Chapter 41 En Chengju's Oil Barbecue Wan's Meat

Mei Lanfang also often went to Enchengju in Shanxi Lane outside Qianmen, which is a representative of old-fashioned Cantonese cuisine and a place where Cantonese officials and wealthy businessmen in Beijing at that time often gathered.Representative dishes such as chicken mashed corn.In this dish, the corn is first chopped and boiled into a puree, and then the chicken is added.This dish is light and refreshing, and it is Mei Lanfang's favorite dish. Mei also likes fried aloe vera (asparagus) in lard, and Yifu noodles.This noodle was invented by a Fujianese named Yi Bingshou in the Qing Dynasty. The method is to use eggs and noodles, add sea cucumber, Hericium erinaceus, sea rice, tendons, shiitake mushrooms, dog oil, and make it in a casserole. The method is very similar to Buddha jumped over the wall.Yizhifu is from Tingzhou, Fujian, and this practice must be the inheritance of Fujian cuisine.Yi Zhifu is a calligrapher, he writes good calligraphy and is also good at painting, and his "Mo Liu" is particularly brilliant.

Stir-fried pea sprouts in duck oil and eel back in oyster sauce are also dishes that Mei often orders.Because there were so many people coming, when Mei Lanfang arrived in Enchengju, the waiter would bring out his usual dishes before ordering. The advantage of fried pea sprouts in duck oil is that it is oily but not greasy, and the pea sprouts are fresh and green, very refreshing.The eel back in oyster sauce is the best oyster sauce that the boss specially transports from Xiangshan, Guangdong. Mei's good friend Qi Rushan, a master of drama, also likes to come to Enchengju for dinner. When he eats fried bean sprouts with duck oil, he asks his staff to go to Tongrentang to make a pot of green "green wine". Known as the "Emerald Twins".

En Chengju's attention to the use of oil is a must, and it is also one of the unique skills of Chinese cuisine. Using different oils, such as lard, duck, oyster, and dog oil, with different ingredients often has unexpected effects. I used to use bacon oil to stir-fry vegetable sprouts and garlic sprouts. Vegetables of sprouts have a little spicy taste, and bacon oil can just remove these spicy tastes while maintaining its umami taste.I also used sheep oil to fry shredded radish, and the taste of the finished dish was very good.This way of using oil is inspired by the combination of traditional ingredients.For example, I tried to use dog oil to cook soft-shelled turtles, and the taste was very good. In fact, there is dog meat stewed soft-shelled turtles in Huaiyang cuisine, which is a famous dish.In Wangjing, Beijing, because there are a large number of Koreans, the supermarket sells dog meat.In addition, the lard bibimbap, under the lard, fried vegetables with lard, are all delicious, and the egg fried rice must be fried with lard to be the most fragrant.

In Beijing, Mei Lanfang often went to the barbecue Wan.Barbecue Wan is famous for its halal food such as roast beef and mutton buns. Its barbecue is famous for its delicate meat and tofu.The current plaque is inscribed by Puru, the royal family in the late Qing Dynasty. The roast meat is very particular about the materials used. The roast beef must be four or five-year-old Mongolian cows or dairy cows, and only the most tender parts such as the upper brain, subcap, and monk's head should be taken, and the tendons should be removed. Knife work should be very fine.The house-keeping sunburners of Barbecue Wan are unusual. They are made of copper and have a history of hundreds of years. They are the treasure of the town store.When grilling meat, brush a layer of sheep tail oil first, sprinkle the meat slices on the grill, and make a sizzling sound, and eat it with Erguotou.

As I write this, my mouth is watering, as if I smell the smell of meat from the Republic of China.Barbecue Wan is also a place where celebrities gather, Zhang Daqian, Ma Lianliang, Qi Baishi and others are regular visitors.Qi Baishi once inscribed a plaque of "Halal Barbecue Wan" and gave him a picture of plum blossoms. When he was 80 years old, he specially painted a picture "The Benevolent Lives Longevity" and gave it to Barbecue Wan. The way of eating barbecue is very old, with a history of thousands of years. In the tomb of Zeng Houyi unearthed in 1978, there is a bronze sunburn.In the Chinese idiom, the "popular" broiler is barbecue.

Barbecue meat must be grilled with pine wood or fruit charcoal, and then the chopped meat is marinated with special juice. When grilling, it is served with green onion and coriander, and it is grilled on the grill. The color of the grilled meat is chestnut red, and the taste is tender and smooth. , not greasy, not greasy, salty and mellow, meaty, fruity and woody. Now there are many barbecue restaurants in the city, but the first thing they lose is the fuel for the barbecue. Now almost no pine or fruit wood is used. Many of them use artificial charcoal, and some simply use electric grills.In terms of ingredients, because of the current poor food safety, the taste is naturally much worse.

I also love to eat barbecue. When I am hungry, I go to the small shops on the street. Although the sanitation conditions are a bit poor, they usually use natural charcoal; and I go to Korean barbecue restaurants like Hallasan. The environment is good. The meat is also tender, although artificial charcoal is used, but I don't care about it.