Chapter 20 Can't bear to eat pigeons with chopsticks

During a meeting of the "Legislative Yuan" a few days ago, some people talked about the fact that people in Taipei are flocking to eat pigeons again recently, such as braised squabs, oil-dipped squabs, raw roasted pigeons, etc. The supply of pigeons in Taiwan is not enough, and they even waste precious foreign exchange. Imported foreign pigeons to supply restaurants, full of gluttonous kisses.Recently, someone from China TV ate roasted squabs at a restaurant in Sanchong City, and found two rings used to record the logo of the pigeons. No matter what kind of ten thousand gold species it is, or long-distance steel wings, it will be sent to the kitchen in twos and become the meat on the table.

My friend "Peking Master" Jin Shoushen, who was born in Mongolian Banner, said that during the war of the Yuan Dynasty, the yellow sand stretched for thousands of miles, and the transmission of letters in the army depended entirely on carrier pigeons.Later, several emperors listened to alchemists' rumors, saying that eating stewed pigeons every day can prolong their lives and strengthen their bodies.In Dengshikou, there are Big Pigeon Alley and Small Pigeon Alley, which are the trading markets for pigeons in the Yuan Dynasty.Before the Anti-Japanese War, before the Longfu Temple Fair, the East and West Pailou Shenlu Street area was still the largest pigeon market in Beiping.Those who sell wild pigeons are also called Lou pigeons (I have to ask Mr. Gai Xianxia whether the "lou" of this Lou pigeon is written in this way), those who sell pigeons are divided into cages and listed in four houses, and they are up for sale.There are also those who specialize in pigeon whistles, such as single, double, and nine-beat whistles, which are tied to pigeons and fly in the sky. It's much more pleasing to hear.

Beiping is a country of etiquette, and there are etiquettes for raising pigeons.In the past, the old-fashioned family allowed their children to keep pigeons, and there are reasons for it: first, those who raise pigeons must get up early to climb the heights, and those who have a lot of pigeons have to startle the pigeons and fly for half a day. The higher you fly, the bigger the circle.If your pigeon flock is well-trained or has a large number of pigeons, if you meet a pigeon breeder nearby, you can fly back three or five times at high altitude, and you can wrap a few of their stupid pigeons back.At that time, there was an unwritten rule among pigeon breeders that once the original owner of the pigeons was found out, the pigeons must be returned in person. They were not allowed to keep them privately for feeding, let alone kill them privately. despised.

People in Peiping regard pigeons, swallows, and bees as auspicious things at the same time. Swallows build nests and bees build nests. Between the mansions, the high halls, the eaves and rafters of Danying.Seeing that Lou Ge was willing to come, the owner of the house probably found a few small wooden boxes containing mitral brand foreign candles, covered them with some old cotton wool, and put them on the heavy bamboo structure.The pigeons littered the ground with feces, making the walls sloppy and messy, so the good servants cleaned and rinsed them at any time, and the accumulation could be sold to flower farms as fertilizer.Especially the pure white without variegated color, it is very easy to sell, sink it in a large wine tank filled with white dry children with silk thread, which not only removes moisture, but also increases the alcohol of the wine, and the price can be sold at a higher price!

In Beiping, apart from the oil-dried squabs and stewed pigeons in red in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang restaurants, and the lettuce pigeons in the Guangdong restaurant, the rest of the restaurants in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi and Shanxi provinces seldom use pigeons as dishes.Next to Peking University, there is a place called Han Garden, and in the early Qing Dynasty it was called South Garden. The exotic flowers and plants tributed by the Quartet were all cultivated in this place, and the master gardeners conscripted from various provinces also gathered here.Later, because there were many southerners living there, it was renamed Han Garden.When Peking University was established, more and more students came to study, and the Dongzhai and Xizhai were full, so they had to rent apartments.

The problem of living was solved, but the problem of food came again.People who can use their brains set up stalls near Dongzhai and Xizhai in Beach Han Garden, and food stalls and wine shops have sprung up one after another.As a result, water and land are mixed, and the taste is both north and south. In the past, some gardeners who came from the south and had a little knowledge of cutting and cooking changed their careers to serve as chefs.There is an orchid grower named Cao, who usually likes to drink two cups. The marinated young pigeons and canned pigeons he made are mellow, crispy and delicious. , are all his guests.Luomashi Avenue Binyanchun's pigeon paste shortbread is not only crispy and not oily, but also has a smoother, more fragrant and tender filling.At that time, the curry beef dumpling served with Bo Sixin in Zhongshan Park was praised by Jiang Kanghu as the second best in dim sum.In addition, there is an eight-treasure pigeon dish in Qianwai Zhenyuan Pavilion. Except for mushrooms, ham, scallops and small river shrimps, they do not use glutinous rice, but barley rice. It is moist but not glutinous, moist but not oily.

In the early days, when a family raised pigeons in Beiping, although not all pigeons wore anklets, each of their own pigeons had their own identification methods, which could be known at a glance.The kitchen purchaser accidentally bought it back, but he thought he was unlucky and released them all. No one cooked domestic pigeons as meat pigeons and ate them.Not many people eat pigeons in Peiping. Wild meat pigeons breed very fast. It can be said that there is inexhaustible food. Some people say that to kill pigeons, you need to put a copper coin hole on the pigeon's beak, suffocate the pigeons, and then slaughter them, so that the pigeons are fresh and delicious.I think it is too cruel to let the pigeons die like this in order to satisfy the appetite of the appetite, so I still don’t move the chopsticks even though my friends persuade me to put the pigeons of any kind on the plate.

One year, Miao Qiujie of the Salt Audit Office called a meeting of salt merchants. During the meal, there was a stewed squab with cloud legs. The firewood is old and rough, but if it is cut and cooked according to the general method, it will be fresh, tender and moist." The pigeon soup he simmered is really clear but not muddy, fresh but not greasy, it is the best in the soup.There was a man from Sinan County, Guizhou, who said that all we eat are wild meat pigeons, and there is no sin in cooking and eating them.At that time, a new county magistrate was appointed in their county. Not only did he eat fast and chant Buddha, but he also refused to kill.Common people are not allowed to catch frogs in the rice fields, and wild pigeons that usually live in the woods are also forbidden to prey.When the ears of rice were ripe, the wild pigeons in the neighborhood came to forage one after another and devoured the field crops, which made the common people's harvest not enough to eat, and they couldn't even pay the land tax. Later, the county magistrate lost his official position because of this.As soon as the successor county magistrate arrived, he encouraged everyone to hunt wild pigeons, so the roasted meat stalls, braised meat shops, and preserved preserved meat in the streets and alleys almost became the world of pigeon meat.