Chapter 3 There are many kinds of pasta in Shanxi

It is generally said that northerners like to eat noodles, while southerners like to eat, because southerners always eat noodles as a snack, and occasionally eat a meal of noodles, always as if they are not full.In fact, the life of ordinary people in the north is relatively simple. Except for the rich and powerful, people below the middle level do not eat foreign rice noodles all at once, but almost always have a few meals of miscellaneous grains as their staple food! Some people think that people in Peiping love to eat, and they are greedy, so they probably have the most variety in making pasta.Although the author is from Peiping, I will never put gold on my face casually. I pay attention to the variety of pasta dishes, and nowhere can surpass Shanxi Province.

In the early years, Shejian had contacts with Shanxi Piaozhuang Henghe, Hengzhao and other "four constants". The author's mentor, Mr. Yan Yintong, was from a family in Qixian County. Later, he followed Mr. Taigu Kongyongzhi for many years, so he was very fond of Shanxi delicacies and delicious noodles. Although it can't be said that everything is ready to taste, I have eaten seven or eight out of ten.Some people say: "The handy housewives in Shanxi can make seventy-two kinds of pasta with different flavors." This may be a bit exaggerated. The author has eaten more than ten kinds of pasta that are not famous. True.A few Shanxi friends said that if you tell all the pasta patterns in the counties in northern Shanxi, there are more than seventy-two styles, and I am afraid there will be more than one hundred!

Due to the terrain, Shanxi is divided into three roads: south, north, and middle.In the Datong area of ​​the North Road, oats and sorghum are the staple food; in the Taiyuan Yuci area of ​​the Middle Road, wheat, bean noodles, and buckwheat noodles are the staple food;The most common food on North Road is called "reward".The way to reward is to put the kneaded oatmeal noodles on a hard stone board and knead them again. After the noodles wake up and slip away, press and rub them with your hands, roll the noodles into solid spring rolls, and steam them in a steamer. Take it out, put it in a bowl, crush it, and pour it with thick mutton soup to eat.Oatmeal is the most resistant to cold and hunger, and with the mellow and fat lamb, of course it is more resistant to time.Datong is close to the north of Saibei, and the soldiers of the garrison go home after changing shifts, and the family prepares meals. This is the most precious food, so it is called reward.Later, someone wrote it as "栲栳", which was written without knowing the ins and outs of this passage.

People in Peiping know how to eat noodles with a knife, when Yan Baichuan's Jin army entered Peiping.A number of Shanxi restaurants opened in and outside of Beiping, and all of them had waitresses. Since then, knife-cut noodles have become popular in Beiping.At that time, Beiping Longfu Temple's "stove temperature" fried meat, wide juice and water chestnut slices mixed with knife-shaved noodles once attracted many dignitaries at that time to taste them.After I tasted it, I really felt that the taste was good, and I once praised it in front of the shopkeeper of Shanxi Dade Pass.One day the shopkeeper Ren told me that he asked the master chef Zhao Touer on the counter to perform a show, not only let me taste it, but also let me see how the real Shanxi Taigu noodles are cut.On the day of the treat, after drinking for three rounds, he specially led me to the kitchen to observe Master Zhao's techniques.Master Zhao kneaded the dough until it was smooth and hard, and took off a piece, which weighed about three catties, and put it on a small wooden board and put it on his head. He held a five-inch-long hand-relief knife in each hand, and the handle was bent into an iron ring. , put it on the thumb, bow left and right, and scrape in turn. All the noodles that are cut are about three inches, thin and triangular.Cooked and mixed with seasonings, it will be smooth and plump in the mouth, and has a bite.It is much better than the knife-sliced ​​noodles at the stove temperature.

"Cat's ears" is also one of the outstanding pasta in Shanxi.In Beiping, some Shanxi friends like to go to Mujiazhai outside Qianmen to eat cat ears fried by Mrs. Mu, also known as fried lumps.Mujiazhai is named after Mrs. Mu, formerly known as Guangfuju.Some rickshaw drivers, if you tell them about Mujiazhai, they probably know that if you talk about Guangfuju, nine out of ten they will "don't slaughter sheep". Stir-fried cat’s ears also need to knead the noodles to be moderately soft and hard, cut them into dice pieces, twist them into clam shells with thumbs skillfully, and then roll them up like cat’s ears (clamshell macaroni eaten in Italy today, It was what Marco Polo learned in China and brought back to Italy to imitate).Boil in boiling water and drain, then stir-fry the mung bean sprouts with their beards removed, served with shredded shrimp, shredded meat and chives. The soup is poured into the small rolls.

Friends in Shanxi think that the cat ears fried by Mrs. Mu are more delicious than the cat ears eaten in Taigu Qi County because of her strong wrist, the iron spoon is turned high, the firepower is enough, and the small river shrimp is very fresh. Most of the housewives in Pingjin know how to do "fishing".In a large bowl, make the mixture thinner, use a chopstick to touch the rim of the bowl along the small interval, draw a long strip, and put it in the pot, and it will be done.In Xi, there is a difference between the ones that are short and pointed at both ends are called "Piao Yu'er", and the ones with two ends that are equal and the noodles are longer are called "Tijian".People in Hebei Province don't have that kind of craftsmanship, so they have to pick the tip and pick the fish.To make this kind of pasta noodles, the first thing to do is to mix them just right. Mr. Yintong, the former teacher, had a chef, Liu Shun, who served in his hometown in Qixian County since he was a child. Slightly thinner noodles, put them on a flat-edged porcelain plate, use a chopstick to cut the noodles into thin strips and put them in the pot, finish a plate in one breath, a long noodle is continuous in the middle, and cooking a pot with one noodle is called richness. , It's really amazing.

"Liu Yeer" is to roll the noodles into thin slices and cut them obliquely with a knife. Each one is wide at one end and pointed at the other end, shaped like a willow leaf. Put it in a pot and cook it, which is called willow leaf soup.When people in Peking hold funerals, if they set off flames at night, and wait for the flames to step down, and the mourners invite monks, lamas, and lamas to have a supper, they will definitely use willow leaf soup. "Yuheluo", Shanxi people call it Helao, but it makes sense to call it Yaheluo.I remember that Mr. Jiang Zengliang drew a picture of "closed bed" in the newspaper a few months ago.This kind of special "bed" is mostly made of jujube wood. It is set on the stove, and the noodles are reconciled. They are placed in the conical hole in the middle of the bed. The hole is pressed into thin strips and falls straight into the pot. As the name suggests, it is more appropriate to call it pressed than He Lao.At the same time, it is better to use bean noodles, buckwheat noodles, etc. to make it more chewy and smooth. If it is made with white noodles, it is not as good as the one made of miscellaneous grains.

"Twisting", Shanxi dialect is called "sipping maggots", which is made of oatmeal or buckwheat noodles and squeezed from a special "hand-squeezed". The shape of the extruded noodles is a bit like silkworm baby larvae , loose and fresh, mixed with burnt shredded pork, not only resistant to hunger, but also refreshing.Therefore, if you go on a short-distance trip and eat twirling, you will not be hungry for a day, but the necessary condition is that there is no shortage of drinking water along the way, because eating twirling is the easiest way to make you thirsty. If there is no place to drink tea, it will be miserable!

"Dragging leaves" are shredded spinach or cabbage, lentils, and eggplants, dipped in batter, and cooked in broth. It is nutritious and affordable (especially popular with elderly people with bad teeth). Come to eat, the most down stomach.It is said that during the Boxing Rebellion, Empress Dowager Cixi and Guangxu ran westward in a panic covered in dust. Wu Yuchuan, the magistrate of Huailai County, used to eat drag leaves to satisfy his hunger. Zhishou dining room cooks a meal with dragged leaves to be vigilant! There is also a kind of noodle in Taigu called "Kubuoer", which is to reconcile the noodles without cutting or slipping, and knead the noodles into thin noodles with hands, which is difficult to be even and fast.Mr. Kong Yongzhi took me to visit Mingxian University one year. His cousin's wife, who is a master of making pasta in her hometown, once performed a performance in order to welcome Kong.In the past, I have eaten knife-cut noodles with the same thickness. This is the first time I have eaten noodles that are even and thin with hands like this!Especially the vinegar marinade hooked with sliced ​​mushroom meat. Now that I think about it, I still salivate.

In a word, when it comes to making pasta, according to the author's personal experience, no province can compare to Shanxi.We people from other provinces have tasted at most fifty or sixty kinds, which is considered remarkable. According to people of the older generation, there are more than half of them that we have never tasted!I hope that the compatriots in Jin Province in Taiwan will write down as much as they know, so that these methods of making pasta will not be lost.