Chapter 59 Talking about the eggplant in "Dream of Red Mansions"

Ancient scholars have a habit: they like to describe home-cooked vegetables as vigorous and elegant, such as chives, cabbage, and weed, which are all fresh and elegant tools for high-level scholars to make fish taste thick, greasy, and tasteless, and "meat eaters are despised".In fact, food has no morals, and there is no need to impose many restrictions on metaphysics.As a member of plants, eggplant is quite pitiful. There are no gorgeous names of vanilla in Han Fu, and no poets sing about it as a spiritual thing like bamboo shoots. I only hate that it was introduced to our country too late, and it was praised after the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties. Plant orgasm.It is said that eggplant "is named Luosu, but its name is unknown; according to the "Five Dynasties Yizilu" as cheese crisp, it is said that its taste is like cheese crisp, and it is similar to justice."In fact, "Cheese Crisp" is a good translation that has both pronunciation and meaning, and it makes people appetizing when they hear it, but it is a pity that it has not been inherited.

Without the delicate character of plants, eggplants are still eggplants, solid and solid, not avoiding meat and vegetables.Thanks to Cao Xueqin, eggplant has a reputation in the history of literature.The eggplant that Grandma Liu ate when she entered the Grand View Garden for the second time was an indispensable delicacy in all Red Mansion Banquets.It sounds complicated, but it is actually very easy to distinguish.In the south of the Yangtze River, 鲞 refers to salted fish. There is an allegorical saying that "the old cat smells salted fish-sniff 鲞 ah sniff 鲞 (don't even think about it, don't think about it)".The method of eggplant is to peel and dice the eggplant and fry it in chicken oil. Take the chicken breast meat with mushrooms, new bamboo shoots, mushrooms, five-spice dried tofu, and dried fruits of various colors.The meaning is clear: "Sesame oil is harvested" and "put away", which means that it is similar to salted fish in the south of the Yangtze River. It is a cold dish that can be stored for a long time and can be taken out to eat.

Grandma Liu ate it at first, but she didn't realize it was eggplant.After chewing it for half a day, I said "it smells like eggplant".I think half of the reason why you choose eggplant instead of other things for this dish is because of the fragrance of eggplant?The other half is the texture of the eggplant itself. Eggplant flesh is quite thick and moist, good at absorbing flavor, can store oil, the skin has a tough taste, but it does not lose the fragrance of the vegetable itself.Eggplant has no personality, and it can be made plain, but plain is too bland and too soft. Therefore, it is better to mix it with heavy oil.For example, eggplant, with so much chicken and oil, it looks greasy, but it may not taste so good.Because firstly, the eggplant absorbs oil as mentioned above, and secondly, the eggplant itself tastes sweet and flat, not the type that stirs up trouble in the stomach.Therefore, there is no talent in itself, only a piece of eggplant fragrance, but the heavy oil and fire can naturally withstand it.

There are many fish-flavored dishes in Sichuan, but the most typical one is the classic fish-flavored shredded pork, and the other is fish-flavored eggplant.Sichuan cuisine has a lot of spices and heavy seasoning, and the fish flavor is the most gorgeous palette. Eggplant is like a drawing board, let it dance freely.The beauty is that Eggplant has a peaceful personality, and when the fragrance of fish comes, he accepts it calmly.Eggplant is easy to change its taste, but when it is coaxed by chicken, mushrooms, dried tofu, and sesame oil, Grandma Liu can't recognize it.The hot and sour taste of the fish flavor is absorbed by the eggplant, and the taste is very natural. In addition, it is soft and chewy, and it is always good for eating.For the elderly with bad teeth, the fish-flavored eggplant is probably better than the fish-flavored shredded pork, so it is soft and moist.

The fried eggplant box in the southeast is more domineering than the fish-flavored eggplant. Seeing that the eggplant is soft and easy to bully, wipe it off and fry it.The fried eggplant boxes I have eaten in different places have different tastes and fillings, but they are always the same: eggplant, eggs, and flour are blended on the outside, and the fillings are different, such as minced meat, dried shrimp, and mushrooms. , and so on.After being fried in heavy oil, the eggplant is soft, glutinous and crispy. With the oily and fragrant filling inside, the taste is like mille-feuille, which is very good.

The principle of the eggplant box is probably to choose its softness.The fried noodles with oil are very taboo to put meat or meat on the inside, otherwise the inside and outside will be oily and hard to eat.Eggplant is soft and moist, and it can be combined with eggs and flour; it is a plant itself, cool and warm, and it will not be too hot when fried.Therefore, the eggplant is equal to playing the role of a gentle middleman: the bits and pieces of stuffing inside and out, relying on his unique fragrance and warm character, are dripping with the oil, so it is delicious. Eggplants are fine if you really want to cool them down.After the eggplant is cooked, cut it apart, let it cool, and add garlic, dried shrimp, soy sauce, chili and peppercorns.Although the oil is heavy and the taste is so far, it is not too greasy, and the texture of the "cheese crisp" of the eggplant itself is considerate to our tongues.

I’ve seen it in a Greek restaurant—it’s said that Bulgaria also eats it called moussaka, and it’s also related to eggplant.Looking coldly, it looks like mille-feuille cake with red bean paste. When I eat it, I find that it is a classic Western-style combination of fried eggplant, cheese and eggs. It is sandwiched with beef (some friends said lamb is also acceptable), lined with potato chips, and countless European spices. Although there is no fried eggplant box So closed and exquisite, but the main idea is the same: the eggplant is stuffed with oil, providing a crispy taste and a fragrant taste.

Therefore, eggplant can no longer become the object of praise of scholar-bureaucrats: it is obviously vegetarian, but it does not show off, it does not look fresh, it is soft and moist, it is willing to be fried, it is always accompanied by meat, and its aroma is self-dispersing.It is not suitable for drinking, but it is suitable for serving porridge and meals. The common people love it, and it is always read as a password for taking pictures-is this a bit of a hermit?But eggplant is delicious: if there is meat, eat meat, if there is no meat, it can be fried with some flour and oil. It is as approachable as tofu, and it is a good friend of the people.