Chapter 29 Changzhou Vegetable Cake

We Chinese and Indians are the two major ethnic groups in Asia, and they are probably the ones who like eating cakes the most.According to an Indian friend, "In India, there are about thirty or forty kinds of cakes baked, baked, and baked in various ways. A decent restaurant must have at least six or seven different kinds of cakes on the market. Otherwise, it can only be regarded as a food stall, not a restaurant." Our China has a vast territory, from east to west, from south to north, not to mention the types of cakes, just take the water used for making noodles, which can be divided into cold water, hot water, warm water, leavened noodles, dead noodles, and kneaded noodles. When it comes to the way of making cakes, it is more than double that of Indian cakes.

In the early years of the Republic of China, the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore came to China to give lectures. He gave lectures at Peking University. An article on poetry was published in the "Novel Monthly" published by the Commercial Press. He said: "Chinese culture is really vast. Let’s talk about it. When I was in India, I thought that the cakes made in India can be regarded as the country with the most variety in the world. I didn’t know that when I came to China, I ate all kinds of cakes in China, and I realized that Indian culture is compared with Chinese culture. , It’s like eating cakes, it’s so insignificant.” Although his statement was a joke, it can prove that he appreciates Chinese cakes very much, and there are too many types of Chinese cakes.

The customs of Chinese people eating noodles are also different from north to south: noodles are the staple food in the Yellow River Basin, and if you don’t eat noodles for three days, you will feel bad; the provinces in the Yangtze River Basin can only eat noodles as snacks. I don’t feel like I’m full. As for the Pearl River Valley, even the skins of shrimp dumpling noodles and fruit siu mai are made of rice flour. Probably only steamed food with noodles, flour is used as a last resort, and flour is usually not eaten. . It is said that the province in China that eats noodles most is Shanxi Province. Skillful housewives can make more than 70 different kinds of noodles.Although the author has not eaten more than seventy kinds of Shanxi pasta, there are thirty or forty kinds.According to the author's evaluation, the bread has the most variety in pasta, because the variety often becomes more and the taste is changed frequently, so I think the cake is the least boring.But after eating and tasting, the best kind of Chinese cakes is not the cakes from Shanxi, but the "Changzhou Vegetable Cakes" from Jiangsu.

Changzhou vegetable cake is also called rotten vegetable cake. According to Pu Boxin (Yicheng), a well-known newspaperman, said: "At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a dutiful son named Xiao Gongliang in Changzhou. In order to entertain relatives, I tried this kind of vegetable cake, which is not only appetizing, but also does not need to be chewed too much, and it will not affect digestion after swallowing. Later, this kind of vegetable cake spread, so some people called it Xiaogong cake earlier.” Making vegetable cake stuffing and kneading noodles are two important tasks. The authentic dish for making vegetable cakes is half and half of spinach and cabbage.Do not use any green vegetables, the more chopped and rotten the better, 30% to 70% fat and lean pork is chopped into meat sauce, oil, sauce, ginger, green onions are fried into fine minced meat, small river prawns are chopped, add a little pepper, one And add to the dish and mix well.When the stuffing is ready, you need to knead the noodles, and making the noodles of vegetable cakes requires a high degree of skill.All noodles should be made of high-gluten flour. Put the flour in a basin and dilute it with cold water, then use a rolling pin or a mixer to mix slowly in the same direction; Put the vegetable filling in it, pull up the noodles from the four sides and wrap it; on the pan, press it into a cake shape with a shovel, and bake it slowly with light oil.According to the season, this kind of vegetable cake is the morning glow, which is suitable for all seasons. It is fragrant and emerald, which can stimulate the appetite of the elderly and moisten the viscera.Among the southern noodles, Changzhou Vegetable Cake is indeed a masterpiece.

Before the Anti-Japanese War, Li Tiaosheng, the executive vice-minister of the Ministry of Finance, was from Changzhou. Because he was fond of vegetable cakes, the cooks he trained were also very good at making vegetable cakes.Li's house invites friends to a small gathering, boards the Cui Gai, and in the end there is always a dish of vegetable cakes and porridge.At that time, the Minister of Finance was Mr. Kong Yongzhi. Kong was from Taigu, Shanxi. His hometown was famous for making pasta.Ever since he ate Li’s vegetable cakes, he told people: “There are new ways to eat pasta. Shanxi is ranked second in every province in the country. But in terms of exquisiteness and meticulousness, everyone should go to Li Tiaosheng’s house to eat vegetable cakes.” This shows how expensive Changzhou vegetable cakes are.There must be quite a few Changzhou folks in Taiwan now, and there must be many who can make authentic Changzhou vegetable cakes.