Xi'an gourd head
Seafood gourd head is a traditional cuisine unique to Xi'an, with a rich flavor and a rich taste, famous and well-known in Chang'an.
It is said that when this snack first appeared, it was neither the current practice nor the name it is now, and there were very few eaters, but after the guidance of the famous tang Dynasty physician Sun Simiao, he changed the practice and improved the quality, and only then did it come to the fore.
Sun Simiao was a native of Jingzhaohuayuan (present-day Yao County, Shaanxi) in the Tang Dynasty, who studied medicine due to illness when he was young, and had a deep study of medicine, he summarized the clinical experience and medical theories before the Tang Dynasty, and wrote medical monographs such as "Qianjin Fang" and "Qianjin Yifang", and his book first listed women's and young children's diseases, which made great contributions to medicine, and "Qianjin Food Cure" was a fruitful work in dietary medicine.
According to legend, once Sun Simiao came to a small shop in Chang'an that specializes in pig intestines and pork belly to eat "miscellaneous cakes", found that the intestines were fishy and greasy, and asked the owner about it, only to know that the production was not legal. Based on his extensive experience, he told the shopkeeper how to cook the intestines and left him a medicine gourd for the shopkeeper to taste. According to the method taught by Sun Simiao, the shopkeeper successively treated the intestines through twelve procedures, and then poured out condiments such as peppercorns, large incense, and Shangyuan Gui from the medicinal gourd and cooked them in soup, so that the miscellaneous cakes were full of aroma and particularly delicious. The shopkeeper also deliberately hung the medicine gourd left by Sun Simiao to him on the head of the door, and in this way, the "miscellaneous cake" was renamed "gourd head". Since then, this small shop has been full of customers and business has been booming.
Later, on this basis, Xi'an chefs adjusted the raw materials and added sea cucumbers, squid, chicken, etc., thus developing into today's "seafood gourd head".
Seafood gourd head must go through a three-way process of processing the intestines, boiling soup and (pào) rice. The treatment of intestines and stomach is particularly important, and it is necessary to carry out 12 meticulous treatments such as intestines, intestines, stomach scraping, intestines, intestine picking, intestines turning back, intestines being regurgitated, intestines being rinsed, intestines being twice, intestines being picked up, intestines being boiled, and intestines being dried for three times, so as to achieve the requirements of decontamination, defishing and degreasing.
Boiling soup is another important skill of gourd head. First wash and break the bones, put into the pot and add water to boil, skim off the foam, when the soup is white, put a fat hen, salt to taste, burn for 20 minutes, put in the spice package (peppercorns, star anise, Shangyuan Gui, etc.), low heat continue to boil until the soup is thick.
"Before the meal, the customers first break the steamed buns, and then cut five or six slices of the intestines cut into the shape of a "ramp knife", with pork, sea cucumber, squid, cooked chicken and an appropriate amount of vermicelli, neatly arranged on the broken buns, and repeatedly poured with boiling soup" "Three or four times." Add cooked lard, monosodium glutamate, seasoning water, green vegetables, and finally pour an appropriate amount of soup to serve. When eating with sugar garlic, kimchi, spicy sauce and other small plates, if you do not want to soak steamed buns, you can also eat wontons with the original bowl of gourd head (called single cooking).
After being cooked in this way, the seafood gourd head is fresh and tender, fat but not greasy, and has become a favorite delicacy and a tonic. Probably because the seafood gourd head condenses the wisdom and affection of the "medicine king" Sun Simiao, it is particularly cherished for people in Xi'an, and it is even more enjoyable to eat.