Chapter 42 sour talk

When northerners eat dumplings, they must dip them in vinegar. The vinegar sold in oil and salt stores is called "high vinegar", which is actually not very good.When I was young, I ate meat in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. I felt that Zhenjiang vinegar was sour and fresh, which was much better than the bland and tasteless high vinegar in the north.In the early years, the China Merchants Bureau had a new ship dedicated to transporting both passengers and goods in Beiyang. Every year, they were always asked to bring several dozens of Zhenjiang vinegar to eat dumplings. In the 16th year of the Republic of China, Mr. Kong Yongzhi served as the Minister of Finance. He went to Beiping to inspect the banking business. Ren Xiangbiao, the owner of Shanxi Dade Tongtong Bank, invited him to eat at the counter.The master chef on the Dade Tong cabinet is one of the best cooking masters in Shanxi bank accounts, who can cook more than 60 kinds of pasta, while Mr. Ren is a gourmet expert in the Shanxi gang. My husband took me to have my eyes opened.Around the beginning of autumn, everyone wore soft jackets and took off their clothes for drinking tea. When they were seated, everyone was seated on a high-backed chair, and their own clothes had been neatly folded by the disciples and placed on the back of the chair. Take your clothes and sit down, saving you the trouble of pushing and letting me go.In front of each person, apart from spoons, chopsticks, and dishes, there is also a pair of small lotus cups with two seats, one cup is sauce, the other cup is vinegar, golden paste.From what they discussed at the banquet, people in Jin Province pay special attention to vinegar and sauce. From the number of jars of sauce and jars of vinegar in the family, one can estimate the family business of a person.

The soil layer in Shanxi is very deep, and the alkalinity is too heavy. Only by digging tens of feet deep can spring water come out (Mr. It needs vinegar to neutralize the alkali in the body, which is why Shanxi compatriots are addicted to sour vinegar.According to the general folk customs, the first thing a daughter-in-law does when she gets married is to make vinegar, using sorghum, millet, and maltose as raw materials for fermentation.Although every family in Shanxi Province can make vinegar, the vinegar made in Qixian County is the most rich and fragrant. They spread the steamed wheat bran in a basket, sprinkle cold water on it, and let it ferment on a hot kang. A layer of green mold, mixed with cooked sorghum rice and put into the jar, stirring continuously every day, the more times the better, the better until the vinegar is completely brewed, and then the vinegar juice drips slowly from the hole at the bottom of the jar.Put it in a pottery glaze urn, let it be exposed to the cold and freeze, the better it gets, the richer people have more than a hundred years of high-quality vinegar, which is not uncommon!

The master Yan Yintong, the master, was a prominent family in Qi County, Shanxi. The vinegar brewed in his house is of course a delicacy. It is said that a vat of high-quality vinegar must at least be exposed to the sun for three winters and three summers. The wind, the sun, the bitter frost and snow all evaporated, and no matter how cold it is below zero, the tank will not freeze, because what is left is pure sour vinegar.When we were in Da Detong that day, the vinegar put in front of everyone was said to be more than a hundred years old vinegar, which had already been condensed into a vinegar paste. If it hadn’t been mixed with water to dilute the acidity, the old vinegar paste would have acidified the mouth full of teeth. .It is the highest respect for the host to treat guests with this kind of aged vinegar, which is more noble and grand than any expensive banquet!Thanks to the blessing of Mr. Yongzhi, otherwise this kind of treasure would not be easy to get!

Since I tasted the high vinegar in Shanxi Province, except for Zhenjiang rice vinegar, which is eaten with crabs (Shanxi vinegar is too high in acidity, it is easy to take away the taste of crabs, so you can’t use Shanxi vinegar when eating crabs), the rest of the vinegar seems to be delicious. Not quite right.When I first came to Taiwan, there was only chemical vinegar in Taiwan, which is what the Japanese call "choke", which was either sour and not fresh, or tasted like spicy soy sauce.Although the so-called Shanxi vinegar, Zhenjiang vinegar, Zhejiang vinegar, and Duliu vinegar have come out recently, they all taste specious after tasting.In recent years, dumpling restaurants have become very popular in Taiwan. Of course, you have to dip them in vinegar when eating dumplings. Everyone agrees that it’s all chemical vinegar mixed with cold water, and even the best dumplings will be ruined!Probably only Din Tai Fung on Xinyi Road in Taipei City uses rice vinegar, and what he sells are Xiaolong dumplings, not dumplings.I once asked several food experts about this question, and they couldn't tell the reason. Do you think it's strange?

When northerners meet Laba, they always soak some Laba vinegar, and eat dumplings on New Year’s Eve. But good vinegar is hard to find. Later, I found out that there is a kind of Wuyin vinegar in Xinzhuang, Taipei. What raw materials are used to make it? Yes, although we don’t know, but the color and fragrance are still authentic (but there are many counterfeit ones, such as buying fake ones, which taste the same as spicy soy sauce), and using it to soak Laba vinegar can be more comforting than nothing.The custom in the Mainland was that on the day of soaking Laba vinegar, it must be soaked on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. It is said that the garlic soaked in Laba will turn green, but in Taiwan, it is probably related to the climate and humidity in the air. The more bubbles, the darker it is, and there is no possibility of turning green.September and October are the peak seasons for garlic produced in Taiwan. In the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, the garlic will gradually germinate and cannot be used. It is better to soak it earlier. Although there is no Laba garlic to eat, there is Laba vinegar dipped in dumplings during the Chinese New Year. It can also comfort the nostalgia , Add a little Spring Festival atmosphere?