Chapter 2 Red and White Kidney Beans · Shredded Tofu · Rotten Broad Beans

To be honest, generally speaking, three meals a day, the diet in the north seems to be less refined than the southerners.However, northerners have a special preference for protein-rich beans, so there are endless ways to eat beans. Let’s talk about red and white kidney beans first!This kind of food is sold by hawkers along the street from morning to night. Some people use it for breakfast, while others use it for afternoon tea.This kind of kidney beans are all boiled until they are rotten, put a spoonful on the snow-white thick table cloth, and knead them into bean balls with your hands to eat.If you like salty food, sprinkle a little pepper and salt that you prepared yourself; The purple is brilliant, and the entrance is sweet.To be honest, it is much richer and more palatable than the kidney bean grains in Beihai Yilantang and Wulongting Fangshan kidney bean rolls.

Kidney bean peddlers seldom go down the street to yell. Nine out of ten they beat with a gong in one hand and a piece of wood in the other. Whoever has a big stupid dog in the streets and alleys must howl and bark when he hears the sound of the boring gong Fan, what is the reason, people can not guess.Later, an old man said: "If a dog eats horse dung, it will immediately feel a pain in the head when it hears the sharp copper sound, so it will keep barking." Whether it is true or not, we can only ask experts who have studied animals. The shredded bean curd mentioned by the author is neither the white and tender shredded tofu that is served with morning tea and morning wine in Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, nor the shredded bean curd that is boiled soft and hard in Wuchang Qianji.Although this kind of shredded tofu is also a product of tofu workshops, some people say that they are picked from four towns and eight towns to sell in the city. The tofu workshops in the city do not make shredded tofu at all.

The color of shredded tofu is gray with light brown. If no seasoning is added, it will only have a light smoked flavor and bean aroma.You shred the frosted cabbage heart and eat it cold with shredded tofu and Sanwa oil (sesame oil, soy sauce, black vinegar).In winter in the north, a stove must be lit to survive the winter. Whether it is burning lump coal or using briquettes, there will always be some gas in the winter. From time to time, eating a plate of cabbage heart mixed with shredded tofu can reduce the gas and reduce heart fire. , It is very useful for ordinary people, and it is more effective than eating a few balls of "bezoar and clear heart".

The seller of shredded tofu has a square wooden plate in front of it. The shredded tofu is cut into strands and stacked on the plate. When buying shredded tofu, it is called grabbing a few pieces and a few big ones with your hands. I heard that sellers of shredded tofu use scales, and the two sides argue more and less quarrel.You see how benevolent and righteous they are in business. There is a watchman in the dormitory named Ma Wenliang, from Laishui County, Hebei Province, and he is a disciple of Li Cangzhou, a martial artist.He has two younger brothers who are looking after the home at Prince Da's Mansion in Beiping. The 18th of every month is the regular meeting time for their brothers and sisters. Although they both came from martial arts training backgrounds, they don't engage in big meat, and they don't smoke or drink.Whenever the brothers and sisters get together, they buy ten pieces of shredded tofu (about a catty), bake a few homemade cakes, a roll of shredded tofu with green onion noodle sauce, and serve a large pot of strong tea.Seeing them turmoil, empty bowls in an instant, gobble up, and bold and proud, let us onlookers also have a good appetite.They say that shredded tofu burritos are particularly resistant to hunger, but they are not easy to digest, so even though they are salivating, they only dare to squeeze some shredded tofu and chew, but never dare to eat burritos.I have been in Taiwan for 30 years, not to mention Taipei, but in other counties, cities and towns, I haven’t seen shredded tofu anywhere!

Rotten broad beans are the most popular snack in Beiping, and northerners seem to be less enthusiastic about eating broad beans than those in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.One year when the author went to Shanghai to do business, it was just in time for the big broad bean market. When I traveled all over Shanghai’s residential areas, there were a lot of empty broad bean pods outside the door of every house. Shanghainese are so interested in broad beans.In addition to fried broad beans and broad bean paste, northerners probably only have iron broad beans and rotten broad beans for snacks. The rotten broad beans in Beiping are similar to the germinated beans in the south. First, the grains are relatively large, and second, there is absolutely no moth-eaten wrinkled skin.Selling rotten broad beans is a small business for individuals, and the craftsmanship varies, so the taste of the rotten broad beans produced varies greatly.The rotten broad beans are all stewed and sold in bamboo baskets made of rattan heart, covered with a thick cloth soaked in water, so as not to let the wind blow.Rotten silkworms are very particular about the heat, and the beans must be rotten but not rotten, crisp and melty in the mouth, and each grain must be separated and picked up. If it becomes a pile of bean paste, it is not called rotten broad beans.At the same time, the five-spice and aniseed ingredients should be used just right, and the saltiness and mildness should be paid more attention to. Only when you eat it as a snack and you don’t feel salty, and the side dishes are not too bland when you drink it lightly, can it be considered qualified.Generally, there is only one type of rotten broad beans sold in the street, regardless of whether it is salty or light, but those who specialize in the business at the entrance of large wine tanks can be divided into salty and light.

When the author was studying in middle school in Rongxian Hutong, Beiping, although the Central Movie Theater planned to build a building, the construction had not yet started.The students in Xicheng wanted to watch movies, but it was too far away to go to Ping’an and Zhenguang cinemas, so they had no choice but to go to Zhongtian Cinema at the west entrance of Rongxian Hutong.At that time, the acting was nothing more than a continuous series of wild and colorful episodes. The film was changed every three days, and two episodes were performed each time. The buttons were still fastened, which really whetted the appetite of the students.After school at 3:30, whenever there is a new movie, I always have to finish watching one at 4:00 before going home for dinner.Not far from Zhongtian Cinema, there is a big wine vat that sells rotten broad beans.If you grab two pieces, there will be a big bag, and you can take it to the cinema to eat as a snack. It doesn't make a sound like cracking melon seeds, and it has five elements and seven fragrances.

Since graduating from school, because the author didn't like spicy baijiu very much at that time, it was rare to enter a big wine tank, so there was no chance to eat rotten broad beans.Later, I was listening to books at the Dazhonghua Bookstore in Shanghai, where there were hawkers carrying baskets and flutes selling food. There was a kind of germinated beans whose taste was very similar to the rotten broad beans in Peking. Some are overcooked, and the saltiness and lightness are difficult to be consistent, and naturally something is wrong in the mouth. When I came to Taiwan, I happened to talk about rotten broad beans with some old Beijingers. There was no cake to satisfy my hunger, and I could only dream about it.One year in Hualien, my friends from the north invited me to have a drink at a small restaurant along the river. It is said that the fried mutton in this small restaurant is fried in a pan, which is a bit of a mainland taste.After a try, it was really not bad. Of course, I would like to praise the master, but the master was happy, and brought up the side dishes that he kept for drinking, as a toast, one was a small carrot in a coir raincoat, One is rotten broad beans; the rotten broad beans that have not been eaten in twenty or thirty years, unexpectedly tasted in Bilian.Although these two small dishes are not worth a lot of money, I think all wanderers in the world can experience the flavor of their hometown and the lingering feelings when they are thousands of miles away from home.