Spring occurrence of the old site drawing / @Tao Hu
origin
I grew up in an alley called the playground on Dongsan Road in the northeast corner of Xi'an City, where the residents of this alley have a meager income and a hard life, but they are happy and harmonious.
I remember that in the 1970s, when all tickets were needed, each household did not have a small ration of meat, oil and grain, so that the family lacked oil and meat, and eating meat oil became a luxury.
There is a meat store department in the people's paradise, which sells pork from the meat factory all year round, and carries pigs into the water. On weekdays, it is good, once in the summer, the ice warehouse can only store white strips of pork, can not store pigs into the water, and can not sell out every day to deal with. So the staff rode a tricycle along the street to sell. At that time, a pound of pork sold for more than seven cents with a ticket, and a pound of pig intestines sold for more than two cents. Pig intestines are quite popular with playground alleymen because they do not want tickets. Every household buys three pounds and five pounds, buys back to turn the intestines, picks oil, rinses, plucks the white raw meat, eggs and eggs in the pot into lard, patches up the lack of cooking oil, large intestine stew stew and tooth sacrifice, every time at this time the alley floats up a smell of pig intestines.
At that time, I was more than ten years old, and because I suspected that the mutton was fishy, I always stayed away. At that time, I was thin and small enough to be less than a hundred pounds, and the neighbors were happy with the pig intestine: "Lian Yuan, eating the pig intestine can be strong", I was not moved.
The turning point in my diet came from working in the taxi business.
Ticket Age Drawing/@Song Liming
One
In 1988, I worked as a taxi driver at Xiguan Airport. At that time, planes were often delayed, so the meal was not on time. One day in 1990, I took a direct flight from Taiwan, and a septuagenarian surnamed Wu took my car, got on the bus and asked, "Is spring still happening?" Knowing that he was still there, he asked me to drag him to eat as soon as possible.
When the car arrived at the south courtyard gate, I asked the old man for advice: "Mr. Wu, I bought it for you, how do you eat it yourself?" The old man pulled my hand and said: "Little brother, more than 50 years, it is not easy for me to come back, you will accompany the old brother to eat a bowl of gourd heads!" At this point, he was embarrassed and simply ate a bowl with a hard scalp.
After taking their seats, the two of them broke up. I split it in two according to the method of eating beef and mutton bubbles, and then split it, Mr. Wu smiled: "Little brother, the gourd head is a steamed bun, there is no need to break too small, nor do you need to split." Oh, like me. Looking at his skillful technique, I thought to myself, he must have been a regular visitor to the spring before.
The lean guy of the year
Soon two bowls of gourd heads came, and Mr. Wu scooped a spoonful of oil from the spicy jar and stirred it in the bowl, closed his eyes and took a deep breath into the rising heat; "Ah, after thinking about it for more than 40 years, I can finally take a bite." Then he pulled it up. Seeing him eat so fragrantly, I was a little moved, but due to my inherent habits, it was difficult to move again and again.
I looked at him dumbfounded, and as soon as he looked up, our eyes were facing each other: "Brother, why don't you eat?" "I see that you eat so fragrantly, I think it must be Taiwan?" "You're really right, the Taiwanese people have done this, they want to kill me, let's eat it." He looked at me, embarrassed me, and reluctantly put a piece of bread in his mouth, oh, it tasted good. I picked up a piece of fat intestine, the sticky and delicious and no peculiar smell, and there is a unique fragrance of the fat intestine, and then I ate it in one bite, and finally we both ate it to the bottom.
After eating, Mr. Wu told me that the taste of the gourd head in the spring was the same as before, or the original taste, which was also the taste he had thought about for more than 40 years, and finally said: "Today I have eaten death without regrets." Originally, he was a native of Chang'an, who worked in an organ in the South Courtyard Gate before 1949, and then moved to Taiwan with the unit. Before he loved to eat the gourd head in the spring, he had never eaten it again in Taiwan, and his hometown and food made him think day and night, this time he took advantage of the cross-strait navigation to return to Shaanxi Province, and he also had a long-cherished wish for many years.
That time, he was sent back to his hometown in the northern foothills of the Qinling Mountains, and within a few days he called me to pick him up. Asked why, he said that his close relatives were no longer there, and the juniors only liked his money, which was not as real as a bowl of spring gourd heads. After I picked up Mr. Wu and returned, I deliberately arranged him in the Bell Tower Hotel so that he could go to spring to eat gourd heads at any time.
Spring occurs decorated with a new one
Two
People say that it is very strange, some people eat food from childhood, forming an inherent habit, but as they grow older, they all eat it all alive, which is really a creation. Ever since I ate gourd head with Mr. Wu, I can't forget it anymore. One is the unique taste of gourd head, and the other is the saying that "gourd head can eat fat", since it can make me strong, why don't you eat it.
Once, send a guest to Ludang Lane, as soon as he came out and saw the spring happening, the hungry worms in his stomach were hooked. At that time, it was a meal, but there was no place to park after a few turns, and in front of the spring event, there were also many cars surrounded, simply parked in a row on the side of the road, anyway, it didn't take long to eat. Just after serving a bowl and pulling a few mouthfuls, someone outside the door shouted: "24042 Whose car?" "Mine, mine." I ran out with the bowl, and a city appearance officer shouted at me: "You parked illegally, affecting the passage of vehicles, please follow me to deal with it." ”
"Whatever you want to do, you want me to finish this half bowl of rice?" "Hurry up, hurry up, the road is blocked!" The city looks impatient. I glanced at it as I ate, and it was no wonder that an east-west street was crowded into a lump in front of the spring, and cars, bicycles, tricycles, and pedestrians were congested. Three times five divided by two hurred finished the rice in the bowl, came out to move the car, the city was punishing the vehicle behind, after seeing me, he pointed to the front with his finger, meaning "you drive to the front of the road to wait for me to come."
Started the car, with the traffic slowly moving forward, turning north but can not see the cityscape, the heart and eyes moved "next time to eat or not to drive", slip it.
One foot on the throttle, away from the hustle and bustle of spring, owed the cityscape 5 yuan fine, equal to the spring occurrence to give me a discount.
Old view of the South Courtyard Gate Drawing /@Tao Hu
Three
Since the occurrence of eating spring, it has been inseparable, and the neighbors' words that "eating the large intestines of pigs can be strong" are not empty. Before the age of 35, I weighed only 103 pounds, rubbing my back was painful, sitting on the bench was suspicious, but since the regular spring occurred a few years ago, my weight quietly increased by more than 20 pounds, and the neighbor Liu Zhu brother suddenly said to me one day: "Brother, you have a stomach." Only then did he suddenly realize.
I am fat, much richer than when I was young, but I have a heart that makes me often grumpy, and the spring has become a blessed place for me to strengthen my body, why not enjoy it.
In 2015, the Ancient Road Tea City was relocated to Fan Lane, and I was invited to be a cultural consultant and had my own studio in the Tea City, and my friend Yingmen. One day, Wenyou Cao Weimin came to visit with the yellow wine he supervised, and at noon we had a meal in the spring, one person had a bowl of gourd head, and on that day, the yellow wine of Enyi was eaten with gourd head.
Enyi yellow wine, ancient qu secret, sweet and bitter and warm, its shape hides, into the five viscera without shaking its roots. The raw material stomach of the gourd head must go through more than a dozen processes to meet the requirements of decontamination, defishing and degreasing, of which cooking wine is indispensable. Therefore, the use of wine before the material and the drinking of alcohol during meals are actually in the same line, and the aroma of wine accompanied by the aroma of gourd head makes the aroma more abundant, which is a perfect match.
On July 23, 2017, my friend Xu Jin gathered several alumni of Xi'an Basic University and invited me to visit Guanzhong Academy and Yu Youren Museum together, and dine in the private room on the second floor of Chunsheng in the evening. Unexpectedly, among the friends, the hidden dragon Crouching Tiger, a wenyou named Bai Lu was actually an old foodie who happened in spring, and he praised the "three absolutes" of the gourd head in spring: the first must: washing the intestines and leaving incense to dispel abnormalities. The second best: the soup is strong. Third absolute: the penetration of the steamed bun is even. And made a detailed introduction one by one, which left a deep impression on everyone at the scene.
This year's May Day holiday, Shaanxi Meidi Tai Company Chen General Telephone Consultation I said, his Jiangsu friend small long holiday to Shaanxi, pointed out to eat gourd head, asked who is good? It is also necessary to say that spring naturally occurs. After I returned from southern Shaanxi, I specifically called Mr. Chen and asked the guests what feedback they had after eating? Answer: It is really a delicacy in the world, and if there is less salt, then a little more perfect (you can inform the saltiness in advance). Guest parting message: The next time you come to Shaanxi, the first choice is spring.
The gourd head in the spring is well known, and when it is eaten, it is said that it is good, and the key is in the soup. It is to boil pork bones, whole chicken, whole duck and other ingredients in a certain proportion, boil until the color is milky white, and when the steamed bun is also placed garlic seedlings, coriander, five-spice powder, pepper and other seasonings, covering the odor of the large intestine and stimulating its original fragrance. When I was young, I did not eat lamb, large intestine, and the lack of family spices, people are not good at cooking. Eating spring happens to know the taste of the world, and then do not eat sorry for themselves. This time, on the occasion of the centenary essay in the spring, I stirred up the old things and made memories.
Spring has gone through a long hundred years, is the century-old brand of Xi'an City Foot Gold, this golden signboard has lasted for a long time, to the food-loving, south-to-north diners to bring one after another on the tip of the tongue of the tongue, leaving a memorable memory.
Renovated spring takes place in the lobby