Chapter 39 Food in the Three Towns of Wuhan

The three towns of Wuhan, from a historical point of view, in the Three Kingdoms era, the battle between dragons and tigers has become a battleground for military strategists.In terms of terrain, it is located in the thoroughfare of nine provinces, the natural moat of the Yangtze River, and the confluence of water transportation.The opening of the port was early, merchants gathered here, and materials from the southwestern provinces were collected and distributed in Wuhan. Therefore, the food and delicacies of the provinces are not fully prepared, which can be compared to Shanghai.Therefore, Wuhan, like Beiping, has too many sweet and salty snacks to enumerate, but if you want to find a restaurant with real Hubei taste, even the fellows in Hubei may not be able to point out which one is the real Hubei restaurant.There was a "Yellow Crane Tower" in Shanghai back then, and now there is a "Jingdian" in Taipei. As far as the author knows, it is officially declared to be the taste of Hubei Province, and there are only three or two.

There is a three-story restaurant in front of the Hankou Youth Association called "Dajichun". The building is wide and the windows are bright.The whole table banquet tastes of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the light meals for drinks have both Chaoshan, Huaiyang and Yang. Chaozhou chefs have a long-standing reputation for making shark fin.Dajichun’s fried prawn fins are generally recognized by diners as his signature dish. The shark fins are cooked to an appropriate level, simmered in ham and chicken soup, and then cooked with prawns. The wings are thick and flavorful, and the prawns are more delicious.At that time, Song Ruhai, the chief executive of the YMCA, was very hospitable. Whenever guests came to Hangao, he would always walk to Dajichun, the opposite door, for a drink.At that time, the price was cheap, and the cost was not much, and wrapping fins for snacks was decent enough.Brother Xie Feiling in Meixian County was the director of the Dazhimen Taxation Inspection Office. He said: "I never thought that I could eat real hometown (Chaoshan) dishes in Hankou. It is really incredible."

"Shuyu", as the name suggests, is of course a Sichuan-style restaurant. The owner Liu Heguan is the young owner of Shangyuan Garden in Chengdu, Sichuan.Around the 20th year of the Republic of China, when entertaining guests to eat Sichuan cuisine in Hankou, it was none other than Shuyu.Later, as Guan He got older, he seldom cooks the stove himself, but when he meets a knowledgeable person, he still cheers up and does not hesitate to show his skills. His best dish is Shuipu beef, which is said to have been learned from an old servant at home.He first cuts tender beef that is two parts fat and eight parts lean, removes tendons and membranes, cuts it into thin slices with a sharp knife, dilutes the gorgon powder with Shaoxing wine, mixes it with salt and sugar, rinses it in boiling water, sprinkles it with white pepper and eats it.The white water turns into a clear soup that is fresh but not wet, and the meat slices are softer and tenderer, which has a different flavor than the shabu-shabu in the north.For this dish, the meat should be carefully selected, the slices should be thinly sliced, the seasoning should be properly adjusted, and the heat of the water is more related to the tenderness of the meat. Although it looks simple, it is not easy to cook it just right.The author has tried it a few times after eating Shu Yu once, but it was either meaty or the soup had a lot of scum in it, and I never got the hang of this dish.Later, when I came to Taiwan, I learned that Mr. Zhang Daqian’s house is also good at making Shuipu beef, and listed it as one of the famous dishes of Dafengtang.

Shuyu green bean puree is also a beet that cannot be eaten elsewhere.This dish first grinds the green beans into a very fine puree, boils the fat and white sugar into a syrup, then mixes the bean puree, stir-fries quickly, and gradually filters the slick oil on the top, and puts it on a large porcelain plate. Table, emerald melt paste, soft and fragrant.This dish doesn't look hot, but people who don't know the truth will not only get blisters in their mouths after choking for a day, but even feel hot in their stomach and intestines after swallowing it. Therefore, this dish can only be used on a plate instead of a bowl, which is good for breakfast. Dissipating heat, won't let the guests hang their tongues and still be unable to tell the bitterness!I remember that Fujian and Taiwan cuisines are good at making eight-treasure taro paste. There was a restaurant serving taro paste in Zhonghai bowls, which made a female guest scream. spoil the scenery.

There is a Fujian restaurant called "Sichun Garden" in Manchun, Hankou. They boast that the chef who cooks on the stove is hired from Fuzhou Guangyu Restaurant with a lot of money. "I haven't eaten Guangyulou's dishes in Fuzhou, so it's a waste of time." It can be seen how hard Guangyulou's plaque in Fuzhou is. No matter whether the master chef of Sichunyuan is really from Guangyulou, he has cooked a few dishes. Fuzhou cuisine, indeed, has been refurbished, especially refreshing.Back then, the author loved to eat his family’s white sliced ​​chicken. They really spared no expense for this dish. They kept a pot of old hen’s simmered soup, and then cleaned up the two catties of chicks that had not laid eggs, and put them in the big pot to simmer the soup. The inside cover is tightly cooked, and the pot is left to cool for later use. When it is time to serve, open the pot and slice the chicken, and serve it to the guests.The original soup and juice are naturally plump and pure. Compared with the white sliced ​​chicken cooked in white water in ordinary restaurants, the taste of the recommended meal immediately on the plate is naturally a world of difference.

In addition, there is a fried cockle with garlic cloves. The cockles are selected to be the same size and fried quickly. The fish is fresh and tender.At that time, Chen Guangzu, director of the General Office of the Wuhan Suijing Office, loved to eat the garlic cloves in cockles. We sometimes went together, and double garlic cloves must be added to fried cockles with garlic cloves. He only ate garlic cloves, and I only ate cockles.He Xuegong (Cheng Jun) often laughed at us and said: "The ancients had different dreams in the same bed, and the two of you can be considered to have the same taste in the same meal." Now that He and Chen are both ancient people, thinking of this joke makes people feel overwhelmed.

Around the 20th year of the Republic of China, there were almost no Cantonese restaurants in Wuhan. Later, a Guanshengyuan restaurant was opened in Hankou, followed by a Guanshengyuan branch in Wuchang.Cantonese cuisine is always fresh and vigorous, and the general dishes are always light and flavorful, and rarely spicy. However, Wuhan is connected to Hunan and Jiangxi, and the degree of spiciness is not inferior to that of Sichuan. Guanshengyuan specially developed a chili sauce for spicy guests. Slurping porridge is more suitable for healthy meals.In the morning and evening of Guanshengyuan, chili sauce was not priced as a side dish, but later it became a must-have signature dish for every table, and some people even bought some to take home to taste!

Because I frequented Guansheng Garden from time to time, I gradually became friends with the host A Liang.One day A Liang specially invited me to have a midnight snack and eat authentic fish porridge.He said that fresh grass carp must be eaten fresh. Cut the bones of the grass carp into thin slices, use a dry towel to repeatedly absorb the water from the fish, add light soy sauce and pepper, put it in a large sea bowl, and then add shredded ginger, Shredded ginger in sauce, shredded sour ginger, shredded mushroom head soaked in sugar, shredded tea melon, shredded fresh lotus root, shredded sweet potato, fried sesame seeds, fried vermicelli, and fried ghost crispy.Then pour the boiled rice porridge into a bowl and eat it in a small bowl. The porridge is hot, the fish is fresh, and the seasonings are fragrant. This authentic fish porridge has a completely different taste than the fish porridge I ate before.After coming to Taiwan, none of the raw fish porridge that I have eaten can match the taste of the raw fish porridge made by A Liang.

Zuixiang is a Yunnan-style restaurant. Although there is only one front door, it is not very conspicuous, but the balcony is spacious and bright, and it is not a problem to hold twenty tables.Now the Yunnan restaurants in Taiwan first had Quanbi Garden, and later opened Renhe Garden, Kunhua Garden, and Pure Garden. Coincidentally, all the Yunnan restaurants in Taiwan use the word "Yuan" as their signboard. Is it a coincidence or is it a friend from Yunnan? I have a special preference for the word "garden". Now when you enter a Yunnan restaurant, everyone wants to order a large thin slice. In Taiwan, the large thin slice seems to have become the signature dish of Yunnan cuisine. It seems that if you don’t order a large thin slice in a Yunnan restaurant, people will think you are "cowardly" (Peking slang for "fool").However, although Zuixiang was a restaurant in Yunnan back then, there were no large thin slices, because the early large thin slices were rough vegetables in the countryside of Yunnan (so-called Zhuanghu cuisine), and later promoted by General Li Mi Yuyang, which became very popular.

Zuixiang’s Guoqiao rice noodles are very tasty. The rice noodles are actually rice noodles, but their rice noodles are made by master chefs in the kitchen, not the ordinary rice noodles sold in grocery stores.The good rice noodles are smooth and moist, neither tough nor bad, very refreshing in the mouth.Meat slices, chicken slices, loin slices, and fish slices for eating rice noodles must be cut thinly with a good knife, and leeks, shredded bamboo shoots, and green vegetables must also be picked tenderly and finely chopped.The soup pot must be served in a bowl, and the bowl must have high sides and a deep bottom, so that it is not easy to dissipate heat, keep the temperature high, and the meat slices and vegetables will be cooked as soon as they are boiled in the boiling soup, so that they can be fresh and palatable.The bowls used for blanching rice noodles in Zuixiang are all imitated from the soup bowls used for rice noodles in Yunnan. They are cooked in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province. The teeth of the bowl are straight and high, the bottom of the bowl is deep, and the bowl is thick enough. , sliced ​​meat and vegetables are cooked as soon as they are hot, and you can eat them in a bowl without burning your hands.At that time, Xiao Yang Yuelou, a famous actress in Shanghai, was invited to perform in Hankou. He admired Zuixiang Guoqiao Rice Noodles very much. The rice noodles are all praised after eating.

Fried Brain Flowers is also a unique dish in Yunnan restaurants. For fried brain flowers in Zuixiang, the blood and veins on the pig’s brain are first cleaned, soaked in rice wine for a few hours, and then the wine juice is drained, eggs are beaten and seasoned The ingredients are pig brains dipped in egg liquid, cooked and deep-fried, and cooked in a pan. After the mouth, it contains a hint of bad smell. It is used to accompany wine. Compared with fried lobster chips, it has a different flavor. The Xuanwei cakes in Zuixiang are also their specialty dim sum. The ham used in the cakes is cloud ham. Qinyuan is a restaurant opened by people from Ningbo. When the author lived in Wuhan, there was a dinner party for ten people, once a month, ten people took turns to host, and the meal expenses were shared equally. Eat restaurants in different provinces.It just so happened that one time the author was on a rotation shift, and a member suggested to eat bullpen. At that time in Hankou, Qinyuan’s braised bullpen was quite famous, so I ordered a special dish of braised bullpen in Hankou. I have never tasted it. Since everyone is seeking the same thing, I had to open foreign meat once.According to the owner of Qinyuan, this dish has been stewed for more than ten hours in total, and it is considered home only when it feels like melting in the mouth.A large plate of bullwhip, the tendons are soft and the skin is rotten. It is as thick as fat, creamy, sweet and fat, which can be called a winter tonic. Opposite to Ningbo in Hankou, there is a noodle shop called Leluchun. The three facades are all bamboo mats.The sills of Leluchun are ventilated, and the rattan chairs are used as steps. It is cooler and more pleasant than ordinary roof gardens. Therefore, Leluchun in summer is always full of guests from evening to midnight.All kinds of noodles are available in his family, but the stewed duck noodles are the most famous. It is said that his family has been stewed for nearly a hundred years, so the stewed duck juice is thick and delicious.Friends who drink, just say to bring a drink, four taels for nothing, and a dish of stewed duck with old stew plus two, and he will come to meet if you have enough wine.When the duck stew is poured on the noodles, it is not only delicious, but also not expensive. There is probably no old foodie who has lived in Wuhan who has not visited Le Luchun to taste the stewed duck noodles. Near the new market, there is a Baoding restaurant that specializes in noodle stir-fries. His family has two best noodle dishes, one is the star-studded pimple soup, and the other is huasu curium paste.There is a dragon in Beiping, all in one place, and they are all famous for their pimple soup.The pimples rubbed out by this Baoding restaurant are as thin as rice grains and soft.The south pays attention to soup, and the soup is clear and delicious. It seems to be better than Beiping's one "dragon" and one "chu".As for the Huasu pot stickers, not to mention the fine filling, the thickness of the skin, the size of the pot stickers, and the heat on the pan can all be just right.No matter where you are after leaving Hankou, when you eat pot stickers, you always feel that the Huasu pot stickers in Hankou Baoding Hall should be listed as the best pot stickers. Wuming Garden in Qiaokou, a suburb of Hankou, is a place dedicated to eating puffer fish. Although it is located in a small area, once the puffer fish comes to market, the century-old soup is boiled with fish fat. Patronize early adopters, and praise and praise from time to time.It is a pity that during the Anti-Japanese War, when enemy planes bombed Wuhan, Wuming Garden was unfortunately shot, and a generation of famous gardens was instantly reduced to ashes. Wuming Garden puffer fish can only be memorable. Li Muzhai Shizhang said: "In the former Qing Dynasty, the governors of Hubei were in different cities. The governors were in Wuchang, and the governors were stationed in Hankou. Row upon row. Wuchang is the capital of the province, with frequent receptions and departures in official circles, and there are quite a few courtyards that are spacious and bright enough for a big feast and a drink, similar to the ostentatious restaurants and restaurants in Beiping. But after the Revolution of 1911, the catering industry was all Concentrating in Hankou, the business of the big restaurants in Wuchang is declining day by day.” In the 20th year of the Republic of China, after the flood in Wuhan, the more decent restaurants in Wuchang may be Shuzhen.The four walls of Shuzhen Yazuo are painted with red lacquer, and there are many calligraphy and paintings of Sichuan celebrities. His snacks are quite exquisite, and the banquets are quite grand. The author’s friend Tang Peihuang loves the liver paste soup from this restaurant the most. According to Master Shuzhen, to make a liver paste soup, you need to prepare three eggs, one medium-sized local chicken, twelve taels of high-quality pork liver, green onions, A little each of ginger, salt, wine, white pepper, and fine water chestnut powder is enough.Scrape the pork liver into a fine paste, break the eggs to foam, simmer the chicken into soup, remove the oil and beat it clear.First put out a blue red bowl and let it cool, and leave a three red bowls of chicken soup in the pot to keep warm.Cut scallions and ginger into fine pieces, mix them with the liver paste, add fine salt and wine, put the beaten eggs into the cooled chicken broth and stir well, then drain the stirred liver paste with gauze to remove the dregs, and put it on the Steam in a steamer for fifteen to twenty minutes.At this time, the liver paste has been coagulated but not solidified. Try poking it with a bamboo stick, and it is enough to leave no blood on the bamboo stick.After the liver paste is steamed, put an appropriate amount into a porcelain water plate or bowl that has been scalded with boiling water. Immediately pour the clear chicken broth on the fire and slowly pour it on the liver paste.At this time, the thinner and more tender the liver paste, the easier it will be broken by the hot chicken soup. It depends on the individual's technique.A bowl of exquisite liver paste soup, the soup is clear and the paste is fine, not only is it smooth and tender in the mouth, it looks as clear as a piece of pig liver stone placed in a clear pen wash. The author has only eaten this kind of liver paste soup at the home of a few relatives and friends from Sichuan who are particular about food, and Shu Zhen is the first to eat it in a restaurant.As for his dry-stir-fried shredded beef, it is charred on the outside and tender on the inside, crispy but not sticky. The most wonderful thing is that it is dry and not oily. After eating a plate, the bottom of the plate will never be oily. The north and the south are both excellent, and there is a wonderful way to do the same thing. In the summer of the 22nd year of the Republic of China, it didn’t rain for a long time in Wuhan. At night, Hankou was like a big steamer.Mr. Fang Yaoting (Benren), a well-known person in Wuhan, said that in front of the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuchang, he had a villa where he used cotton clothes in winter and summer medicine in summer. It was managed by two elderly people, called Jishantang, which was very cool.Mr. Fang asked me to spend the summer at a small residence across the river.The hall is in the middle of the mountain, backed by the mountain and facing the river, with wide rooms and wide corridors for ventilation on all sides.One of the two elders was Xiao, the former capital of Wuchang Prefecture, and the other was Tao, the team leader of Jiangxia County. Both of them had gone through vicissitudes of life, and they were both very cheerful and cheerful. One day, they bought a kind of shortbread for me to have a midnight snack. It is said that this kind of cake was researched by my aunt and sister-in-law. There is no shop and no name. ", was later discovered by the students of the nearby Wenhua Middle School, and everyone appreciated it very much.The white pastry of the shortbread is only half the size of the biscuit, but it costs the same price as the biscuit. It is crispy and slightly sweet in the mouth, but it is too unappetizing.Wenhua Middle School is considered a noble school among the missionary schools in Wuchang. Students go home on vacation and often buy a large number of family members and friends, so the name is very famous. Gusao Cake is called "Wenhua Cake", but the original name Gusao Cake is named after it. It's gone.The advantage of Wenhua Cake is that it is crunchy and fragrant, crispy but not emaciated. It is very similar to the Zhuangyuan Cake in Qufu, Shandong. When I was studying, I heard Cai Zibi, my mother, often lamented that everything in Peking was good, but I couldn’t eat good beef soup with rich flavor like Wuchang Qianji. At that time, I really wanted to have the opportunity to go to Wuchang in the future and try Qianji beef. It's a good law, and it's worth remembering by fellow villagers in Hubei Province.Later, when I went to work in Wuhan, I forgot about it because I was in a hurry.One morning, Du Si Lao Xiao asked if he had eaten Qianji beef, so he went to have a full meal with him. Qianji Beef is opened in Qinglong Lane in Wuchang, with a shaggy thatch, no sign at the door, and it is unremarkable. If it is not for a knowledgeable old horse, who knows that it is the famous Qianji Beef?His home is a family-style snack bar for parents and children. The boss is in charge of the money, the wife is in charge of the stove, the young boss is the waiter, and the girl is in charge of the sundries. The family of four is harmonious.Although the house is dilapidated, the tables, chairs and benches are cleaned with alkaline water every day, and the spoons, chopsticks, plates and cups are not even the slightest bit of oil.Every morning before the opening of the class (Peking calls it a pretense), there are people waiting in line.Because the store is not spacious, there can only be three square tables, one big, one small, and three square tables. When you go to diners, you have to sit at the same table, and at best, you can only sit more than a dozen guests.An old friend Liu Meng lives in Hanyang and is a regular customer of Qianji. He does not call it Qianji but calls it "Two and a Half Tables", which is the nickname because there are only two and a half square tables in his house. The beef sold by Qianji is definitely yellow beef. In the 20th year of the Republic of China, there was a flood in Wuhan, and yellow beef could not be bought for a few days. His family would rather suspend business on the board, and would not mix some buffalo or cross-bred beef to pretend to be yellow cattle for sale.At first, the limit was 30 catties of beef sold out every day. Because the business was getting more and more prosperous, and there were too many people who went to the corner every day, it was increased to 50 catties.They said that the beef they sell every day is enough for a family of four to chew (meaning life). In order to reward all the diners for their support, they reluctantly added it to 50 catties. No matter how busy they are, they will delay the customers.Fortunately, the beef of Qianji does not need a big fire, and the stewing time is too long, so the meat is stewed very badly, especially compared to Shanghai Longtang beef soup.Qianji Beef also has a unique style, which is to use porcelain cups instead of bowls to serve beef. It is said that cups keep warmer than bowls. The beef soup must be boiling hot, and it will have a smell when it is slightly cold, which will affect the umami taste.The texture of Qianji beef is smooth and fragrant, and there is no residue when eating. The soup is clear and flavorful, without MSG, so you don’t feel thirsty after eating. Because of the limited supply, Qian Kee only sells it in the morning market. Back then, Xu Biyun, the Gan Dan, sang in Laopu, he loved eating Qian Kee beef the most. However, he had a drug addiction and couldn’t get up early. The residence went to eat.Sometimes we see Xu's and Bao Cui'er queuing at Qian Kee holding jars, it's because their boss wants to drink Qian Kee's beef soup. There is a dumpling restaurant at the corner of Dusi Lane in Wuchang, which specializes in steamed dumplings. Now there are dumpling restaurants everywhere in Taiwan, but there were not many dumpling restaurants in Wuhan that sold dumplings back then!There is only one storefront of this dumpling restaurant, and the store name is "Shengfa", but everyone calls it Hu Tuozi. Ask someone about Shengfa dumpling restaurant, it is not a nearby store, and no one knows it yet!The owner Hu Tuozi's father had been a sentry officer during Zhang Zhidong's tenure as the governor of the two lakes. His son Hu Tuozi was born as a hunchback.Because he went to the inner house from time to time, Zhang is from Nanpi, and noodles are indispensable for every meal, so he secretly learned to steam noodles dumplings.A kind of vegetarian stuffing, although it is spinach, cabbage and ordinary vegetables, but it is chopped so rotten that the jasper melts into the paste, which is delicious and easy to digest. He will keep secret what ingredients are added in it.A kind of meat stuffing, thin skin and juicy, quite similar to Huaicheng soup dumplings.Hu Tuozi got his father's secret biography, so he can sell hot noodle dumplings to make a living.Xiao Dusi and Hu Tuozi's father are fellow brothers. He once took me to Hu Tuoping Dumpling House to eat. His vegetarian steamed dumplings and jade grits are fresh, moist and fresh. It really attracts people to eat and want to come again force.Some people say that Anqing Jiang Wanli's steamed dumplings are the best, but Hefei Kuai Ruomuzhang criticized Jiang Wanli's dumplings as being a bit heavy in oil, which is not as good as Hu Tuozi's.Kuai is a famous gourmet, so the comments he added should be regarded as opinions.As for his steamed dumplings with meat filling, a packet of marinade is plump but not greasy, and the taste is on par with Shanghai Yihong Restaurant's soup dumplings, but the price is much cheaper. When Hu Tuozi was on the market, he also sold red cabbage in cans, which were exported as far as Pingjin, Shanghai and Nanjing, and even Shanshan and Shanxi outside the Guanzhou. Some people also sent mail orders.Hongshan in Wuchang has a long-standing reputation for producing red cabbage sprouts, which are fresh and sweet. Unfortunately, the vegetables are prone to mold and cannot be far away.Back then, the red cabbage sprouts that Zhang Xiangtao used as gifts to relatives in Beijing originated from a wonderful method thought up by a master in the shogunate.First remove the dead leaves of the vegetable sprouts, then soak the parts close to the roots of the vegetables in hot sesame oil, put them in a clean tin can and seal them, it can keep for more than half a month without mold and rot, and the color and fragrance are as good as new.When the vegetable sprouts are on the market, because it is an exclusive business, the income will be considerable in one vegetable season.One year, Liu Duoquan, the brigade commander of the Fengjun Army, went to Wuhan for public service. Just in time for the red cabbage market, he bought hundreds of cans of red cabbage at one go from Hu Tuozi, and brought them to Pingjin as gifts. Those who got them used bacon. To fry, all are treated as rare.I heard that the young marshal Zhang Hanqing also had a preference for the vegetable sprouts in Hongshan, Hubei. Every year, he would send people to Wuhan to buy some to bring back as food! The author has worked in Wuhan for five or six years. Although I can’t say that I have tasted all the famous dishes or unique snacks there, I have probably eaten eight or nine of them.After the Northern Expedition, the finance and commerce of the three towns of Wuhan gradually moved to Hankou, so that the food tasted both north and south, comparable to Shanghai and Nanjing.Although Wuchang's food and beverages are declining day by day, there are some unique snacks. If you encounter a guide from a knowledgeable old horse, there is still no shortage of opportunities to taste them!