Chapter 103 donkey meat fire

On the vast Jizhong Plain, there is a kind of bun-like delicacy that tempts me as a diner, and that is the donkey meat fire that is well-known in Beijing.When I travel between Beijing and Baoding, I often use it as food to satisfy my hunger on the road.Baoding people list it as one of the four treasures of Baoding, which is the same reputation as iron ball, noodle sauce, and spring age. Baoding is the birthplace of Hebei cuisine, and is rich in various food resources.I was walking on the streets of Baoding, and the donkey meat food stalls were a beautiful sight, attracting my attention.The well-known fire-burning restaurants I am familiar with include Yuanjia, Yongmao, Laolutou, Haoziwei, etc., which are popular chain stores nowadays, with branches in Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Tangshan and other surrounding cities.In the Caohe area of ​​Xushui County, Baoding, donkey meat has a very long history of burning. The people there are used to eating cooked donkey meat in the fire.

Huoshao is a common northern pasta. It is made of dead noodles, baked in a baking pan, and then baked in the stove. The outside is charred and the inside is tender, with a unique flavor; Spicy cooked donkey meat is added to the steamed buns, and some chefs add donkey sausages to the donkey meat in order to enhance the taste.There are also stews made with broth and starch, which are sandwiched in the fire and eaten.The local people in Baoding like to eat stewed dumplings, and they especially like the stewed dumplings made by Dingzhou people, saying that it is the most delicious to eat. Donkey meat is low-fat, high-protein meat, its protein is much higher than that of pork, beef and mutton, and its content of calcium, phosphorus and iron is relatively high.According to records, donkey meat is warm in nature, has the functions of nourishing qi and blood, nourishing essence and strengthening yang, nourishing yin and kidney, and benefiting the lungs.Donkey heart, liver, loin, meat, tripe, intestines, ears, tail, mouth strips, tendons, and bone marrow all taste fragrant, crisp and tender, can strengthen the spleen and stomach, nourish the liver and kidney, solidify the essence and fill the marrow, nourish blood and Qi, skin care and beauty .Pregnant women, people with spleen and stomach deficiency, chronic enteritis and diarrhea should not eat donkey meat.

As the northern saying goes, "dragon meat is in the sky, and donkey meat is in the ground." Donkey meat is regarded as the ultimate delicacy in the world, and is remembered and eaten by the majority of diners. Baoding donkey meat fire is very strict in the selection of donkey meat. It is made from the meat of donkey face. , served with freshly baked fire, the outside is yellow and crisp, the inside is soft, and it tastes endless aftertaste.The fire is suitable for eating now. The freshly baked fire is the best. After a long time, the noodles will become too porcelain.Donkey meat has a lot of oil, so it does not absorb oil when it is burned, and it is easy to ooze out the oil.The fire is too thick and too thick, and it is difficult for the girl to finish a whole donkey meat. She often finishes eating the donkey meat, leaving half of the donkey meat untouched by the fire.

In the first year of Ming Hui Emperor Jianwen, Zhu Di rebelled and went to Xushui Caohe area in Baoding. He was defeated and had to suffer from hunger.The sergeant followed the example of the ancients by killing horses to relieve hunger and killed many war horses.Horse meat has thick fibers, and the soldiers were hungry, so they put the horse meat in the fire and ate it, thinking it tasted good.The local people followed this method and made folk horse meat fire.Soon, the Central Plains regime and the Mongols fought, and horses became a strategic commodity. The common people had to kill Taihang donkeys and replace horse meat with local donkey meat.Donkey meat is fine in fiber, pure and thin but not fat. The common people feel that the taste is better than horse meat, so they decided to use donkey meat to burn, and only then did the donkey meat burn today.

There are two donkey species in Hebei, one is the Bohai donkey along the coast, and the other is the Taihang donkey in the mountains and plains.The donkeys produced in Baoding are Taihang donkeys, which grow in the mountains and hills of the Jizhong Plain, where the water and grass are fertile and the donkey meat is tender. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were two major gangs in the Caohe area, namely the Cao Gang and the Salt Gang. The Cao Gang controlled the transport of Caohe and affected people's livelihood in Gyeonggi; Fights broke out, the salt gang changed water transport to land transport, and the new means of transportation was Taihang donkeys. The Cao Gang harbored hatred and attacked the salt transport team of the Salt Gang many times. When they won, they captured a large number of donkeys. It was used as dry food and brought to the boat to be eaten and sold to surrounding areas. Since then, donkey meat fire has spread along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and directly entered Beijing.

The taste of donkey meat on fire depends on the taste of donkey meat and fire. Donkey meat is stewed in a big pot with aged soup and secret ingredients, which has the best taste.But you must master the heat of stewed donkey meat, otherwise it will not chew well when it is old, and it will easily get stuck between your teeth.The saltiness is appropriate, so as not to affect the fragrance of the donkey meat. Too salty will affect the taste, with little fragrance and slightly bitter taste.When eating donkey meat, you can choose different parts of donkey meat according to everyone's taste. The ribs are more popular with diners. When you put some fat donkey meat on the fire, it will be more fragrant.Kneading the noodles determines the taste of the fire. If you add more water, the noodles will be soft, and if you add less water, the noodles will be hard.Donkey oil is used for the preparation, and vegetable oil or other oils should not be used.Put the surface agent in a flat-bottomed pan, press the surface agent with a wooden mold to make it shape, hold it up and press it again, the work should not be too urgent.When the fire is cooked to 85%, put it into the fire with a fork and grill it, let it be heated evenly, the fire will be more round, crisp and fragrant, and the surface will turn golden yellow, that is, the best fire.According to the taste of diners, green peppers are added to donkey meat to reduce the greasy feeling of donkey meat.The donkey meat should be minced and placed on the vegetable pier in a round shape with a high center of depression around it. The donkey meat, green peppers and donkey sausages should be chopped together into 1 cm chunks, put into the fire and poured over the donkey meat. The soup is more fragrant and mellow.

The donkey meat should be eaten while it is hot. Only when it is hot can the fat be roasted, so that the aroma can penetrate into the meat and burn on the fire. The crispy fire can be bitten in the mouth, exuding the delicious aroma of donkey meat. Chewing slowly, the donkey meat The freshness and crispness of the fire come out together, filling the mouth with a long aftertaste.