Chapter 82 Baixi Braised Tofu

Baixi Town is located 40 kilometers north of Xinhua County. It is a well-known ancient town with a history of more than 2,000 years. It was once the birthplace of Chiyou and Meishan cultures, and has the reputation of "Little Nanjing".The eight scenic spots in the ancient town are well-known both at home and abroad, and Baixi water tofu is even more famous all over the world.Baixi Town is located on the bank of the Zijiang River, with 48 Zishui streams, and there are unique Xixi products, the most elegant of which is Baixi Tofu. After the Qin Dynasty unified China, the residents of Xinhua were still wearing bare hair in a chignon, with tattoos on their hair, plowing fields and mountains, and disobeying the king. They are called Meishan barbarians.In the third year of Xining, Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty, Meishan officially belonged to the imperial court, and set up two towns, the upper town and the lower town. The stream is on Meishan Mountain.

The folk term Baixi refers to Youxi, Qingshi, Dengjia, Hesi, Tanshan, Shuiyue, Exi, Hengyan, Dongfu, Ronghua, Lixi, Zhenshang and other townships.Baixi is located in the hills at the southern foot of Daxiong Mountain, across the banks of the Zishui River.Zishui enters from Nantang, diverts to the west at Shiziwan, and exits through Aimin to Ronghua. The river section in the territory is 20 kilometers, and the water area is wide.There are Youxi, Baixi, Sibenxi and other tributaries in Baixi, which are as bright as a mirror. Youxi enters the mirror from Pingxi and flows into Zishui through Youxi Township; Baixi Bridge injects Zishui; Siben River enters from Xinyuan and injects Zishui via Minxin Village.

Baixi used to be a white sandbar with dense trees, very quiet and sparsely populated with dozens of families. Baixi's original tofu was bean paste, which was made by an old woman who came out of the house. The tofu was as white as snow, and the neighbors all learned how to make tofu from her.Once, a stream of spring water emerged beside the stream where they washed their burdens. When they looked up, they saw a lotus cloud in the south sky, on which stood Guanyin Bodhisattva.Everyone immediately burned incense and paper, prayed and prayed. Later generations built the Golden Buddha Hall in the place where the burdens were washed, and dug a well next to the hall, named Golden Temple Well. The water in the well was clear and sweet, but it is now flooded.

In the tenth year of Qianlong's reign, he visited the south of the Yangtze River in private, passed by Baixi, and stayed overnight in a small shop in the village.The owner is a great-great-grandson who learned how to make tofu from the old woman. He didn't know that the customer was the emperor, so he only served water tofu.Qianlong tasted the slow food carefully, and the more he sipped it, the more tender it became, and he wanted to "have a few more dishes". The shopkeeper sent three dishes in a row.Before leaving, he asked the shopkeeper to prepare pens and inks, and wrote "Walking through the world, Baixi is good at tofu".The owner hung the plaque in the hall.One day, a scholar in the Hanlin University was here. He was stunned when he saw the plaque and asked the owner.The owner of the store told the story, and Hanlin said: "This is the imperial pen of today's emperor." Everyone wondered why the emperor wrote "Baisha" as "Baixi". up.Since then, Baixi has been known and has been called until now.Soon after Qianlong returned to the court, Xuanbaixi Tofu paid tribute.

Baixi tofu has a long history, fine production, pure raw materials, fine grinding like milk, and proper gypsum for burning pulp.The finished product is white and tender, it will not disperse after a long time of cooking, and it is delicious. There are many ways to eat Baixi tofu: the fresh and tender tofu is boiled in soup, mixed with scallion leaves, ginger and other ingredients. It has a complete color, aroma and taste, especially fresh and fragrant.Mix fresh tofu with purified loach. After the temperature in the pot rises, the loach gets into the tofu, which tastes fresh and sweet, with a unique flavor.Fish jelly tofu is a must-have delicacy for people in the Baixi area during the New Year. It is cooked with fresh carp mixed with tofu and white pepper, and then eaten after freezing, it melts in the mouth.

The most distinctive feature of Baixi tofu is simmered tofu. Fresh water tofu is difficult to preserve. Baixi people use the local geographical conditions to process water tofu.Baixi and its surrounding areas are places where firewood is relatively concentrated. Farmers mostly use firewood to cook and cook, and a lot of food is smoked and roasted.Water tofu is not suitable for smoking and roasting. Farmers use firewood to burn off the remaining sparks and waste heat of plant ash. After cooking, they remove the sparks, dig a hole in the hot plant ash, and put the water tofu evenly in the pit. In the oven, cover it with plant ash, and after a night of residual heat grilling, the water vapor of the water tofu will dry up, and the tofu will be hard and firm, and you can pick it up casually.In fact, part of the water in the tofu is dried by the residual heat of the plant ash, and the other part is absorbed by the plant ash.Soak the simmered tofu in the stream for four to five minutes, gently rub the surface of the tofu with your hands, wash until the stream turns white, put the tofu in the sun to dry the surface moisture, put the tofu on the stove at night with a wire sieve, spread the tofu on the In the sieve, after one or two nights of baking, the simmered tofu is half-dried.

Stir-fried simmered tofu, cut into thin slices first, add a layer of oil in the pot, after the oil boils, spread the tofu slices on the bottom of the pot, the tofu will soon be fried yellow or form small bubbles, turn the tofu, keep stirring, and wait for the other side Slightly yellow, add salt, chili powder, monosodium glutamate and other seasonings, add a little water, until the water dries up, it can be taken out of the pot. Simmered tofu tastes tough and crisp on the outside, smooth and tender on the inside. The tofu is sweet and refreshing, with a tangy bean fragrance. It is a good accompaniment to wine and meals, and can also be used as snacks and snacks.Savor the simmered tofu carefully, it really has a special flavor.