Chapter 41 Seeing fresh pepper pistils reminds me of roast mutton

I have been in Taiwan for nearly 30 years. Not only have I never eaten fresh pepper, but I have never seen a pepper tree. After asking others, I found out that neither pepper nor pepper is produced in Taiwan.Later, the Kaohsiung Agricultural Improvement Farm imported several pepper seedlings from abroad. After several years of careful cultivation, they have grown fruitful. Although the level of Ganping Qingxin is not enough, we are finally able to produce peppercorns ourselves. Because the output is too small, you still can't do it if you want to eat some fresh and spicy fresh pepper pistils.Two days ago, a friend came from Shouka at the junction of Taitung and Pingtung, and gave me a few fresh pepper pistils.According to that friend, he runs a small farm in the Dawu Mountain area. Since there are no pepper trees here, he brought a few pepper seeds with him when he went to Indonesia a few years ago. After six or seven years of hard work, he has grown more than a dozen plants. Now I can have fresh pepper pistils to eat.

There are so many popular songs in Taiwan in recent years like crucian carp crossing the river. If we want to call the title of the song, I really can’t remember so many songs. One of them is "When I see the desert, I think of water", and we are "When I see flowers and peppers, I think of roast lamb. ".Beiping eats according to the season. If it is not in season, you will have nowhere to buy it even if you spend money.Let’s take roasted mutton as an example. Back then, there was a man named Gong Wang Si who made his fortune selling honey for offerings.It's a pity that he gave birth to a baby son who is not good enough. He cooks hawks, dogs, walks birds, and raises fish all day long. He is completely a prodigal son?One year just after the Lantern Festival, the old man suddenly had a whim and wanted to eat roast mutton.Baikui, Longfusi Street, Dongsi Pailou, Beiping, is a time-honored brand for many years, and it is famous for roasting lamb.Borrow a bowl from Zaowen at Baikui's door, buy some roasted mutton at Baikui and bring more soup, let Zaowen stretch a bowl of sticks, and use the mutton soup under it, that's a must.But this old man doesn't appreciate Bai Kui's roast mutton, he has no interest, he lives in Fenzi Hutong, and he must eat Hongqiao Wang's roast mutton at Niwabakou behind Xixie Street.King Hongqiao's roasted mutton is also well-known in Xicheng as a mutton bed. I heard that his old soup for roasted mutton is more prestigious than Baikui's old soup.At the same time, there is a cellar in the backyard of Queen Hongqiao. Once the season of roasting mutton is passed every year, the preserved old soup will be stored in the cellar every year.In particular, Hongqiao Wang's family has a pepper tree that has been growing for many years. It must be bought back and eaten with noodles. (Authentic Beiping people have a habit. If you buy Baikui noodles for roast mutton soup, you must buy stretched noodles, and if you buy Hongqiao King, you must buy noodles. Southerners say that people in Peiping like to "show off" when eating, just point to These things say.)

Gong Wangsi, the uncle, specified that King Hongqiao was not in season, so he broke the rules and gave him special roasted mutton, that is, the uncle wanted to eat mixed noodles with roasted mutton soup.Guess what, Hongqiao Wang Leng is adhering to the principle of Confucius's teaching of "not eating from time to time", no matter how much money Long Tianbiao pays you, Gong Wang Silai, he can't make an exception, Gong Wangsi can do something about him No, since then it has become an allegorical saying: "King Hongqiao's roast mutton—it's not the time." In the second year of the victory, the author returned to Beiping, just in time for the roasted mutton to be on the market. I haven’t eaten roasted mutton for many years. Crisp, but with a bright expression and a bold expression, one immediately recognizes that it is an old neighbor who has been away for many years and has come back.The big copper plate is still polished brightly, the lamb tendons, sheep’s feet, and sheep’s cheeks, stewed in red, oily, fragrant, and hot, are piled up on a large plate, and the inner cabinets are still arranged as before, without any changes. Change, only a five-foot-long piece of Yue Wumu's "Manjianghong" written by General Wu Ziyu (Peifu) is added to the back gable. The middle hall is vigorous and furry. It's worn out.Dare to Love Wu Yushuai Although he lived in seclusion in Beiping Shijin Garden during the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese threatened and lured them and tried all kinds of vicious methods.Because he loves Hongqiao King's roasted mutton, he made friends with Lao Manba. Whenever the roasted mutton is on the market, Manba would go to the Assorted Garden several times to deliver the roasted mutton to the general.This central hall is Wu Yushuai's favorite work that he gave to Manba'er when he was in the mood.

When I returned to Peiping after the victory, I always felt that some things were the same on the surface, but there was an indescribable taste in many things deep down, which were specious.Let’s take the food as an example. The taste of the dim sum shop’s eight pieces, small fried food, small flower cakes, and even the jade bee noodle cake at the temple fair seems to have changed a bit, and it doesn’t seem quite right before the Anti-Japanese War.There are only a few items that are still in shape, and the roasted mutton is one of them. I only ate the very appetizing roasted mutton, prickly ash, and mutton soup with mixed noodles. Because Yu Shu was in a hurry, I hurried out of the customs. All gone.

Last year in Hong Kong, I heard from the owner of Legonglou that Baikui Hongqiaowang in Beiping, and even some well-known mutton beds in Niujie, Menjiahutong, and Nanxiaojiezi have long since stopped cooking mutton, and even the entire mutton bed has closed down. .Le Gonglou originally wanted to sell roasted mutton in autumn, but he couldn't find a master so he had to give up.Now wanting to eat roasted lamb is not only impossible in Taiwan, but also in Hong Kong and Kowloon.