Chapter 38 Talking about hot pot in cold winter

The chrysanthemum blooms in the east fence, and the time turns to autumn, which is the period when the weather is already cold. If you want to eat mutton hot pot at this time (early shabu-shabu hot pot was only limited to mutton, and beef was rarely used), it seems a little too early In order to attract customers, major restaurants in Peking first added chrysanthemum pots as seasonal supplies.The chrysanthemum pot is a copper pot with a shallow bottom and an open edge hung with tin, whichever is heat transfer and easy to cook.Brass base, carved partition wall, in the middle is a wine pool a little bigger than the wine cup, which stores alcohol.This kind of chrysanthemum pot was originally a unique business in tinware shops. Later, enamel and aluminum products became popular, and tinware shops tended to be eliminated. Now there are no real chrysanthemum pots wrapped in copper and tin on the market.As the name suggests, the chrysanthemum pot is mainly filled with chrysanthemums, but the petals of the chrysanthemums must be white. It is said that the white ones are non-toxic and have a strong fragrance.Pick off the petals and stalks of the newly opened white chrysanthemum, put them in a pot with fish fillets, shrimps, loins, and tenderloin, and add fried vermicelli and cabbage hearts, or boil or rinse. Delicacy suitable for rice and wine at the beginning of winter.

Assorted hot pot is a heavy meal at the banquet. Unless the average person uses their chopsticks with a particularly good appetite, most people will at most eat it when they are drunk and full.Ordinary mixed hot pot is nothing more than sea cucumber, white meat, egg dumplings, chicken nuggets, roast meat, shrimp, gizzard liver, tripe slices, vermicelli, and cabbage.Once a friend from the police circle invited me to have a light meal at the Qinghe Hall at the back gate of Beiping, and asked for a "commander's hot pot", which gave me a pass.I know the types of hot pot, and I have eaten quite a few, but not only have I never tasted "Tong Ling Hot Pot", I have never even heard of it.As a result, the hot pot is a big pot with a reputation. In addition to everything that should be in a general assorted hot pot, there are also high-end seafood such as fish maw, fish lips, scallops, and wing roots. Compared with the family portraits in Jiangsu and Zhejiang restaurants Come meticulously.It is said that when Wang Huaiqing was the commander of the infantry, every time he seized a huge case of murder, arson or robbery, he would invite all those who made contributions to gather in Qinghe Hall to celebrate.He took care of adding some high-grade seafood to the assorted hot pot, so it is called "Tong Ling Hot Pot".Although this kind of delicacy is fishy and mixed, it is of high quality and low price.Because at that time the infantry commanders in the yamen were very strict with themselves, and everyone was grateful for solving such a big case and eliminating harm for the people. The businessman only wanted enough money, and he would never bear to charge more than a penny.

Lurou meatball hot pot, this kind of hot pot with pork bars and boxes is sold in shops. They chop up the unsold meat and pork every day to make meatballs and fry them in oil.Someone called the pot, and the small ribs on the cabinet were not only delivered, but also received, and a small can of white meat was also included. Before the Anti-Japanese War, seventy or eighty cents for such a pot was enough.Ordinary residents, when there are guests coming to stay at home temporarily in winter, they order a hot pot with meatballs, and prepare some cabbage hearts, fine vermicelli, and frozen tofu by themselves. .

It's early cold in Ruixue, and the winter is getting stronger, so it's time to fan a pot and eat mutton.In the early years, there were many things to pay attention to when eating hot-boiled mutton. The hot pot must be made of charcoal fire. When the pot is well-ventilated, it emits a silvery charcoal fragrance, which is more delicious than liquid alcohol, solid alcohol or gas.In the Northeast, you can cook shabu-shabu with mutton, beef, and pork. In Beiping, shabu-shabu must be mutton, lamb liver, and lamb kidneys. Not to mention beef, even tripe and brains cannot be shabu-shabu in the same pot. Beef and sheep have different flavors, and once beef and mutton are mixed, the soup will not taste good.Donglaishun, Xilaishun, Tonghexuan, and Liangyixuan, the most famous shabu-shabu restaurants in Beiping, fan the pot and serve it. Sprinkle some green onion, ginger, mushroom and shredded mushrooms into the pot. It is called Qixian. It's not a flood of white water, and the so-called freshness is just meaning.Therefore, when ordering wine and vegetables in a pot, you must order a braised chicken jelly. The waiter will know you are an expert at a glance. This plate of braised chicken jelly is not only old-fashioned, but also very rich. , the clear water becomes chicken broth.

As early as the early years of the Republic of China, machine-cut slices of beef and mutton were sold in foreign food houses in the Hadmen area of ​​Dongdan, but friends who knew how to eat them felt something was wrong when they tasted it. Big restaurants absolutely do not use machine-cut meat slices, but special meat-cutting masters to cut.The meat slicers are still in high demand, so please go to Baoding, Laishui, Dingxing, and Dingzhou in advance in summer.As soon as the roasted shabu-shabu came on the market, there were bright lights and candles in front of every house. The masters moved knives like flying, and spread the rolls flat. Belly meat), "lower brain" (lower belly meat), "grinding crotch" (hind leg meat), "Sanchaer" (neck meat) and other famous names, machine slicing, that is impossible.These meat-cutter masters all settle their accounts on a quarterly basis. From the beginning of autumn to the old calendar year, the salary of a master hand is more than a thousand, and the salary of a lesser one is seven to eight hundred yuan, which is more than the annual salary of a mid-level civil servant at that time!At the end of eating shabu-shabu, you have to order mixed noodles to eat. It is said that the mutton is removed to absorb the oil and it does not make you thirsty. Whether there is such a thing, only the eater can experience it for himself.After the pot is eaten, the bottom of the pot is left, which is really the essence of the mutton pot. At this time, the charcoal is completely extinguished, and the remaining temperature is scorching. If you want to pour out the leftovers in the pot before eating, it depends on the skill of the waiter. If it is poured out clean It's neat, and it's necessary to add a few pennies to the tip.

Guotaer is a simple family way of eating hot-boiled mutton. In winter, every small household in Beiping needs to build a briquette stove to keep warm. It is economical and affordable to use this briquette stove to eat shabu-shabu.Near Ximentougou in Beijing, there is a place called Zhaitang. The local sandy soil is rigid. The thin sand dumplings used for decocting medicine in Beiping, the casserole for cooking porridge, and the stove for pancakes are all special products of Zhaitang. It also has a kind of sand drum, which can be used to boil mutton in addition to stewed meat. As long as sesame oil, green onion, ginger, and cooking wine are put in the pot and the soup is put, the meat can be eaten.Because of the strong firepower of the briquette stove, the soup in the pot is always rolling, which saves the trouble of adding charcoal at any time. A few pieces of dough cakes are baked on the side of the pot and eaten with shabu-shabu, which is much simpler and more economical than hot pot.

Beiping is a complicated society, and if you have a piece of eighty cents, you can eat, drink and play all day long. If you have a lot of money, it is not difficult to waste it.If you are greedy and want to eat shabu-shabu, it is a trivial matter if you go to a restaurant alone and call it a shabu-shabu. It was too dull and monotonous.Under such circumstances, you might as well go to Menjiao Hutong or Tianqiao to eat Gonghe hot pot and join in the fun with everyone.Gonghe pot is three or four times larger than ordinary hot pot. The hot pot is embedded in a round table with lead iron sheets, and there are several small grids in the hot pot. Everyone enjoys themselves.At that time, there was an American, Ed Fu, who was the director of the Peking Youth Association. He loved to eat single-meat shabu-shabu. One winter, he always went to Menjiao Hutong to eat ten times and eight times. Later, he was transferred back to the United States and ordered two. Only the republican pot took it back to his hometown "Kentucky".This summer, I heard from my friends in San Francisco, USA, that there is a restaurant in Kentucky that sells mutton in Republican hot pot. I think it is probably the legacy of Mr. Edfu!

The above is the general situation of eating hot pot in Pingjin area, but eating hot pot in Northeast China is different from Pingjin.According to the custom in Northeast China, rich or poor must eat hot pot on New Year's Eve to keep the year old.There is a proverb in Shenyang: "The hot pot at home is the car guy outside the house." It means that the hot pot and the driver are the bottomless pits that cost the most. The car guy transports food once and steals it once. The hot pot can cook any expensive delicacies from mountains and seas. go in.The hot pot in Northeast China is famous for sauerkraut, white meat, and blood sausage. Most of the northern restaurants in Taiwan add sauerkraut, white meat, and blood sausage to the hot pot in winter. The frosted Chinese cabbage is soaked in boiling water, which not only removes oil, but also appetizers.The exquisite hot pot with purple crab and silver cockles, white fish and cold toad has a variety of fragrances, each with its own beauty.In the past, Chang Yinhuai, the director of the Beining Railway Bureau, was the most particular about eating this Northeast-style hot pot, and he also needed the convenience of transportation, so he treated guests to hot pot in Beiping in winter, such as white fish, crab legs, pheasants, clams, and clams. Ants, shark's fin, preserved deer, japonicus, the rare faraway flavors of the Northeast, everything is prepared, plus the white meat as thin as Korean paper, sauerkraut as thin as bamboo shreds, when the pot is opened and the lid is lifted, even two doors away Smelling the aroma, anyone who has eaten it thinks it is the best in hot pot.

Talking about the Chaotian Hotpot in Zhucheng, Weixian County with friends from Shandong, there is no one who does not want to salivate.As soon as Lidong, Chaotianguo was launched. I like to eat fat beef in old pot, and I like to eat lean meat in old pot. The so-called old pot is old soup.Wang Tun, the general distributor of British American Tobacco Company, once accompanied me to Weixian, Shierlibao, and Tanjiafangzi to inspect the tobacco planting conditions of tobacco farmers, and ate Chaotianguo by the river beach in Weixian.It is said that the old soup of that family has a history of more than 100 years, and the sales volume of beef every day is always about one or two hundred catties.When you specify which piece to eat, the person in charge of the spoon immediately picks it out with a small hand fork and puts it on the chopping board. With a very skilled knife, cut into pieces and add soup, and eat it with the charred outside and soft inside. Words are more palatable than a banquet that is neither south nor north.The local folks went to eat Chaotianguo, and some of them brought a can of old soup home after eating, and stewed it with cabbage, tofu, and vermicelli. It was another tasty dinner for the whole family!

The specialty of Sichuan cuisine is Malatang, and Maodu Hot Pot can be said to have all three.Most of the shabu-shabu in the north is a pot of white water, but the Sichuan maodu hot pot and pot soup have been properly prepared by Master Yao.The hairy tripe is cooked as soon as it is hot, and it tastes sweet and crunchy. Therefore, after the meal, Master Yao must provide hot handkerchiefs and mouthwash to let the guests wipe off the sweat from the spicy food before going out. Rinse your mouth with cold water. Make the spicy energy in the mouth disappear as soon as possible.The first time I ate Maodu hot pot, I put down my chopsticks and felt my cheeks were flushed, and soon I developed two pimples, and I gradually got used to it.Now friends who are around 40 years old from the mainland are addicted to chili peppers. Don’t ask, they must be Sichuan children from Sichuan, or they must be from other provinces who grew up in Sichuan.Now European and American ladies who have lived in China for a long time are also addicted to eating chili, and they seem to be even worse than us!

At the beginning of Taiwan's recovery, there were no mainland-style hot pots, and only Japanese sukiyaki was available.The flat edge of the pan is shallow, neither fried nor boiled, and sugar is thrown into the pan. It is sweet and salty, and salty and sweet. Add raw eggs twisted in soy sauce and dip meat slices to eat. It can only be said to be exotic, not to mention what a delicious.All in all, the tourists from Mishima who come to Taiwan usually eat grilled shabu-shabu as soon as they enter the restaurant, and they rarely eat sukiyaki. Not long after the recovery of Taiwan, several shops selling sand tea beef stoves were found in the circle of the Red Chamber.In addition to meat offal, fish balls, tribute balls, fish dumplings, beef brains, and spinal cords are also added. The so-called sand tea actually comes from Malaysia, not China. "Shacha" is also a Malay transliteration, meaning "three pieces".Malays are used to putting three pieces of meat on bamboo sticks and eating it in the boiled sauce. There are three pieces per skewer, so three pieces of meat on a skewer will become sand tea.The raw materials of sand tea sauce are mainly dried shrimps, bream, peanuts, and coconut powder. The ingredients include ginger powder, chili powder, dried onion, garlic, five spices, sesame, sugar, and salt. secret recipe.It was originally used for cooking, but now it has become an indispensable dipping sauce for hot pot.This spring, when I traveled to Southeast Asia, Chaoshan sand tea hotpot was available everywhere. I never imagined that Malaysia’s famous product has become the seasoning of Chinese hotpot. Korean stone hotpot has also been popular in Taiwan for a while. Oranges surpass Huaihuai and become trifoliate oranges. Talking to Korean friends, the Korean hotpot eaten in Taiwan is different from that in Korea, and the taste is not very the same. Is it If the cooking technique is not good, or the ingredients are bad, then it is unknown.This year, restaurants in Taiwan have been refurbished, and the so-called hot pot for one person has come out. When I want to eat hot pot, I always have three or five friends who can talk to me, and I feel smooth and mellow when I drink it around the stove. Fall, too few wines to drink, don't you think so?If the personal habit likes to drink alone, that's another matter.