Chapter 9 Honey Sweet Potatoes

Xuzhou is a place where humanities gather, not to mention historical figures, modern calligraphy and painting artists such as Li Keran, Liu Kaiqu, Zhang Boying, etc., are also from Xuzhou area. In the early spring of 1992, I was invited together with Mr. Jiang Ruo, the old curator of Luoyang Museum, to participate in the release ceremony and publication symposium of "Mr. Zhang Boying's Calligraphy Collection" held in Xuzhou. After hours, the whole body is cold.That evening, the Xuzhou CPPCC invited Mr. Jiang, Mr. Wang Shimin from the Institute of Archeology, Academy of Social Sciences, and me to a banquet in a very distinctive restaurant in the city. Both Mr. Jiang and Wang are from Xuzhou, and they both left their hometown in their youth.

I can't remember the name of this restaurant, but it seems to be not far from the city center.The facade is not big, and after entering, the winding path leads to seclusion, there are no scattered seats, only a few private rooms.In the picture frame in the corridor, there are four or five authentic works of Mr. Li Keran.There are two round tables in the private room, and a large landscape of Mr. Li Keran hangs on the wall.Chairman Li of the Xuzhou Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference said that the owner of this restaurant is the grandnephew of Mr. Li Keran, who is quite famous in Xuzhou.Individual customers are never sold here, and banquets have to be booked a few days in advance. There are only four or five private rooms in the store, all decorated with Mr. Keran's calligraphy and paintings. This alone is worth far more than all the assets including the house. .

The dishes are exquisite and rich, and the quality can be compared with some big restaurants in Beijing.Among them, mutton boiled radish is the most common dish, but it tastes extremely delicious. The soup is thick and white, the meat is crispy and rotten, and the radish is smooth and tender.After eating half a bowl, the cold in the afternoon disappeared. During the banquet, the waiter brought a large plate with reddish-brown mud like a heap on it, and it was slightly covered with Ming Gorgon. When it was placed on the table, the name of the dish was announced, but because of the noisy voices at the table, it was hard to hear what he said. What is it, and want to tell the time again, the master motioned to stop talking, and asked me what is it?I couldn't answer, so I looked up at Mr. Jiang and Mr. Wang. They are also from Xuzhou after all.However, they were all young and left home, so they could only look at each other and shake their heads.At this time, Director Li of the Xuzhou Museum stood up and said: "Please try it first, don't care what it is called." So everyone moved their chopsticks, and just about to enter, the host reminded everyone not to burn their mouths.Waiting for a while to enter the mouth, it is soft and sweet, and there is a little sweet-scented osmanthus fragrance, but I can't tell what it is.At this time, the owner introduced that this beet dish is a famous dish of the shop, and it is called "sweet sweet potato with honey sauce". The sweet potato is also called sweet potato.Just at this time, the owner of the shop, Mr. Keran's nephew and grandson, entered the room to say hello and asked everyone if they enjoyed their meal. Apart from praising the food, the guests also asked about the method of "Honey Sweet Potatoes". Mr. Li said that it is Use air-dried sweet potatoes to steam them in a pan, remove their skins, mash them, and stir-fry them with good sesame oil. Do not add sugar when frying, so as to maintain the original taste of sweet potatoes. , just overlay it.Whether this professor of Mr. Li has any reservations is unknown.

Speaking of this, I think of a traditional beet in my family. It is called "fried three muds". Stir-fry and set aside.When eating, it is served on a plate, and the red, white, and brown three-color tripod is divided into three parts, and then it is steamed in a pan and covered with sweet-scented osmanthus sugar.This is the original method. Later, in order to save trouble, we cut corners and cut materials. Except for the yam paste, the jujube paste was replaced with red bean paste (it is the Chengsha made by my family during the Chinese New Year, and the bean paste bought outside is never used). It is called "Golden Cake") instead, because Chengsha does not usually make this dish, so it is only occasionally revealed during the Spring Festival.

The raw material of "Honey Sauce Red Potato" is more commoner than that of "Fried Three Claypots", but its fragrance, softness, glutinousness and fineness are not inferior to "Fried Three Claypots" at all. "Fried three mud" is a Huaiyang dish, which is also available in Songhe Tower in Suzhou.People in Xuzhou use the raw materials from the north and apply the manufacturing method of the Jianghuai area, which shows that Xuzhou has both the characteristics of the north and the south.Xuzhou belongs to Jiangsu, but the people speak Shandong dialect, and most of the accomplished painters are from the southern and northern schools, which shows the role of its geographical location in integrating the cultures of the north and the south.