Chapter 22 Cultural giants bland diet

Strictly speaking, Hu Shi is not a real foodie.But Hu Shi is well-informed about food, and many of his friends and colleagues are big foodies, such as Wen Yiduo, Liang Shiqiu, and Lu Xun.So when it comes to eating home in the Republic of China, Hu Shi cannot be bypassed. Speaking of Lu Xun and Hu Shi, these two cultural giants met twice in Beijing Dongxing Building.One time Hu Shi invited Lu Xun, and the other time Yu Dafu invited Hu Shi and Lu Xun.In addition, Hu Shi was also invited to dine at Lu Xun's residence in Badaowan and the Shaoxing Hall, and he was one of the few guests who dined at Lu Xun's house. It can be seen that the two had a close personal relationship at the time, but later due to They parted ways because of different opinions.

In 1917, the 27-year-old Hu Shi returned to China after studying and taught at Peking University. He had frequent dinners.Hu Shi’s diary recorded many restaurants that participated in the dinner, and Hu Shi was one of the few celebrities who recorded the dinner in his diary besides Lu Xun.For example, "On September 7, the tenth year of the Republic of China, Zhang Fuyun invited me to Dongxing Building for dinner." "On April 1, the eleventh year of the Republic of China, lunch was at Dongxing Building. The guests were Zhixing, Wang Boheng, and Zhang Boling." "On September 8, Cai Mr. invited Er and Menglin, Meng He and I to Dongxing Building for dinner, and we talked for a long time." And so on.

In addition to the small restaurants near Peking University, Hu Shi often went to more than 20 restaurants such as Chunhualou, Guangheju, Beijing Hotel, Dongxinglou, and Minghuchun.The most visited one is Dongxing Building, the first of the eight buildings in Beijing.Most of his distinguished guests are entertained in Dongxing Building.Because Dongxing Building is located in Dong'an Market, which is relatively close to Peking University at that time. According to Lu Xun's diary records, there are more than 60 restaurants that Lu Xun frequented, and Hu Shi is far behind Lu Xun in this regard.In fact, Hu Shi had many more friends than Lu Xun, and he didn't go to many restaurants, which shows that Hu Shi was very restrained.

Dongxing Building, one of the eight famous buildings in old Beijing, opened on Dong'anmen Street in Beijing in 1903. It closed down in 1944 and resumed business in Dongzhimen Inner Street in 1982. At that time, Dongxinglou’s casserole bear’s paw, steamed chicken, fried diced chicken in sauce, fried raw chicken slices, casserole shark’s fin, red oil sea cucumber, etc. were all high-end court dishes.The cook also came from the former court. It is said that Hu Shi is particularly fond of Dongxinglou's fried shrimp and fried chicken in sauce, both of which are Shandong dishes.The fried chicken in sauce is only the best at Dongxinglou, and other restaurants also have it, but they are not as good as Dongxinglou.

The method of this dish is: soak the chicken breast in cold water for an hour, remove the chicken skin and ribs, cut into cubes, add egg white, wet starch, mix well with water, and the sauce is ready.Put the cooked lard in the pot. When the oil is 40% hot on a low heat, add the diced chicken. When it is half mature, take the diced chicken out with a colander, add cooked lard and sesame oil for 3 qian each, and add yellow sauce , stir-fry to dry the water, add sugar, after the sugar melts, add Shaoxing wine and ginger juice, stir-fry until it becomes a paste, then pour in diced chicken, stir-fry, and take it out of the pan.

It is now a famous dish in Beijing, but the taste has changed for several reasons.One is not soaking in cold water for an hour.The second is not to add egg white, only to add wet starch.The third is that lard is basically not added now.Lard is very important in Chinese cooking.Now talking about the discoloration of lard, it’s actually not that scary.The aroma of lard cannot be replaced by vegetable oil.Fourth, this dish needs to be served with yellow sauce and a little sugar. Nowadays, many restaurants directly put sweet noodle sauce, so the taste will be different. Hu Shi often goes to several small restaurants around Peking University, such as Mashen Temple, Hanhua Garden, and the beach. Home-cooked dishes such as , jade soup, etc., sometimes drink two or two Laobaigan.

Since the "May 4th Movement", many academic celebrities and masters of Chinese studies have left their shadows in these small restaurants near Peking University. Hu Shi especially likes the fried tofu nao and jade soup made by Waihai Quancheng in Dongzhai Beach.Now you can see tofu nao in breakfast in Beijing, which is used to serve with fried dough sticks or steamed buns.But fried tofu nao is rare. The method of fried tofu nao is: put the frying pan on the stove and pour in lard.Here I want to say that it is generally best to add lard or chicken oil to make soup and fried bean paste. You can also add vegetable oil, but the taste will be much worse.After the lard is hot, add minced green onion and minced ginger and fry for a while, then add tender tofu and fry for two or three minutes, mash the tofu while frying, then add refined salt, Shaoxing wine, monosodium glutamate, and chicken broth, and stir into a soup shape.Finally, add wet starch to thicken the sauce, pour chicken oil on top, and the dish is ready.

Similar to this dish, I invented Stir-fried Tofu with Green Vegetables and Stir-fried Tofu with Fuling Pickled Vegetables that I invented in Tianxiayan, both of which use tender tofu.I first chop the green vegetables into fine pieces, add lard or chicken oil, add the chopped green vegetables and stir-fry after the oil is hot, then add soft tofu, stir-fry while pounding, and keep smashing it.This dish is clear in green and white, fresh and fragrant, and is very popular all over the world.