Chapter 20 Four seas seek "true" taste for home

In the courtyard of Zhang Daqian’s residence in Taipei, there is a barbecue pavilion named “Roasting Pavilion” for tasting Mongolian barbecue.Only a true gourmand will devote this energy to this matter.Roasting, called "burning" in ancient times, is the most primitive and direct cooking technique.We have been using "roasting" to process food since the age of drilling wood for fire, so "roasting" can best bring the ingredients closer to their original taste.This also reflects the "truth" in Zhang Daqian's temperament. Zhang Daqian himself is a very real person, and he always asks for the word "truth" in everything he does.For example, there is no MSG in cooking, and it must be fresh and alive. This is his true taste.

In addition to the grill, he also placed jars of Sichuan pickles in the pavilion.I think many of the dishes developed by Zhang Daqian in Taiwan basically included Sichuan pickles, which is where Zhang Daqian's cooking style is flexible.Because there is no Pixian Douban in Taiwan, and Pixian Douban is the soul of Sichuan cuisine, so Zhang Daqian used kimchi instead. It is said that the veterans from Sichuan who were in Taipei at that time made their own with soybeans because they did not have Pixian Douban.But Douban is made from broad beans, so the taste of soybeans is definitely not as good as Pixian Douban.But unintentionally, the bean paste made from soybeans by the veterans became famous in Taiwan.I was invited to Taiwan in May this year, and my first impression was that the climate of this place is suitable for making Sichuan pickles, and Sichuan pickles require a humid subtropical climate.I think seasoning with Sichuan kimchi is similar to seasoning with Pixian Douban, although of course they cannot completely replace each other.

Now I like to make pickled radish myself, stewed duck with pickled radish and kelp.I also like to stir-fry twice-cooked pork with kimchi, sweet bean sauce, and a little (Pixian) watercress, the three together are very fragrant.If there is no watercress, I will also use kimchi to stir-fry. I will mix the pickled pepper and fresh millet pepper in proportion, so that the stir-fry will have unexpected effects. Zhang Daqian also kept kimchi jars in Taiwan, which shows that he is indeed a gourmet.Nowadays in Beijing, only those who eat delicious food will have kimchi jars in their homes.For example, Huang Ke, the owner of Huangmen Banquet in Beijing, has four or five kimchi jars, and I also have them in my house.

In Zhang Daqian’s courtyard in Taipei, besides the grill and the kimchi jar, there is a huge stone in front of the pavilion, on which is engraved the "Picture of Daqian Layman Begging for Food".On the south side of the first floor is the dining room, with a large round table for twelve people, which is simple and simple.There are guest banquet and food posts on the wall, and these words were written by Zhang Daqian himself.Below are two food lists written by him in his own handwriting. The food lists are written in the form of calligraphy and painting and hung on the wall.One of these two food lists is the food list in the United States in the early summer of 1971, and the other is a family banquet hosted by Zhang Xueliang and his wife in Taipei in 1981.These two food lists are classic representative food lists in his life.Because Zhang Daqian treats guests, as long as he is a distinguished guest, he will write down the food list in advance, and let the guests read it when they arrive.

He also has a food list in Brazil, which is a dinner at Bade Garden: braised pine orchids with xuanhua—Ke, fried prawn slices—Ke, Sichuan lion head—Ke, dry-roasted sturgeon—Wen , steamed carp——Wen, invited——Wen, scallion tofu, fried cabbage, clear soup.The Wen written after the name of the dish is Zhang Daqian's wife Xu Wenbo, and Ke is the name of Zhang Daqian's daughter-in-law. There is a dish called "Xiangyuan", which is actually a combination of Sichuan cuisine "hodgepodge" and Hunan cuisine "eight-treasure fish maw".In the last years of Guangxu, this dish was called "Yipin Dangchao".It is said that at that time a man named Wang Xiangyi pointed at Sang and scolded Huai and said: What Yipin is in the dynasty is clearly a hodgepodge.He was actually dissatisfied with the court, but this dish will be called "hodgepodge" in the future.Zhang Daqian thought the name "Hot Potpourri" was not pleasant, so he changed it to an elegant name "Xiangyuan".

Zhang Daqian liked lion heads, and at first he followed Sichuan's famous dish, red sweet potato lion heads.Sweet potato is a unique vegetable in rural Sichuan. It is added to stewed lion's head, hence the name.Lion heads are generally four round meatballs made of fat and thin pork front blade meat, ham, water chestnuts, etc., which are called Sixi meatballs in the north.This dish is first fried in lard and then grilled.Later, when he lived in the United States, Zhang Daqian also made lion heads, but he used the Soviet-style method, instead of frying first, he stewed them directly. In 1965, Zhang Daqian hosted a dinner for his cousin Yu Zhonglie and his wife at Bade Garden in Brazil. Zhang Daqian set the menu and cooked the dishes himself.There are some dishes on the menu: fried shrimp balls, sweet and sour back willows, fish lips with a hundred sauces, red stewed big black ginseng, hand-caught chicken wrapped in clear soup, glutinous rice chicken, Dongguo tofu, fried Liusi, etc.From the above food list, we can see that Zhang Daqian absorbed the essence of various restaurants on the basis of Sichuan flavor, thus forming a unique Daqian flavor.

We noticed that there is a dish called Liusi in this recipe.When Zhang Daqian was sixty-one years old, he held an art exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. A famous chef named Chen Jianmin at the Sichuan Hotel in Tokyo invented this dish specially for him.This dish is cooked with six kinds of vegetables such as mung bean sprouts, magnolia buds, enoki mushrooms, leek yellow, celery white, and coriander stalks, plus shredded ham.This dish is fresh and refreshing, and Zhang Daqian likes it very much.He must serve this Liusi dish every time he entertains guests, and it is a reserved dish for his family banquet.

In fact, we can also replace this dish with many other ingredients to make a variety of Liusi.Appropriate changes are also one of the joys of gourmet food.