Chapter 48 Zhang Ailing's Soft Rice

Zhang Ailing was a famous talented woman in the Republic of China, and the saying "to be famous as soon as possible" became the golden advice to guide the talented women of all dynasties. The ideal woman in the hearts of men has several common standards-the so-called living room and kitchen.Based on this measure, Eileen Chang is definitely an excellent woman. Apart from these two, she also has one more item of "well-written articles". Zhang Ailing's articles have been written well and have long been concluded. The waves of "Zhang fever" since the 1990s are proof. I don't want to join in the fun.As a senior foodie, what I care about is the bursts of rice fragrance and delicious side dishes that emanate from Zhang Ailing's words.

Compared with other writers, Eileen Chang writes about food in more length and detail, and sometimes even describes the recipes of dishes in detail.Just looking at this detail, I am willing to introduce talented Zhang as a foodie.When I read her article again, I feel a little more kind. Zhang Ailing's systematic exposition on eating is mainly a long article titled "Talking about eating and painting cakes to satisfy hunger", which mentioned various delicacies that she ate when she was a child in Tianjin. One of them is duck tongue and radish soup.Zhang Ailing's description of this childhood delicacy is very interesting: "Bite a small flat bone at the root of the duck's tongue and pull it out like a shoehorn... The duck tongue in the soup is pale white, very clear and tender. .”

This short text can be described as wonderful, full of color, fragrance and nuance, only real gourmets can appreciate the taste. The taste of the duck tongue is often soft and chewy, and many foodies like it very much, and as Eileen Chang said, the "clean and tender" duck tongue tastes a bit like a kiss between a man and a woman, quite ecstasy. I am also a duck tongue lover, and the way I eat it is very similar to Eileen Chang's description, and I can't help but have some charming imaginations when I eat it: When Ailing Eileen eats duck tongue later, will she think of her kiss with Hu Lancheng?

Duck tongue can be regarded as offal, although it is delicious, it is always difficult to be elegant.I searched a lot of menus and banquet materials in the period of the Republic of China. For example, in the recipes of Bada Building and Badaju in Beijing, there is almost no trace of duck tongue, but duck liver is a common dish.At this point, the status of duck tongue is far inferior to that of duck liver. The reason why duck liver can be on the table and rank among the main dishes of the banquet, I think it is mainly because of her aunt's "foie gras".Foie gras is the top ingredient in Western dishes, and it is very expensive. In the era of the westerly wind in the Republic of China, relying on this beautiful foreign relative, the value of duck liver was naturally raised.

Duck tongue has a strong Jianghu temperament, and it has been widely accepted by Chinese people for more than two decades. In the 1990s, the "Three Kingdoms craze" rose in China, which also spread to the gourmet world. Chefs created many "Three Kingdoms dishes", among which there is a "Tongue Fighting Confucianism" that uses duck tongue as the main ingredient. It is appropriate to use duck tongues in this dish, because Eileen Chang once said: "Ducks are really long-tongued women, no wonder they have a low voice and a loud 'quack quack quack'." 250 grams of duck tongue, 150 grams of fresh whitebait, and 10 mushrooms.

Six grams of chicken oil, five grams of salt, four grams of monosodium glutamate, five grams of cooking wine, one kilogram of broth, two grams of pepper, fifteen grams of ginger slices, and ten grams of green onion. 1. Blanch the duck tongue in boiling water for 20 seconds, wash the whitebait, and cut the mushrooms with a comb and flower knife. 2. Blanch the duck tongue, whitebait and Tricholoma separately. 3. Add duck tongue, ginger, green onions, cooking wine, and salt, steam in the basket for five minutes until the taste is delicious, take it out, put it in a small bowl, add mushrooms, salt, and monosodium glutamate to taste, steam in the basket for ten minutes, take it out, and turn over the bowl middle.

4. Put broth and cooking wine in the pot, cook whitebait until cooked, add salt and monosodium glutamate to taste, pour it into a bowl of duck tongue, drizzle with chicken oil, sprinkle with pepper and serve. When it comes to duck tongue, the famous Quanjude in Beijing cannot be avoided.Quanjude is famous all over the world for its roast duck, but their use of duck is not limited to duck meat, but also includes duck feet, duck liver, duck tongue and so on. I have a hobby of collecting recipes. I have a copy of "Beijing Quanjude Famous Recipes" published by Beijing Publishing House in 1982. There are several famous duck tongue dishes: crystal duck tongue, cloud slice duck tongue, sunflower duck tongue, oyster bamboo Sunny duck tongue soup.

Just looking at the names, these dishes are already exciting enough.Compared with these Quanjude dishes, Zhang Ailing's duck tongue and radish soup can only be regarded as a piece of cake. But unfortunately, I have been to Quanjude, which is no less than three, and I have never been able to eat the "duck tongue dish" on this recipe. This is a pity. Taking advantage of this little regret, I would like to say a few more words here, for Quanjude, and for China’s current gastronomy industry—the current food and beverage industry is polarized, either desperately engage in Jianghu cuisine and follow the trend; or desperately learn from the West to catch up with fashion.In terms of restoration and inheritance of traditional cuisine, it has done a poor job, and many traditional things and classic dishes have been lost.

My point of view has always been, "True gourmet food is a niche." This niche does not lie in the price, but in whether the local natural ingredients and ancient methods are used.I summed up this point of view in one sentence: the food is local, the local is folk, and the folk is family. Although the duck tongue is not elegant, it is deeply loved by many gourmets.The "Tiao Ding Ji" recommended by Tong Yue of the Qing Dynasty also recorded a lot of duck tongue dishes: a total of eight types of duck tongue, such as bad duck tongue, boiled duck tongue, wind duck tongue, and stewed duck tongue.Among them, the method of simmering duck tongue is: use duck tongue with duck skin, ham slices, add onion, salt, and fermented rice (mash) and simmer over low heat.Just from the combination of ingredients, you can imagine the deliciousness of this dish. The fermented rice can remove the fishy smell and enhance the aroma, while the sliced ​​ham can make the taste of duck tongue more mellow and smooth. It is worth copying.

The general method of duck tongue is to boil, stew, or burn and braise.I have tried a special treatment method, that is, using the duck tongue as bacon to make cured duck tongue, and I also used sweet bean sauce sauce duck tongue.Treating meat with wax can often make the taste thicker and the texture more elastic.Cured duck tongue is smoked with cypress branches, peanut shells, walnut shells, etc. After drying, it looks like a small bug.When eating, it should be raised with warm water first, and then cooked.After it was served, it was a rare folk delicacy. Many friends applauded after eating it, but at the same time they asked what it was—they could no longer recognize that it was duck tongue.

In fact, not only duck tongues, but also the tongues of many animals—chicken, duck, pig, beef, and sheep—are super delicious, and Yuan Mei’s book includes beef tongue.The tongue is an ingredient with delicate and elastic meat, and the taste is between fat and thin, which can easily capture the taste buds of many people.When eating, the taste is tender and smooth, reminiscent of the ecstasy of the tongue of love, and the talented "three-inch tongue", which has a different taste. Because I especially love the ecstasy taste of "tongue", I cook a lot of cured pork tongue and cured beef tongue every year, and serve them on the table, and then share them with a few friends. very happy.