Shizaitang Xi

Tangxi, as an important town in the ancient Wu Dynasty, has a profound historical and humanistic background. This is not only reflected in the 500-year history of Tangxi County, but also reflected in the fact that Tangxi is a region with splendid culture, in which the food culture makes Tangxi famous in the ancient land.

Speaking of eating, Tangxi people have always talked about it. Tangxi cuisine is a kind of food with unique flavor in Bawu. In the catering industry of ancient houses, Tangxi rotten leek, boiled tofu, Tangxi dumplings and Tangxi chopped green onion once became the signature dishes of hotels and guesthouses. Tangxi meatballs, Qingming gizzards, crispy corn and roasted butterflies were once household names. Although some food is almost gone now, the old Tangxi people are still greedy when they talk about it.

As a culture, catering has penetrated into the bone marrow of Tangxi ancient culture. And Tangxi's diet, more is to add frugal elements. Almost every Tangxi dish contains the spirit of diligence and thrift of Tangxi people. They extract the best food from the most primitive and primitive food raw materials and become delicious food on people's tables.

Chopped green onion meat is a representative traditional dish in Tangxi, and it is an indispensable dish for ordinary people in Tangxi to entertain. Authentic Tangxi chopped green onion meat is made of lard film, but now some stores cut corners and change the production method of chopped green onion meat to tofu skin or lotus root paste instead of lard film. Although the appearance is similar, the taste is quite different.

Authentic Tangxi chopped green onion meat has always been made by traditional technology, and the raw material-lard film (intestinal adhesion, commonly known as net oil, spider net oil and flower oil) is hard to find in the general vegetable market, so if you want to eat authentic traditional chopped green onion meat, you can only eat it in Tangxi!

There is also a tortuous legend about the origin of chopped green onion meat in Tangxi. According to legend, in the early years, the government was corrupt, bandits were rampant, and the people were miserable and complained. It happened that the "black-hearted" government refused to let the people eat meat, and all the livestock and poultry such as pigs, cows, sheep and chickens had to pay tribute to the government for enjoyment after slaughter, otherwise it would be illegal to correct.

At that time, there was a butcher named Li in Tangxi who killed pigs every day, but his family couldn't eat pork once. Butcher Li is a dutiful son. It doesn't matter if he doesn't eat it himself, but he can't eat a fucking bite of pork. He is in a hurry. She has been trying to make her mother eat a delicious pork to show her filial piety.

When he killed the pig, he took out the intestinal adhesions from the pig's viscera, commonly known as net oil, spider web oil and flower oil. These were originally discarded by the government, so the butcher Li kept them and took them home. These raw materials, together with seasonings such as onion and flour, are wrapped in some minced meat that falls off when cutting pork, wrapped into pieces of onion oil rolls, and then fried with pigs.

Unexpectedly, after eating this scallion cake, my mother was very happy and even called it delicious. Butcher Li is also very happy, and feels that he can finally let his mother taste pork in the future. However, this kind of food should have a name, but it can't have the word meat, otherwise it will violate the official ban, and the butcher Li will call it chopped green onion roll. Later, more and more people made onion rolls, and the technology became more and more exquisite, and the name returned to its original taste: chopped green onion.

Since then, pork with shredded pork and chopped green onion has become a representative traditional banquet in Tangxi area, which can only be tasted by farmhouse music in the mountains. When guests arrive at Tangxi farmhouse, there must be chopped green onion on the wine table. The host will use this snack to let the guests guess the "wine riddle" and guess what is the raw material for making this snack. Few people can.

Speaking of diet, I have to say Tangxi egg noodles. This kind of food is also handed down from thrifty families. In Tangxi, the phrase "Where there is sweet potato powder, there is food" is circulated among most farmers. Egg noodles made of sweet potato powder and eggs can be used as both a dish and a staple food, which is highly respected by most people in Tangxi.

The origin of Tangxi egg noodles is also a beautiful legend. Once upon a time, there was a poor family in Tangxi. Usually, they can hardly cook anything delicious. His mother-in-law looked down on him because his family was poor. Although her daughter and son-in-law invited her many times, her father-in-law never came to visit her, which made her very uncomfortable.

Once, my mother-in-law missed her daughter so much that she secretly came to see her daughter without telling her father-in-law. I am so happy with my daughter that I want to cook something delicious for my mother. However, she searched everywhere in the house and found only half a bowl of starch (extracted from sweet potato), and there was nothing good anymore. But this half bowl of starch can't make anything delicious! Daughter is anxious, ashamed and uncomfortable. What can she do? Here, the old hen at home is very competitive. She "giggled, giggled" several times and plopped down a big egg.

With the eggs, the clever daughter thought of a way. She first beat the eggs in a bowl, then grabbed two handfuls of starch, added water to make a paste, and then fried them into pancakes in Zhang Yuanyuan. However, my mother can't get enough of such an omelet. what can I do?

The clever daughter cut the pancakes into thin strips, cooked them in a pot like noodles, and then added onions, ginger, garlic and peppers. With this combination, the taste of this egg noodle comes out, softer and tougher than ordinary noodles, and the soup is delicious. It can be used as a dish or a snack, which makes her flushed and full of praise. Since then, Tangxi egg noodles have become famous in the local area and become the main food for entertaining guests.

There is also a kind of Tangxi dessert called Tangtuan. This kind of food similar to Yuanxiao is only available in Tangxi area, but few people pay attention to Longyou, Suichang and Lanxi around it.

In the past, jiaozi's name was not dumplings, but Yuanxiao with Chinese cabbage stuffing. As for why it was later renamed Tang Tuan, it is said that it was related to Zhu Yuanzhang's garrison in western Shanxi.

As early as 1357, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Deng Yu, Hu Dahai, Huizhou and Xiuning to attack Wuzhou again, but failed to take it. Zhu Yuanzhang learned that his men could not attack Jinhua and personally led the troops to support him. He met counselors Liu Ji and Song Lian in Jiufeng Mountain, and soon he conquered Wuzhou.

In December of the following year, Zhu Yuanzhang came to the Tangxi border, looking for water to wash his hands at the edge of a small village on the edge of the town. He found that the water temperature in the pond was like soup. Zhu Yuanzhang named the village near the pond Tang Tang, and named the market town Tangxi because there was a river passing through the pond (Tangxi was established in the seventh year of Ming Chenghua).

After washing his hands, Zhu Yuanzhang came to Tang Tang Village with several cronies and had dinner among the farmers. When the peasants saw a group of officers and men, they dared not neglect them. They are busy cooking. However, there is nothing delicious in the farmhouse, only a little rice flour is reserved for the New Year, so it has to be used to entertain guests.

The host kneaded the rice flour into dough, then wrapped the stuffing made of lean meat, tofu and radish in rice flour balls, cooked them in a pot and put seven bowls for the guests to taste. Zhu Yuanzhang was a soldier all his life, hungry and full. He really had never eaten anything so delicious, even called it delicious, so he asked his master what the food was called. The host couldn't answer, so he asked Zhu Yuanzhang to name it.

Zhu Yuanzhang just named Tang Tang Village, where he ate dumplings, so he said, let's call it this dumpling. Since then, Tangxi dumplings have become famous all over the world and become the staple food of local guests.

In Tangxi, there is also a snack called "Debu", which has been circulated for hundreds of years and passed down from generation to generation by the Feng family in Tangxi. 1998, Feng Yiyin, the daughter of Feng Zikai, and her three sisters and her party went to Zu Dihuangtang Village of Feng surname to taste "Bao". They were surprised at it, and then they wrote an article "Qing Bu" to praise it, so they were also called "Bubu".

According to legend, at the end of Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, the capital of Ming Dynasty. Empress Lanfei went south with the refugees, and fell ill when passing through Luheng Village, Fengxing, Tangxi Town, and was taken in by a family in Shi Feng. In order to repay the people of Shi Feng for saving their lives, Princess Lan taught him the skill of making the palace snack "Debu" when she left. Since then, the Shi Feng family has always regarded "divination" as a profession, and it has been passed down to this day.

Over time, the original high-end snacks in the palace have now become snacks that people can eat. It is made of glutinous rice, malt, osmanthus fragrans, sesame seeds, glucose and other products through boiling, soaking, steaming, boiling, frying, beating, frying, baking, picking, wrapping, pressing and kneading, at a specific temperature and humidity, and with unique handicrafts. Crisp and fragrant, soft and sweet, without pigments and preservatives. Anyone who has tasted this product will praise it.

In 2008, as one of the traditional production techniques of Jinhua flour cakes, Debu, together with Jinhua shortbread, Jinhua steamed buns, Lanxi chicken gizzards, Pujiang wheat cakes and Yongkang meat wheat cakes, became the second batch of intangible cultural heritage projects in Jinhua.

There is a saying in "Gourmet Classics": "Rotten leeks roll tofu, a famous dish in Tangxi, tastes like Shaoxing stinky tofu, and the soup is fragrant and salty, which tastes strange." Therefore, the rotten shepherd's purse roll tofu "smells smelly and tastes fragrant" and has a unique flavor, which is a famous local dish with Tangxi characteristics.

Tangxi sufu is composed of unique raw materials. Tangxi tofu is basically made by traditional techniques. Except for mechanical grinding of soybeans, all other processing processes are done by hand, which makes the taste of tofu unique. The leek is salty and white, and the leaves are tender and slag-free.

Every year 1 1 is the harvest season of cabbage, and every household of local farmers will pickle an altar of cabbage poles. Fried pork slices, tofu and winter bamboo shoots are essential and delicious. In the coming year, pickled vegetables will become the famous dish material of Tangxi-rotten leek. Rotten shepherd's purse is used as the main ingredient, with fresh tofu, spicy food, garlic, ginger, onion and other ingredients. It is cooked in a pot until it is boiling, with rice, and finally becomes a good product.

And the origin of rotten shepherd's purse tofu in Tangxi is even more said. Tangxi people have always been known for their diligence and simplicity. Tangxi people have been recuperating in this ancient land for generations, relying on diligence and thrift. Tangxi women, in particular, are famous for their frugality. At that time, Tangxi believed in the rules of life: men are the masters outside, women are the masters inside, men start businesses outside to earn money to support their families, and women stay at home to store things and raise children. Cooking and cooking, raising livestock, and managing the family diligently.

At that time, although Tangxi was located in a remote place, it was rich in a local cabbage called Gaojiaobai, which had high stems and wide leaves and was a good vegetable. Tangxi people generally plant large areas, and fresh vegetables are not available. When it snows in winter, all of them are pickled into pickles, which Tangxi calls pickled snow vegetables, so that they can be eaten all the time in the spring and summer transition season next year. More farmers will eat kimchi all year round.

A jar of pickled cabbage is marinated, and Tangxi women who are good at housework pull it out layer by layer, eat it layer by layer, and pull it out layer by layer. In the next summer, a jar of sauerkraut was eaten up, leaving only moldy leaves and sauerkraut juice.

It's a pity to dump this jar of sauerkraut juice, because it's all salted, and it's not appropriate to leave it for next year. What can we do? At this time, a Tangxi family ran out of salt. At that time, salt was very expensive and it was generally difficult to buy. Even in towns, the price is not low. The clever daughter-in-law of Tangxi came up with a way to cook rotten chinese cabbage juice with fresh tofu, and cover up the smell of rotten cabbage with the umami flavor of bean products. After such a burning, almost half the alleys in the village smelled rotten cabbage and people began to cook.

Rotten cabbage and tofu are cooked, so we must find a way to eat them. Without salt, we can't live. This Tangxi daughter-in-law took a sip of rotten cabbage soup. Unexpectedly, the taste is really delicious, fragrant and delicious: the boiled tofu with rotten cabbage smells bad and tastes delicious. As a result, the neighbors who came to watch the excitement also took bowls and spoons to drink soup and rushed to drink. It turns out that rotten cabbage and tofu taste so good. From then on, all the soup left by Tangxi people after pickling snow vegetables was used to make tofu and became a famous dish in Tangxi.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is the day of ancestor worship, and every family should worship their ancestors to show their grief. The most important food in Tomb-Sweeping Day is Qingming.

Tangxi Qingming bean jelly is made of "Saxifraga" mixed with japonica rice powder and has a soft taste. This production method has been spread since the establishment of the county in the seventh year of Tang Xihua, and has a history of more than 500 years. In Tangxi, as soon as they arrive in Tomb-Sweeping Day, every family will have a Tomb-Sweeping Day to worship their ancestors, and even carry it to see Roy's daughter who is married outside.

Qingming retort pouch is also called barefoot retort pouch in Tangxi, which means the weather gets warmer after Tomb-Sweeping Day. After eating the Qingming retort pouch, I went to work barefoot. There are two kinds of Qingming candied fruit: sweet and salty. Sweets are made of molds (seals) engraved with Flo Xi Shou. Salty ones are stuffed with Chinese cabbage, bamboo shoots and shredded pork, hand-wrapped into oval shapes and wrinkled into patterns. Sweet and salty candied fruit has different shapes and unique flavor, which embodies the ingenious skills of peasant women.

Turning waste into treasure is one of the characteristics of Tangxi cuisine. Many discarded leftovers have been carefully processed by Tangxi people and turned into delicious food, which has made a magical legend.

There has always been a farming custom of planting green beans and taro in Tangxi area. In rural areas, after the taro is harvested, it is harvested and taken home, while the taro stalks are discarded in the fields, even pigs, cattle and other livestock are abandoned, which has become an out-and-out waste. But it is precisely because of these wastes that in the eyes of smart and thrifty Tangxi people, a delicious dish has been developed, that is, stewed taro stalks with green beans. There is another story.

In the early years, there was a family named Hong in Tangxi. Their fields have been sold out because their parents have been ill all the year round. They are called Hong Guang, so they have to work for a short time to make a living. This family is so poor that they often have the last meal without the next.

One year before the autumn harvest, Hong Guang had nothing to eat at home. Hong Guang's heart ached when he saw his parents lying in bed. He had to go to the field to pick up other people's taro and discard the taro stalks in the field. After taking it home, he washed the white background of taro stalks, cut them into small pieces and soaked them in salt for a few days to remove the fishy smell of taro stalks.

Hong Guang went to the field to pick up beans that fell into the ground after others harvested soybeans. After returning home, he put adzuki beans and taro stalks together and cooked them in a pot. Unexpectedly, this taro stalk, after pickling, lost its fishy smell and became delicious. Now the neighbors have learned to pick taro stalks and go home to cook good food.

Later, with the improvement of people's living conditions, the dishes of stewed green beans with taro stalks were not discarded, but the cooking method became more and more refined and the technology became more and more advanced. Now, the common stewed green beans with taro stalks, with ribs and other ingredients, are getting more and more delicious and become an indispensable delicacy for local farmhouses.

Tangxi cuisine, which embodies the wisdom of Tangxi people, has gradually formed its own catering characteristics after being refined and processed by Tangxi people from generation to generation, and has entered the market in a commercial mode, becoming a necessary signboard for the local catering industry, which is one of the reasons why Tangxi cuisine is increasingly respected in the market.