Chapter 18 Changsha Snail

Snails mainly live in ponds, paddy fields, streams, and ditches. Changsha people make small snails into snails to satisfy the taste and senses of Changsha people. On summer nights, strolling in the streets and alleys of Changsha, supper has become the mainstream scenery of urban people, and Tieluo is a bright and glorious streamer in the supper stalls.If you like the summer in Changsha, you will definitely like the hustle and bustle of night in Changsha and the smell of snails. Like stinky tofu, it has been integrated into the lives of Changsha people and has become a part of our leisure life.In Changsha and its surrounding areas, on midsummer nights, citizens flock to the streets to eat supper. They wantonly sip snails and drink beer to pass the lonely night.

Whenever I go to the street for supper, sobo is one of the dishes I must order.We old people in Changsha want to have a good supper, but if we don’t find a good snail, we will feel a bit lacking in taste, as if the supper is not perfect.Aboriginal people in Changsha concluded that there are three major protagonists of Changsha supper: duck inch bone, snail, and beer, all of which are indispensable.The duck inch bone can satisfy the desire of the teeth to gnaw on the bone, looking for the meat tendon and spicy taste in the crack of the bone; the snail can satisfy the pleasure of touching the tip of the tongue, sucking in the mouth, and picking with a toothpick, looking for small stimulation and chewing force; beer can adjust everyone's appetite. The mood and the atmosphere of the supper make the supper reach its climax and satisfy the momentary joy.Some people say that delicious shrimp is the soul of Changsha's supper. This is true, but it can't be the protagonist, because it is just a problem for many diners. .The real snail has clear threads on the shell, firm meat, spicy and delicious, rich perilla, and the snail has meat, so you can't stop it.

Instituting snails has entered the family tables of Changsha people and has become a specialty dish for housewives and a signature dish for wedding guests.The snails used to make snails are called snails. Changsha people like to choose fresh snails the size of broad beans, which are even in size.Buy back the snails, put them in a clear water basin and raise them for about a week. Change the water every day to let them spit out the dirt in the shell. You can also drop a little clear oil to spit out the silt.The snails should be cleaned with salt and scrubbed in running water, so that the snail shells can be easily cleaned.Snails should not be kept for a long time, as they will become thinner and lose snail meat.As the saying goes, "The snail has meat and you can twist it with your heart, but you can't use a knife on the meat of the snail", which describes its small size.Wash it clean, cut off the tail of the snail with pliers, and remove the internal organs.Pour into boiling water, blanch the snails until the shells fall off, take them out and rinse them under cold water, and let them cool completely. Only when you eat them can you feel the meat is compact, delicious and crisp.Drain the water droplets, heat the oil in the pot, pour in the snails, stir-fry quickly for a few minutes, add cooking wine, onions, ginger slices, garlic and fry the dry water, add dried chili powder, dried sour vegetables, and season with poured bone soup, then add purple Stir-fry perilla leaves and minced green onion until the snail meat is shelled, add cold water, cinnamon, orange peel, and star anise and simmer for a long time. When the soup dries up, pour oyster sauce, chicken essence, and salt out of the pan, put on a plate, add sesame oil, and soy sauce.Snails like to be light, and too much salt will cover up the delicious taste of the snail itself.The snail soup is bright red and has an elegant fragrance, which stimulates the appetite.Whether the snail is delicious depends on how well the heat is controlled. If the heat is not enough, the snail meat is not cooked and it is difficult to taste; if the heat is too high, the snail meat is difficult to suck out and cannot be chewed.

The snails are served on the dining table. After everyone drinks a few glasses of beer and need to rest, they can eat the snails to supplement nutrition and pass the time.At this time, the snails are no longer boiling hot, and the temperature is slightly hot, which is suitable for eating.Eating snails varies from person to person, and each has its own experience and routine.The literati pay attention to elegance. Experienced people use chopsticks or toothpicks to push the snail meat into the shell, quickly loosen or shift the center of gravity, and the snail meat will squeeze out of the shell; those who have used toothpicks for a long time, insert the toothpick into the snail meat , tilted at a forty-five-degree angle and picked it out, the snail meat was pulled out.Gentle-speaking Changsha people have their own set of theoretical systems and operating experience for snails. They directly use their index fingers and thumbs to pinch the center of the snail body without the aid of toothpicks and chopsticks.Men and women put the snails to their mouths, put their mouths on the snails, suck hard, squeak or squeak, the sound is as sweet as kissing, the snail meat and the soup in the shell are in the mouth, and the soup flows smoothly on the tip of the tongue , let people aftertaste taste, the snail meat slides between the teeth, chews finely, and the delicate, smooth, sweet taste echoes in the mouth for a long time.There are also one-time sucking failures. After the soup is sucked out, the snail meat does not come out, so the snail tail is put into the mouth, and the snail meat is pulled in to get out of the snail shell, and then the snail is turned upside down, and the head is placed Put it into your mouth and suck it hard, and the whole snail meat will enter your mouth.

When drinking snails, pay attention to the "tail" of the snail meat. The tail is actually the internal organs of the snail, including the intestines and other digestive systems. Stomach.Another thing worth noting is the female snail, which can breed small snails, all of which are hidden in the shell.When picking, it is difficult to distinguish whether there is a seed in the bosom. Occasionally, when you bump into it, the small snails in the snail hit the teeth with a crackling sound, and you can't chew the snail meat at all, you can only spit it out.The most flavorful thing about snails is the soup in the snails. It is spicy and fragrant, and it lasts for a long time. It is slightly spicy and delicious.The snail meat tastes fresh and tender, the meat is crisp and refreshing, with a long aftertaste, fragrant, fresh, spicy, tender and sweet, which is an indescribable taste.The snail does not fill the stomach, and it is not enough to eat a table of shells. The impatient people eat it very irritable. , had to wait patiently.

In recent years, the production of snails has been improved. Fresh broad beans, dried pickled vegetables, sour bamboo shoots and other auxiliary materials are added to the ingredients to enhance the taste of snails, making them plump and delicate, delicious, light and refreshing.The raw materials have also been improved, and the small snails and large snails are produced in different grades, and the large snails are made into the hotel's brand dishes, which are recommended to high-end guests.In terms of seasoning, new seasonings such as chili oil are introduced to increase the color and type of dishes produced.

Escargot is rich in protein and vitamins A, B1, and D. It contains: "Escargot can relieve dampness and clear heat, quench thirst and sober up, facilitate defecation; treat beriberi and jaundice." Diet therapy is often used to treat poor urination, jaundice, otitis media, hemorrhoids and other diseases .Snails are cold in nature, and people with spleen and stomach deficiency should not eat more.Modern medicine uses snail meat to prevent and treat beriberi, diarrhea caused by raw water, rectal mucosal edema, diabetes and polydipsia, as well as the effects of calming nerves, clearing heat and improving eyesight, reducing swelling and astringent to enhance muscle contraction.Snail meat should not be taken with gecko and oxytetracycline; it should not be eaten with beef, mutton, broad beans, pork, clams, noodles, corn, wax gourd, muskmelon, fungus and sugar; do not drink ice water, otherwise diarrhea.The snails with perilla leaves should not be eaten with carp, otherwise they will develop malignant sores.

Around the Qingming Festival every year, the snails are the most nutritious. There is a folk saying that "Qingming snails are better than geese"; around the Mid-Autumn Festival, the snails are the most plump.When buying snails, choose large ones, round bodies, thin shells, complete slices, light green shells, no damage to the shells, no flesh overflowing, and a sense of weight.After the female snails give birth, they are particularly plump in the mid-autumn season. When picking them, you can observe their antennae. The left and right antennae are the same size and stretch forward.Also use the little fingertips to lightly press the shell cover, the elastic ones are live, otherwise they are dead.There are thin-shelled snails, saltwater snails, pond snails, flower snails, etc. according to the place of origin. Thin-shelled snails are plump and delicate in texture and delicious in taste.