Chapter 21 Gossip about Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, also known as the "Lantern Festival".According to the Chinese custom, from north to south, Yuanxiao is eaten on the day of Lantern Festival.The origin of eating Yuanxiao is very ancient. It is said that it has been quite popular since the Northern Song Dynasty, but at first it was not called "Yuanxiao" but "Fuyuanzi", and it was changed to "Yuanxiao" in the Ming Dynasty.Although all provinces in the north and south of China eat Yuanxiao, the names of the recipes are different. The north is called "Yuanxiao", and some places in the south are called "Tangyuan" or "Tangyuanzi".When Yuan Shikai and Hong Xian came to the throne, because "Yuan Xiao" and "Yuan Xiao" were homophonic, and his tongue was not good, he ordered everyone to change the name to "Tang Tuan".Beiping Jiulong Zhai didn't pay attention, and wrote a red note with "Newly Added Assorted Lantern Festival" at the door, and was sent by the military police inspector to beat him up, and it was spread as a joke for a while.

Lantern Festival is sold in the north, and only sweet ones are sold. The stuffing for Lantern Festival is nothing more than sugar, sweet-scented osmanthus, sesame, red bean paste, and jujube paste. There are many varieties in the south, such as chicken, vegetable meat, chicken oil, assorted, and so on.A northerner came to the south for the first time, and someone invited him to eat fresh meat Yuanxiao. He thought that the glutinous rice dumplings are called zongzi, and the stuffed sesame seeds and dates are called Yuanxiao.He pretends to be stubborn in choosing the good, but in fact he doesn't have such good fortune.Up to now, if the older northerners are allowed to eat Yuanxiao with vegetables and meat, they still feel weird!Although the author grew up in the north, he never set up his own barriers in terms of diet, and he is partial to others.In the southern Lantern Festival, the glutinous rice flour skin is first rolled out, no matter whether it is sweet or not, the stuffing is wrapped and rolled into balls, while in the north, the stuffing is first made into solid squares, placed in a dustpan filled with glutinous rice flour (glutinous rice flour) and shaken in water, then dipped again Shake, the stuffing for the Lantern Festival is made from dice pieces and coated with rice flour, from square to round.This kind of Lantern Festival is round, but it is stiff and not soft. Compared with the loose and waxy skin of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Lantern Festival, I really feel that the north is inferior to the south.There is a kind of creamy Lantern Festival in Beiping Zhengmingzhai. The stuffing is mixed with butter (actually it is butter brought from Mongolia. After they are processed and refined, it is called butter). Of course.In addition, there are honey-stuffed Yuanxiao from Guishunzhai, Xujie, Tianjin. Pure honey is added with white raisins and green red silk. It is delicious and smooth, with a unique flavor.The above two kinds of Lantern Festival can be regarded as the excellent products of the Northern Lantern Festival. As for the ordinary Lantern Festival, the Northern Lantern Festival is too rough, and it is not as delicate and colorful as the Southern Lantern Festival!

There is a tea shop in Suzhou called "Yue Caifang". It is said that it is a branch of Caizhizhai. It is famous for its rose water.The so-called rose water stir-fry is rose melon seeds. When you go to the store to buy rose water stir-fry, the store will know that you are a local in Suzhou.During the Spring Festival, they add rose Lantern Festival to their store. The cooked Lantern Festival is very small, and the mouth is full of orchid smoke and musk. It has a unique soft fragrance, which proves that Suzhou is a place that knows how to eat and can eat.The glutinous rice balls of Qiaojiazha in Shanghai are also well-known in Beijing and Shanghai. When Ma Chaojun was the mayor of Nanjing, one year he invited colleagues from the city government to celebrate the Spring Festival. He also heard his name!Qiaojiashan's Lantern Festival stuffing is sweet, honey-soaked and fragrant, and the sweetness is splashed on the teeth; the salty paste is moist and fresh, plump but not greasy.In addition, there is a kind of chicken shepherd's purse stuffing, which is more delicious when it is dissolved in green liquid.During the Anti-Japanese War, some diners went to Qiaojiashan in the urban area to eat glutinous rice balls. They couldn't bear the Japanese soldiers' questioning, so they opened a branch on Lafayette Road. Both flounder are of course flocked to.Friends in the general literary and art circles in Shanghai also gather here from time to time.Zheng Yimei and Zhou Shoujuan, several talented writers in the literary world, named it Yuanyang Xiaoge.In order to please customers, the boss makes sweet and salty glutinous rice balls, and the ingredients are selected, especially the best.Thinking back to those years when we sat in the shade and had a banquet with fragrant wine, no matter how the glutinous rice balls tasted, the past is like a dream, but now this place is nowhere to be found.

On the outskirts of Taixian County, Jiangsu Province, there is a small town called Zhongbaozhuang. The river is full of purple crabs, and the meat is full. Before that, add crab powder yuan.Zhan, it is only for dine-in. Cooked Yuanxiao is sandwiched and dipped in a special kind of coriander marinade to eat.The famous movie actress Yang Naimei once made a special trip across the river to Zhongbaozhuang to eat crab rice dumplings. When she returned to Shanghai, she praised Qifangzhai’s delicious crab rice dumplings. There is such a must.Zheng Zhengqiu of the star film company loves hairy crabs the most. Jiumu Zhongbaozhuang's boiled crab oil is famous, and his mouth waters after hearing it.It's a pity that the company's business is too busy around the Spring Festival, and it is really impossible to spare, so he specially sent his young gentleman Zheng Xiaoqiu and his wife Ni Hongyan to cross the river to Zhongbaozhuang to buy Shanghai to satisfy his hunger.Reluctantly, the owner of Qifangzhai insisted that this kind of crab glutinous rice balls are only for dine-in and not for takeaway. Afterwards, someone smoothed things over and told him that it was the boss of the Shanghai Film Company who came here to make an exception and sold 60 crab glutinous rice balls. , a can of coriander brine.Back in Shanghai, although some of the rice balls were torn and overflowing due to the boat ride, Zheng Zhengqiu was still full of praise after eating them, thinking that it was worthwhile to eat such wonderful glutinous rice balls after spending a lot of money in Sichuan.

The snacks in Chengdu, Sichuan are both rich and exquisite, and can be compared with Beiping.During the War of Resistance Against Japan, anyone who lived in Chengdu would not think of "Lai Tangyuan" when they ate Lantern Festival during the Lantern Festival.His house was originally an inconspicuous snack bar on Zongfu Street. The downstairs is only knee-sized, with a kitchen and shop, and the upstairs is a workshop for making glutinous rice balls.Wrapped glutinous rice balls are dropped from the square hole on the floor in a wooden basket, and a few small bells are tied to the rope. Ding ding ding ding informs the people on the stove downstairs to catch them. , Calling people with music and electric bells is simply far outdated.Lai Tang Yuan Chicken Oil Tang Yuan, the stuffing is really pure chicken oil. When the glutinous rice balls are bitten open, there is a layer of transparent fat like glass in the stuffing. The taste is clear and delicious, and you can feel that it is definitely not lard.

Last year, there was a Tangyuan restaurant in Taipei called Chengdu Lai Tangyuan. They went there admiringly, but they all returned disappointed, and soon closed down.Now Taipei can eat Yuanxiao anytime, anywhere, whether it is shaken or wrapped, and there are quite a variety of fillings, but if you want to eat a portion of fine-colored and exotic creamy honey filling, or glutinous rice balls such as Qiaojiazha and Lai Tangyuan, then is a dream.I don't know if the mainland can still eat the fragrant osmanthus, creamy and fresh Lantern Festival in the early years.