Chapter 32 Confinement in Hunan and Guizhou

After the "Xi'an Incident" was resolved peacefully, Zhang Xueliang was placed under house arrest by Chiang Kai-shek in Xuedou Mountain, Fenghua, Ningbo.Jiang ordered that Zhang's life must be guaranteed, so Zhang had his own chef at that time, and each meal had at least seven or eight dishes.Ningbo is close to the sea, so every meal of Zhang must have a main course made of seafood. The chef who cooked for Zhang Xueliang in Fenghua was Master Cui from his official residence in Jinjiaxiang, Xi'an before he was imprisoned. Jiang specially sent a special plane to bring him from Xi'an to Xuedou Mountain to ensure that Zhang could eat northern-style meals.This situation remained until 1940, when Master Cui retired in old age, and only then did he change to other cooks.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang was secretly imprisoned in Xiangxi, Hunan.The place is poor, with inconvenient transportation, and eating meat is a problem.To solve this difficulty, Zhang Xueliang often goes hunting in the mountains himself.After returning the game, the cook made it into Zhang Xueliang's favorite dishes, such as sliced ​​wild duck, sliced ​​hot and sour pheasant, crispy turtledove, braised frog in yellow, braised wild duck in braised sauce, and sliced ​​rabbit with salt and pepper. In fact, Hunan Xiangxi has a history of making game since ancient times, which can be seen in Qu Yuan's Songs of Chu.In the "Turtle and Pao Lamb, there are some Zhe pulp", "Shu sour catfish, some fried chicken" are written about game.According to Guo Moruo's explanation, the first dish is braised soft-shelled turtle and char siew lamb mixed with sweet noodle sauce, while the second dish is boiled swan and braised teal.

I once hunted turtledoves in the early 1980s, and then stir-fried them with my own pickled peppers and winter bamboo shoots.I first wash the turtledove and cut it into pieces, then marinate it with salt, cooking wine, and water soybean powder.When the lard is 60% hot, add the turtledove, stir-fry until it is 80% mature, add winter bamboo shoots, pickled peppers, ginger and garlic slices, and watercress, then add bone broth, then cover the pot and simmer, add a few drops of white wine and a little garlic sprouts at the end, Thicken the cornstarch and cook it, it is very delicious. It was also during the period of confinement in western Hunan that Zhang Xueliang developed the habit of serving rice with tempeh.In Xiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou and other places, tempeh is a must-have meal for every household.Now fermented soya bean is also gradually popularized, such as Laoganma fermented soya bean, which is known all over the country.

As the war changed, Zhang Xueliang also moved from Xiangxi to Yangming Cave in the deep mountains of Xiuwen, Guizhou.There, Zhang Xueliang had to live in a cave and read by oil lamps.Under such harsh living conditions, his body has not been worn down. In addition to his spiritual optimism, it is also related to his love of eating game and wild vegetables. Near his residence, Zhang Xueliang accidentally found black fungus on a tree, which was tender and crisp, so he often went to pick it himself and came back to cook.If you can't finish eating by yourself, return it to your followers.For the picked fungus, he likes to mix them with local shallots and garlic, stir-fry them with vegetables, or stew game.When conditions permit, also come to fry sweet-scented osmanthus meat.

Osmanthus osmanthus meat is fried with pork, fungus and eggs.Osmanthus osmanthus is also called sweet-scented osmanthus, because the egg color is like sweet-scented osmanthus, so egg fried rice is also called sweet-scented osmanthus fried rice. During the few years in Guizhou, Zhang Xueliang loved fishing, and often asked the chef to braise or stew the fish he caught. Ms. Zhao Si combined the local cooking techniques and created a special dish - tofu boiled fish.She removed the scales, viscera, and sections of the small fish caught by Zhang Xueliang, and fried them in a frying pan.The fish head, fish tail and tofu are simmered together to form a fresh soup, then the fried fish segments are put into the soup, and then the bamboo shoots and fungus are added to cook into a snow-white and delicious fish soup.

Regarding this dish, Zhao Jiheng, who served as the county magistrate of Tongzi County, Guizhou Province in 1946, once recorded: Once Zhao Jiheng and Huang Tuanzhang went to visit Zhang Xueliang, and Zhang left two guests for dinner.The food was ready, Miss Zhao Si suddenly proposed to add another stewed fish with tofu.But there were no fish at home at that time, so Zhang Xueliang took out the sleeve fishing rod his wife Yu Fengzhi bought for him from the United States, and invited two guests to go fishing in the river near his home.Zhao Jiheng recalled that Zhang Xueliang had extraordinary fishing skills, and he caught four or five big fish about one foot in a short time.After returning home, Ms. Zhao Si took the fish she caught into the kitchen, and within ten minutes, a pot of steaming tofu stewed fish was served.After the guests tasted it, they exclaimed loudly.

My family lives in Chongqing, which is very close to Guizhou, so there is also stewed fish with tofu in my hometown.After working in Beijing, I seldom eat fish, but every time I go back to my hometown, I must have a meal of stewed fish with tofu.That is local water, local fish.When making it, first use the local pickled ginger, green onion and garlic to fry the pot, and then cook it slowly.When eating, eat fish and tofu first, and then soak a large bowl of rice in hot and sour fish soup after drinking. It is really a fairy-like enjoyment. When Zhang Xueliang was under confinement in Guizhou, he traveled to many places. When he was in Xifeng, he developed feelings for local vegetables.Especially the local stinky tofu, which later became a must-have side dish for his every meal.The local tofu, which is made of local small soybeans and local stream water, is white, tender and elastic.

I used to live in my hometown county. Tofu is made with natural water and tastes very delicious.After returning home from university, the water quality in my hometown was polluted, and the tofu made with tap water was far less delicious than before.Now people in the city have to go to the countryside to buy tofu. When I make tofu, I often fry the old tofu until both sides are yellow, and use it to stir-fry celery or fried twice-cooked pork. It is absolutely wonderful. Here I would like to mention that southerners love spicy food, but there are differences in the level of spiciness in different regions: Hunan cuisine is fresh and spicy, Sichuan cuisine is spicy and spicy, and Guizhou cuisine is hot and sour.

The acid in Guizhou cuisine is not acetic acid, but fruit acid, which is the acid produced by a local spicy fruit.It is made by mountain people by fermenting spicy fruit and wood ginger seeds together with fermented rice in a jar.The famous sour soup fish in Guizhou uses this kind of fruit acid. Guizhou cuisine is composed of Guiyang cuisine, Qianbei cuisine and ethnic minority cuisine.In the past, few people knew about Guizhou cuisine, but it has only recently gained attention.In fact, the famous Sichuan cuisine Kung Pao Ding is an authentic Guizhou dish, which was improved by Ding Baozhen, the governor of Sichuan from Guizhou, who brought it to Sichuan.