Chapter 69 Dongyang Chicken

Sometimes I think that a place where cultural people are born must be famous for its food, or many famous foods are related to cultural people, such as the elbow that Beijingers like to eat, the name of the dish is Dongpo elbow, and as far as I know, In Chibi, Huangzhou, where Mr. Dongpo wrote "The great river goes east, the waves wash away", there is also a fried food named Dongpo cake. As for whether these foods are liked by Mr. Dongpo, it is impossible to verify. .The rice wine brewed by the people in Fangxian County, Hubei Province is also very interesting, and it is called Huangjiu.When I first went there, I always thought they were talking about rice wine, because rice wine can be regarded as a general name for rice wine. People in Jiangsu and Zhejiang all drink rice wine.When I found out that they called their own wine imperial wine, I was very surprised: Can imperial wine be called casually?After inquiring clearly, I realized that the name of the imperial wine was not groundless. It turned out that this wine was not brewed by the common people, but was brought from the palace by Wu Zetian's son-in-law King Li Ling when he was dispatched to Fang County. There was also a set of red tape wine regulations. There are three hundred and sixty articles.

Of course, Dongyang has been a literati since ancient times. Historically, there have been prime ministers in Tang and Song dynasties, such as Zhu Xi and Lu You, who have traveled and stayed in Dongyang. The contemporary university scholar Yan Jici is also from Dongyang. There are more than a thousand literati and scholars here, so it can be said to be a hometown of literati.If Dongyang is famous for its food, then of course it is not surprising.Dongyang's famous food, I thought Dongyang chicken was the most popular.I have heard of Dongyang chicken in different places, and I have also seen descriptions about eating Dongyang chicken in classics. In the mind of a delicious person, the Dongyang chicken that has never been tasted has left a deep impression on it.However, I officially tasted Dongyang chicken, but it was before the National Day in 1995. When I went to Hangzhou, Mr. Li Tusheng, a Yi scholar from Dongyang, kindly invited me to visit his hometown Dongyang. Dongyang must taste delicious food, so I am happy to go there.

Mr. Li Tusheng has been studying "Book of Changes" for more than 20 years, and he has achieved positive results. He asked him for advice along the way, and jokingly asked him to test the hexagrams, but he was a little bit accurate. I said it would be better if I went to stock market. Come to help me predict, Mr. Li said seriously: No, this is absolutely impossible.In fact, this is also a joke. How can I stop writing and speculate in stocks?Talking and laughing all the way, I arrived in Dongyang, but Mr. Li’s home is in Xianshan Village, Shanglu Town, Dongyang. It is about an hour’s drive from Dongyang City. The car galloped along the beautiful Dongyang River, and soon arrived at Mr. Li Tusheng. s home.The name of the village of Xianshan is well-deserved. Behind the village, there is Longtou Mountain on the left and Hutou Mountain on the right. From the perspective of Fengshui, it is the one with the green dragon on the left and the white tiger on the right. I live in Mr. Li Tusheng's house.It was dusk by then, and I was quite tired all the way. I ate a bowl of "dried rice noodles" under shredded pork, which is also a local specialty, and then fell asleep after washing. I didn't get up until nine o'clock the next morning.When I came down from the upstairs, I saw Mr. Li Tusheng, his respected mother, instructing everyone to move water tanks and make briquette stoves.I don't think I have some doubts. It's not because of me to mobilize so many teachers, right?I immediately asked Mr. Li Tusheng: Teacher Li, please don’t worry about me, I’m so sorry.Mr. Li Tusheng smiled and said: It is not possible to do otherwise.I said: why not?Mr. Li Tusheng said: Make Dongyang chicken.I was still puzzled, and asked again: Isn't your home already burning liquefied petroleum gas, why do you need a raw coal stove?Mr. Li Tusheng said: Don't worry about it, just watch and do it if you are interested.

I just watched Dongyang chicken.I didn’t expect the cumbersomeness of making Dongyang chicken: a Dongyang native chicken about two catties, equal pork belly, cut into pieces and put them in a casserole, put about half a catty of ginger, garlic, soybean soy sauce , homemade sunken rice wine, mixed with it, and then added fresh water from the well.I thought this could be simmered on a coal stove?no.First, sit a large iron pot on the stove, place four red bricks on the pot, put a small water tank on the bricks, put another red brick in the water tank, and then put the chicken and pork casserole Put it into the water tank, and then put a water tank upside down on the water tank, and the whole process is declared complete.

Mr. Li said to me: You don’t want to eat Dongyang chicken at noon, you have to wait until evening, at least eight hours. My God, this Dongyang chicken is not boiled, steamed, or dry-roasted. It is baked by the temperature in the water tank, and even the water tank does not directly contact the heat source. This is the real slow fire. Ah, I have eaten all over the north and south, and this is the first time I have seen it.Even the beggar chicken in Suzhou is wrapped in mud and burned on the fire.That's a really creative idea. Mr. Li Tusheng and I went to the mountain for a walk. It was foggy all day long on the top of the mountain. There was a reservoir in the middle of the mountain. On the side of the mountain was a piece of stone that was said to be a fairy stone. Judging from my shallow geological knowledge, this piece of rock structure was similar to the rock structure on the mountain. A completely different lone stone, probably a meteorite that fell from the sky.Because Mr. Li Tusheng introduced that the elders have passed down from generation to generation that a fairy accidentally dropped a piece when he was carrying a stone from the sky, and it has taken root on this mountain ever since.Doesn't this legend also mean that it is a meteorite?

The banquet in the evening is very sumptuous, but Dongyang chicken is the main topic. This dish is cooked with fire without seeing the fire. It lasted for eight hours. The taste is really difficult to taste.I quickly extinguished the cigarette, took out my own toiletries, went outside the door to rinse my mouth, washed away the smell of smoking and drinking tea, and then sat down on the table properly. The taste is really extraordinary. Dongyang chicken is not tender, not old, and has an excellent taste. The taste is light but strong, and strong but light. After tasting a piece, the mellow aroma remains in the mouth for a long time, and the flavor is very long.The soup with golden oil blossoms also looks mellow, with a refreshing fragrance.This is Dongyang chicken, I vaguely remember it being introduced in this way in a certain classic.But Mr. Li Tusheng told: The real chicken flavor is in the pork.So, I picked up a piece of pork belly and ate it. This soft and smooth pork is not greasy, but also overflows with the fragrance of chicken.That's it, drinking the sinking rice wine brewed by Mr. Li Tusheng's respected mother, tasting Dongyang chicken, and talking about Dongyang's folk customs, until the moon reached the sky.This is really delicious and the time goes by so fast.

Dongyang's famous food, of course, is wheat dumplings.I went to Shanglu Town to eat wheat dumplings with Mr. Li Tusheng.Shanglu Town is an ancient town, with a river running through the town, white geese and croaking ducks floating on the water, and women squatting by the water to wash clothes as usual.There are various businesses in the town, mostly selling local products, some selling incense candles and toilet paper, some selling small persimmons and wild ducks, some selling lotus seeds, water chestnut, chicken head, rice and water chestnuts, and some wearing neat old Chinese tunic suits with pockets on top. An old-fashioned scholar with two fountain pens who set up a booth and used a brush to hang books to write couplets... In short, the town is bustling with people, and the town is very lively.We came to a stall selling wheat dumplings. There were also women in skirts and pointed hats, as well as very modern young girls. We sat among them and ate wheat dumplings.Fried wheat dumplings are made with a flat pan, a flat shovel, eggs and flour, wrapped with diced lotus root, dried fragrant, green beans, diced meat, vermicelli, red pepper skin, etc., folded into triangles, and fried on the pan until yellow. Some are similar to the bean curd in Wuhan, except that the bean curd is mainly made of glutinous rice, while the wheat dumplings are not.The Mai Dumplings are delicious, and I even think that I prefer this fast food style of Mai Dumplings to the Xiaolong Baozi in Hangzhou.

I went to Dongyang to eat Dongyang chicken, wheat dumplings and other Dongyang specialties. I think Dongyang’s food culture is developed. I’m even sure that the method of making Dongyang chicken must have been invented by literati. Think about it in other industries. How can people or ordinary people spend such cumbersome craftsmanship and take such a long time to make a dish? Oh oh, Dongyang chicken, you can’t enter the capital like this. People here eat poorly made American fried chicken and KFC home-grown chicken. Nowadays, everyone doesn’t have that kind of leisure.I finally tasted Dongyang chicken. When I have free time, I really want to go back to Dongyang again and taste the Dongyang chicken that does not touch fireworks.