Chapter 38 Scallion and tangy

Wang Shixiang not only cooks, but also buys vegetables himself.He goes out early every morning to line up at the gate of Chaoyangmen Market, and when the opening bell rings, he is the first to rush in.Those who went to the vegetable market with him included nannies and famous chefs, such as Liu Wenhui who cooked for the Panchen Lama.Wang Shixiang said that riding a bicycle to the market to buy vegetables is the greatest pleasure in life next to "eating". From my hometown to Beijing, I like to go to the vegetable market.Now I prefer to go to the vegetable market in my hometown. Every time I go back to my hometown, I will get up early the next morning to go to the vegetable market to see the fresh vegetables, the chickens that "cuckoo" and the ducks that "quack" all over the place. There are also pickled vegetables and jar dishes.The ingredients in my hometown are very different from those in Beijing. For example, pig's trotters are very heavy in glue, and after being stewed, they will stick your mouth together - there is no such pig's trotters in Beijing.

Mr. Wang is good at cooking with the simplest and most homely ingredients.At a gathering of friends, a friend asked everyone to cook a special dish.There were a lot of ingredients at that time, but Wang Lao made a stewed green onion, using the cheapest Shandong green onion, without other side dishes, and everyone snatched it up after it was done. Similar to this dish, Mr. Wang also cooks sea rice with fried scallions. I think this is a dish that every housewife should learn because the ingredients are very simple. Wang Lao’s method is to soak dried sea rice with rice wine first, and then add soy sauce and sugar.Cut the scallions into two or three-inch pieces, deep-fry the scallions with vegetable oil first, and put them on the plate after frying.Pour the seasoning soaked with dried shrimps into the pot, collect the soup and pour it into the plate with scallions.This dish is the favorite of Jin Qian'an, a regular customer of Tan's cuisine, and it is said to have originated from Huaiyang cuisine.This dish can only be made in early winter, and green onions after the beginning of spring can no longer be used.

Scallion is a kind of green fragrance from far to near.When eating Chongqing hot pot, I like to ask the waiter to serve a plate of shallots and pour them into the red soup of the hot pot before ordering.In this way, when the dishes are served, the red oil soup in the hot pot has been boiled with chives into scallion oil soup, and other dishes will be very fragrant after cooking with this oil soup. The Japanese also like to eat green onions.In Japanese cuisine, green onions include grilled green onions, fried shallots, tempura with green onions, salad with whole green onions, etc.The Japanese also like to use scallions to make wine. The specific method is to cut the scallions into sections, put them in a bottle, close the lid tightly, and steep for two weeks until the wine turns light green.Drinking a small cup before going to bed can help sleep and strengthen yang.

There are scallions, scallions, and chives. As early as the Northern Wei Dynasty, "Qi Min Yao Shu" introduced the method of growing onions in detail, and there are also many introductions to cooking with onions.Onions can be stewed, simmered, roasted, braised, and can be used to make scallion oil, scallion ginger oil, scallion pepper oil, scallion soy oil, etc. These oils are used for mixing, frying, frying, and sautéing vegetables, and the taste is very good. I also especially like stuffed buns and dumplings with chives and pork.Usually people like to make dumplings with chives, but I like to add chives for a stronger flavor.

Both Wang Shixiang and his son Wang Dunhuang agree with a gourmet point of view, that is, the choice of ingredients must be in season.For example, the most common spring onion, the season of choice is different, and the taste is also different.To cook sea cucumbers with scallions, a famous dish in Shandong, you must use scallions that have not been damaged by frost after the frost has fallen.Therefore, the dish of roasted sea cucumber with green onion can only be eaten after winter.In fact, the same is true for radishes. It is said that the radishes used in the banquet in the Great Hall of the People were produced after the Frost's Descent, and they are crisp and sweet.

Speaking of which, let me insert a little story.One year after the Spring Festival, my colleague from Tianxiayan and a beautiful woman from Guizhou, Qiu, returned to Beijing from her hometown in Duyun.On the way to the airport, she saw a farmer on the street carrying a load of cabbage just pulled out of the field to sell in the city. She called the farmer immediately, bought two and brought them back to Beijing, and gave them to him on the same day. me.I took these two cabbages and went home immediately, set up a frying pan, put a little lard, and when it was 50% hot, I added ginger slices and scallion whites, stir-fried, and then hot water.When the water boils, add the cabbage, if the cabbage is slightly soft, add a little salt.The fragrance and sweetness of that pot of cabbage are unmatched by any cabbage in Beijing.

My hometown is also in the remote area of ​​the Great Southwest. During the winter vacation in the 1960s, I went to my brother’s production team as an educated youth. When I ate, I cooked the soup first, and then went to the garden to pick the cabbage with snow, washed it, chopped it, and put it in the pot. It was very delicious. Next time Miss Qiu returns to Duyun, I will ask her to bring back cabbage, and at the same time, it is best to bring some Duyun tofu and well water, or bamboo drain water, and use these local ingredients to make a pot of soup. How delicious is it. Two days ago, I heard that my hometown, Qianjiang, was going to have flights to Beijing, three times a week.At that time, my first thought was that if I wanted to eat the dishes of my hometown in the future, I could fly the ingredients directly from my hometown to Beijing.Those flights arrived in Beijing at 4:00 pm, just in time to make dinner - a blessing brought by the plane.

In addition, the noodles in my hometown are very delicious, and the toppings are not available in the north.After the plane passes, I can go back early in the morning to eat the first pot noodles, and then fly back in the afternoon.This bowl of noodles is very expensive, but it can relieve my homesickness for many years.