Chapter 42 Barb Liver Soup

Taihu Lake is located in the south of Jiangsu Province. It was called Zhenze, Juqu, Lize, and Five Lakes in ancient times. It has more than 180 lakes, 48 ​​islands, and 72 peaks.Taihu Lake is located in the center of the triangle area of ​​Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hangzhou, surrounded by Dianmao Lake Group, Yangcheng Lake Group, and Taoge Lake Group, intertwined with rivers and streams, forming a rich Jiangnan water town.The Taihu Lake area has a mild climate, rich specialties, abundant aquatic products, and is rich in fish and shrimp. It is a well-known land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River.Taihu Lake is rich in fish and shrimp. It is known as "Taihu Lake is eight hundred miles away, and fish and shrimp can't be caught".

Mudu Town is located in Wuxian County, west of Suzhou City, on the shore of Taihu Lake. It is a famous ancient town in the south of the Yangtze River and is the same age as Suzhou City.Surrounded by famous mountains in Wuzhong, such as Tianping Mountain, Lingyan Mountain, Lion Mountain and Qizi Mountain, it is known as a cornucopia.According to legend, at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, when Wu and Yue were in dispute and the Yue Kingdom was defeated, Goujian presented Xishi to the king of Wu, and Fu Chai favored Xishi. He built Guanwa Palace on the top of Lingyan Mountain and added Gusu Terrace on Zishi Mountain. It took three years to gather materials and it took five years to complete. At that time, the wood coming from a steady stream blocked the river Gangdu at the foot of the mountain, and the wood was blocked in the du, so the name of Mudu came from this.Today, Mudu is the leading tourist town in the south of the Yangtze River, known as the back garden of Shanghai.

Mudu has a long history of more than 2,500 years. It can gather humanities and talents. There are historical celebrities Fan Zhongyan, Shen Deqian, Feng Guifen and so on.In the Qing Dynasty, Mudu Town had long been famous in the capital. Kangxi made three tours to the south, and Qianlong made six trips to the south of the Yangtze River. Mudu is surrounded by arched mountains and adjacent to Taihu Lake. It enjoys the leisurely scenery of mountains and rivers, the tranquility of small bridges and flowing water, private gardens, former residences of celebrities and many other historical sites. Mudu scenic spot is listed as the first among the thirteen scenic spots of Taihu Lake.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were more than 30 private gardens in Mudu Town, and more than ten of them have been preserved so far.The Yan Family Garden is the former residence of Shen Deqian, later owned by Yan Guoxin, the richest man in Mudu.Hongyinshanfang is the former residence of Xu Shiyuan. It covers a vast area and has a magnificent architecture. It is far superior to other gardens. Qianlong must visit this garden every time he comes to Mudu.Gusong Garden is the former residence of Cai Shaoyu, a rich man in Mudu in the late Qing Dynasty. The carved building in the garden is exquisitely carved. It is the work of the same carving master as the Dongting Dongshan carved building. It can be called the North and South Sisters.Bangyan mansion is the former residence of Feng Guifen, and the three carvings in the south of the Yangtze River (brick carving, wood carving and stone carving) are the treasures of the town garden.Lingyan Mountain Pavilion is the private residence of Bi Yuan, the number one scholar in Mudu in the Qing Dynasty.Mudu Private Garden inherits the exquisiteness and deepness of Suzhou gardens, but also has the personality of openness, loftiness and wildness of mountains and forests, full of grandeur and imperial atmosphere.When I walked into Mudu Town, I walked into the elegant artistic conception and historical space of Tang poetry and Song Ci, and wandered in the art gallery.

Among the catering companies in Mudu, Shijia Restaurant is the most famous.Shijia Restaurant was founded in the fifty-fifth year of Qianlong (1790). It was originally named Xushunlou Restaurant, also known as the restaurant when it was in operation. It began to take shape as a wooden structure house with two floors and two bays.The founder, Shi Han, was originally a husband-and-wife shop, operating on a small budget.In the tenth year of Tongzhi (1871), Monk Shi returned to secular life and moved to Mudu Town to settle down. He accepted the advice and help of his old friend Jiang Meixin and founded the Shijia Restaurant in Mudu Town. At the beginning, it mainly served vegetarian dishes. Jiang Meixin suggested to use meat dishes. Mainly, there are also signature dishes.Monk Shi created the barfish liver soup with the deliciousness of Mudu's specialty grouper (scientific name barfish) and the light cooking of Su Zhai.In the 1920s, Shi Ren'an, the great-grandson of Shi Han, separated the living room from the kitchen across the street, and made good use of freshwater fish from Taihu Lake for cooking. One of the representatives, the world has the reputation of stone vegetables.

Barb is a small fish, also known as spotted fish, commonly known as bubble fish, with a slightly cylindrical body, short and fat, about three inches long, with a small mouth and a large abdomen, blue-gray back with spots, a white belly, and scales. It is very thin, with small thorns in the belly. After being frightened, the abdomen will bulge like a ball of bubbles. It looks like a puffer fish. If it is cooked properly, it is even fresher than the puffer fish.Barb is a special aquatic product in Taihu Lake. When the sweet-scented osmanthus blossoms, it will form a fish flood, and when the flowers wither, it will disappear without a trace. There is a folk proverb that "enjoy the blessing and eat the liver of spotted (barb) in autumn".Most of the current barbs are artificially farmed, so barb liver soup can be tasted all year round.Shijia Restaurant cooks strictly according to ancient recipes, "peeling and removing the skin, dividing liver and meat into two kinds".There is a record about barb dishes in Yuan Meizhong of the Qing Dynasty: "The spotted (barb) fish is the most tender. Peel the skin and remove the filth, divide it into two kinds of liver and meat, simmer it in chicken soup, serve with three parts of wine, two parts of water, and one part of autumn oil. Add a large bowl of ginger juice and a few stalks of green onions to get rid of the fishy smell.” The famous barb liver soup is made from the liver of barb fish, supplemented with ham, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots and other ingredients, and cooked in chicken broth.

To make barb liver soup, put the barb back on the cutting board first, pinch the side skin of the fish belly with your left hand, cut the skin with a knife, push it outward to remove the skin, take out the liver, remove the gallbladder and wash net.Dig out the viscera, remove the bones and take out two pieces of fish meat, put them in clean water to tear off the mucous membrane, and wash away the blood.Cut the fish meat and cod liver into two pieces respectively, put them in a bowl, add refined salt, minced green onion, and Shaoxing wine, mix well and marinate for a while.Put the frying pan on high heat, add chicken broth and bring to a boil, add fish fillets and cod liver, add Shaoxing wine and refined salt, bring to a boil, skim off the foam, add ham slices, bamboo shoot slices, shiitake mushroom slices, pea sprouts, add monosodium glutamate, After boiling, pour it into a soup bowl, pour a little cooked lard, sprinkle with pepper and serve. When eating, the meat is delicate, the flavor is unique, and the soup is clear and delicious.

Barb is rich in nutrients, rich in protein, selenium, iodine and other trace elements. It also has the therapeutic effects of strengthening yang, harmonizing the stomach, warming and nourishing the body, and has anti-aging and anti-cancer effects. The meat is tender and white, refreshing and elastic.Those with heat in the spleen and stomach should not eat it, and those with itchy skin diseases, internal heat, urticaria, and ringworm should avoid eating it. Around the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1927, social celebrities in Jiangsu Province invited Yu Youren, a veteran of the Kuomintang and a famous calligrapher, to visit Lingyan.That night, celebrities in Shunxu Building (now Shijia Hotel) washed the dust for Yu.In order to entertain Yu Youren, a gourmet, the owner specially made a special dish, barb liver soup.The fresh barb liver soup is mellow and refreshing, and its taste is incomparable. After drinking the fresh and delicious barb lung soup, I feel articulate and comfortable, and I drink three bowls in a row.While drinking, I asked the waiter the name of the dish, and the waiter answered the spotted liver soup in Wu dialect. Yu Nai, who was from Shaanxi, couldn't understand Wu Nong's soft language, so he heard "ban" as "barb", and the folk fish liver as fish lung The old name of the dictionary.I improvised and wrote: "Lao osmanthus flowers are fragrant all over the world. I have seen the flowers and walked all over the Taihu Lake. It is still unforgettable to return to Mudu on the boat. Thank you Shijia's Barb lung soup." The next day Shanghai "News" published this poem on the front page .Someone wrote an article in a newspaper satirizing the indiscrimination between catfish and catfish, which caused a pen-and-ink lawsuit. Unexpectedly, the battle continued, and the reputation of catfish liver soup became bigger and bigger, and finally became a famous delicacy in the north and south of the river.

In 1929, Li Gengen traveled to Suzhou and heard that there was a poem inscribed by Yu Youren in Mudu Town not far away. Effortlessly, he wrote down "Baifei Soup Restaurant" and the name of the store "Shijia Restaurant". Since then, Shijia Restaurant has spread like wildfire and spread throughout the land of Sanwu, becoming a spiritual holy place for Shanghainese. In the autumn of 1934, Yu Youren came to the Shijia Restaurant in Mudu Town again. After the meal, he inscribed four simple and powerful characters "Famous in Jiangnan". Shijia Restaurant is famous all over the world for its barb liver soup, attracting countless celebrities.During the period of the Republic of China, Li Zongren, Li Jishen, Shen Junru, Zhang Zhizhong, Shao Lizi, Ye Chulan, Sha Qianli, Shi Liang and other famous people came to Shijia Restaurant to taste the barb lung soup. Famous Peking opera performers Gai Jiaotian and Zhou Xinfang, commentary artist Jin Shengbo At that time, the famous painter Zhang Daqian and others also went to Shijia Restaurant to eat and taste the barb liver soup.Li Zongren also wrote the inscription "Equality, fraternity, and joy with the people".Huang Jinrong and Du Yuesheng, the leaders of the Shanghai gang, visit Shijia Restaurant every autumn when they visit Taihu Lake to taste the barley liver soup.

In 1990, Suzhou-born sociologist Fei Xiaotong went to Suzhou for inspection. He happened to pass by Mudu Town. Because of the stories and calligraphy left by Yu Youren and Li Gengen, he went to Shijia Restaurant for dinner. Ba Fei Decoction praised it greatly, and wrote the banner of "Taste of the Heart and Heart", expressing the true taste of this soup!After returning to Beijing, he wrote "The Taste of the Heart and Heart—A Taste of Suzhou Mudu Barb Lung Soup", which was published in the first issue of "Chinese Cuisine" magazine in 1991. In September 1992, Peng Chong and Han Peixin wrote the inscriptions "unique" and "tengfei" respectively after tasting the barb lung soup.

On October 3, 1992, Fei Xiaotong visited the Shijia Restaurant again. After the meal, he wrote impromptuly, "Lingyan remote collection of Fangong Temple, when the old sweet-scented osmanthus blossoms are just in time, the enthusiasm is full of enthusiasm, and the lungs of Shijia's barb are full of poetry." There are seven unique poems. Now, when Shanghainese visit Taihu Lake or visit tombs in Suzhou and Taihu Lake during the Ching Ming Festival, after passing through Mudu Town, they will definitely go to Shijia Restaurant to have a meal of barb liver soup, which has become a habitual action for Shanghainese.I traveled to Suzhou for three days, and my classmate Liu told me that if you don’t eat barb lung soup, you won’t know the delicious food in the world. We deliberately delayed a day to go to Mudu Town. After the tour, we went to Shijia Restaurant to eat barb lung soup.When the squid lung soup was served, I took a spoon to scoop the soup, but there were no lung slices, only pink plaques the size of my little finger.I scooped it into a bowl and inhaled it gently into my mouth. It had a slight fishy smell. After chewing it carefully, it was extremely fragrant and fat, and quickly slipped into my throat.The fish fillet is slightly rolled inward, the color is white with a little light green, and the soup is light yellow.

Suzhou people eat barb lung soup, there are six essentials, namely, one liver, two whites, three skins, four soups, five vegetables, and six meats.The first liver is to eat the barbette liver first, to taste its freshness; the second white is the fish meat, to taste the fat, tender and plump meat; the third skin is the fish skin, which is similar to fish maw, and it is extremely tender; the fourth soup is to drink the soup water, to taste the pure fish soup; Vegetables are pea shoots and bamboo shoots in the soup, taste the fresh taste after soaking in squid fish soup; six meats are ham meat, taste its mellow aroma. The barb lung soup contains barb fish dishes in "Shi Xian Hong Mi" written by Zhu Yizun: "Peel off the skin and impurities if you don't pick the waist (the waist is poisonous), and wash it. First, soak the lungs and wood flowers in clean water for half a day. Cook it with the fish. Then put the vegetable oil in a bowl, put it in the pot, and let it boil to avoid the fishy smell. Before serving, add the tender rotten bamboo shoots, season vegetables, and then mash fresh ginger juice, wine syrup and mix well." "Tiao Ding Ji" records that there are carp livers, "(Craft) cod livers are diced, and gypsum tofu is broken into small pieces. In addition, tofu, ham, shrimp meat, pine nuts, and raw fat oil are also shaved and added as seasonings. Ding and tofu cubes are put into the pot together, and the chicken soup is simmered, and the coriander is less." This scallop fish liver is still very similar to today's scorpion liver soup. In the Chinese cultural circles, the writers and literati who know Shijia cuisine best should work for several weeks. He likes the squid lung soup and tofu soup in Shijia restaurant, and highly recommends them.Among the writers who praised the barb lung soup more, there is Lu Wenfu, a writer from Suzhou. His novel "Gourmet" completely wrote the barb liver soup and made it famous in China. Bafei Decoction has been inherited and developed by several generations of famous teachers in Shijia Restaurant, and its flavor is more unique and its influence is growing.Mr. Bi Jianming, the current head chef of Shijia Restaurant, also has unique innovations and contributions to the squid lung soup.