the white part of garlic, and the green and tail parts are discarded due to taboos.

Island people "eat the mountains based on the mountains and the sea based on the sea", which has been the principle of food intake since ancient times. There is no need to ask for delicacies from the mountains and seas. You can cook a delicious dish with a fresh taste at your fingertips just by using simple seafood and mountain delicacies.

In the early days, people pursued the original taste of food and had extremely strict requirements on ingredients. The Four Jinshi Soup is both a soup and a dish. In the era when supplies were scarce, ordinary people could serve a "Da Wan Gong" orthodox Si Jinshi soup during festivals or when entertaining relatives and friends. It was particularly warm and respectable. It can supplement high-quality protein and has the effects of improving intelligence and strengthening the brain, clearing away heat and reducing inflammation, moisturizing the skin, strengthening the spleen and kidneys, etc. It is suitable for all ages.

With the rapid development of social economy, material life has become more colorful. Many traditional recipes have been improved by people's selection of ingredients to constantly cater to the rhythm and taste buds of modern people. Si Jinshi, an authentic common people's dish, has ushered in a new life. In terms of material selection, people make full use of the island's resource advantages, using eels, small dolphins, octopus, squid, cuttlefish, oysters and other seafood as the main material after drying, replacing the traditional ordinary dried dragon head fish, along with pork chops or pork belly and pork belly. *** Boil the base soup together, then add tofu and garlic segments, and cook the Dongshan Island home-cooked dish - Sijinshi soup that fills the room with delicious fragrance.

I have always been puzzled as to why such an ordinary common dish is given such a prestigious name as "Four Jinshi"? I have asked many elders about this, just imagine. Can we explore the origin of the name of the "Four Jinshi" dish? Is it related to the imperial examination, or is it a kind of expectation placed on the people?

There are different opinions on the origin of the "Four Jinshi". There is no consensus.

There is a legend here: In the winter of a certain year in the Qing Dynasty, the hometown island where fishing was the industry was suddenly hit by severe natural disasters. "Sink", the ancient city was in a state of depression and desolation, and the people were in dire straits. On New Year's Eve, good merchants and wealthy merchants cut four large pigs in the ancient city, donated and distributed a small piece of pork to each household, so as to "eat meat to celebrate the New Year." People take out the only preserved fish larvae left over the winter at home, add tofu and seasonal green garlic, and cook it in a large pot as a "fireside dish." At this time, officials went to the ancient city to inspect households and sympathize with the people. The official suddenly smelled the aroma of dishes all over the room. He looked around and found that the aroma came from a pot of dishes on the table. After trying it, he was full of praise and asked why this was a famous dish. The accompanying squire had no idea what to do, so he had an idea and casually responded: "Four Jinshi". This is how the "Four Jinshi" got their name.

After many years, people on the island have a strong preference for this soup dish. "It is the name of the Fourth Jinshi that has been passed down from generation to generation." Where are the Fourth Jinshi who are eating?”

From the attention people attach to this soup, it is not difficult to imagine that it has the hidden meaning of celebration and hope. Because in the early days of my hometown island, when a ship was launched, a house was built, a wedding was celebrated, a child was born, an elder’s birthday was celebrated, a store was opened, a child’s academic success, etc., the host would host a banquet to welcome the guests. , this soup dish must be served to the Four Jinshi, which means "the four eyes are straight", everything will go smoothly and auspiciously.

The "Four Jinshi" soup is fragrant even before it comes out of the pot. It makes people salivate and can be smelled by neighbors from far away. This dish is cooked by almost every household in the ancient island area. Nowadays, Sijinshi has almost become a signature dish in the island's restaurant stalls. Guests traveling from abroad also know how to order this soup. They think this dish is "neutral and solid", combining the freshness of the sea and the taste of the mountains. Vigorous but not wild, it is unique in the ancient city’s food culture. The boss who was responsible for welcoming guests and ordering dishes said with a smile: If you eat my "Four Jinshi", you will be healthy and promoted and make a fortune. "You will be smarter and better at reading."

I was thinking that the green garlic and white tofu of the Fourth Jinshi did not mean that people should be pure and white; the cuttlefish (squid) relied on the cultural inheritance of the fragrant calligraphy from generation to generation; and the pork belly represented the complicated things in the world... I think it's just a matter of interest.

My children are studying abroad, and every time before they go home for the holidays, my wife starts planning how to prepare meals to make them more palatable. In her subconscious mind and concept, the children who left their hometown seemed to eat "almost junk food", which was less nutritious and not fresh. "How can it compare with the seafood on our islands?" This is due to her attachment to local eating habits, and the dish Si Jin Shi Soup must be at the top of her pre-arranged recipes.

"Four Jinshi" is a golden combination of four ingredients. Its taste is fresh, sweet and fragrant, nourishing the taste buds of people in the hometown. Si Jinshi, who is both soup and vegetable, is "very delicious". People are “tastier”.

It carries the memories of the taste of hometown from generation to generation on the island...

2018/06/13 draft