According to the old people in the family, the "white water sheep's head meat" operated by the Ma family for generations during the Qing Dynasty was "the first person" run by my Taigao Zuma era for the family, and then passed through Gao Zu ma Qicheng, Zeng Gao Zu Ma Xi, grandfather Ma Chongyi, grandfather Ma Yuanfeng to my father Ma Yukun, from the Daoguang years of entrepreneurship through Xianfeng, Tongzhi, Guangxu, Xuantong, the Republic of China, passed to my father Ma Yukun, experienced six generations, more than 170 years. Its production process, material preparation have unique features, but also with its selection of fine materials, shabu-shabu, delicate knife work, large knife flakes, mellow taste, good taste, and full of Beijing, good reputation.
Because of the old age, some things are not very clear anymore.
Previous generations have been picking baskets and selling along the streets. When my grandfather Ma Yuanfeng handed over the sale to my father, Ma Yukun, my father was only 16 years old. Since then, my father has been running the Ma family's "White Water Sheep's Head Meat". My father is the leader of the Ma family's management in the past, my father has constantly summed up experience in operation, he changed the basket to sell along the street to push unicycles, fixed point operation, the location is in the front of the door of the erjo Yuxing Restaurant in the front doorway. Changes have also been made in the knife, and the knife used by previous generations is relatively short, so that when the piece of sheep's head meat is not walked, the knife cannot go to the head, and the piece is also small. He widened the knife, and the knife always sharpened itself. He also practiced a special skill: slices of sheep's head meat peeling. That is, a piece of sheep's face, placed on the pier, the sheep's head meat sliced down, and finally only a sheep's face skin remained on the pier. Later, when I was running a business in Wangfujing, Liang Shiqiu's daughter Ms. Liang Wenqian and Liang Shiqiu's granddaughter went to taste it, and ordered the sheep's head meat to be peeled, and the guy said no, and her granddaughter said: "Then you are not a sheephead horse, because this is the unique work of the sheephead horse!"
Since I went from public-private partnership to my old business, I have not been in business for more than forty years, and there are very few people who really know and know how to do it. When I heard that, I immediately came out to ask about the situation, and only then did I know that she was Liang Shiqiu's granddaughter. I immediately smiled and asked, "How much do you want, please wait, I'll send it to you." Then I gave her a slice of sheep's head, one plate with freshly sliced sheep's head meat, and the other with the skin of the sheep's face that had faded away from the sliced meat. When I walked toward her with two plates, I found that there was an old lady sitting there. She introduced herself to me that this was her mother, Ms. Liang Wenqian, the daughter of Liang Shiqiu, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at the time. When the old lady saw the skinned sheep's head meat I sent, she said, This is the thing of the sheep's head horse! The old lady was very happy, invited me to take a photo with me, asked for some materials about the sheephead horse, and asked about the current state of business. The old lady excitedly told me that when she was young, she always followed her father to eat our family's sheep's head meat, and after so many years, she didn't expect it to taste the same, which was so good!
Langfang Ertiao Gate Frame Hutong is a famous snack street in old Beijing, attracting diners from all walks of life and enjoying a mouthful. My father was in the "WhiteWater Sheep's Head Meat" business at the time, and the quality was absolutely guaranteed. Mr. Jin Shoushen, a famous folklorist, wrote in the book "Life in Old Beijing": Beijing's white water sheep's head meat is a must in Beijing, cut as thin as paper, sprinkled with pepper and salt crumbs, used to chew and mix wine, and is a supreme product. There is only one place where the Halal sect sells sheep's head meat, and the ground is at the head of the Yuxing Restaurant on the back door of the first floor of the second article of Langfang, and the person is surnamed Ma. Self-boiling and self-selling, clean goods, pepper and salt with five spices, especially fragrant.
In the "Yanjing Small Food Miscellaneous", there is a "bamboo branch word" praising my father's craftsmanship: In October, Yanjing is cold and windy, the sheep's head is full of flavor, the salt flowers are sprinkled like snow, and the thin cut is like paper. At that time, Liang Qiushi, Ma Lianliang, Zhang Junqiu, Xiao Xiaoyun, Tan Fuying, etc. were regular customers. My father used a large, long and wide knife to slice the meat of the sheep's head very thinly, and the meat slices were extremely elastic, translucent, fragrant and fragrant, and sprinkled with ingredients, such as icing on the cake, which was very mouth-watering. My father made sheep's head meat with fine ingredients, fine operation, and kung fu to get home, so every day when the truck was not in place, there were already people waiting in line to buy it. Diners not only buy lamb's head meat, but also admire his knife skills and artistic knife movements.
Public-private partnership. In order to support his family, my father switched to work as a stevedor in the city rubber factory. Not long after, a deputy director of the Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce had eaten my father's sheep's head meat in the door frame alley, and he had great admiration for my father. After liberation, when he heard that the "sheephead horse" had changed its profession, he felt that it was a pity if this Beijing snack was lost, so he entrusted Xuanwu District to find the "sheephead horse" at that time. After many investigations, I found my father in the transportation company, and Ding Tiefeng personally found my father to talk to him and mobilize him to go out of the mountain. In the early 1960s, When Nanlaishun in Nancheng had just opened, my father finally came to Nanlaishun to re-operate and started his old business until he retired.
During the "Cultural Revolution" period, the original things used for trading were all broken, but the processing technology and preparation of the white water sheep's head ensured that they were retained. My father died on May 7, 1975, at the age of 64. I remember when my father was alive and we recalled his business and said that people must be upright, children must not be deceived, genuine goods, must be clean goods, and people must be profitable. It is precisely because of this that the sheep's head meat sold by our family for generations has never eaten a bad person. He also told us that there are three kinds of sheep's head meat: one is the white water sheep's head, which cannot be added to anything when processing; the other is the white soup sheep's head, which is salted and fed during processing; and the third is the sauce sheep's head, which is both salted and colored when processed. He said that the reason why our family's sheep's head meat is famous is the difference between white water and white soup.
In the spring of 1999, Mr. Feng Guangju was commissioned by the Beijing Individual Association to excavate beijing's famous snacks. In eight or nine years, I came to our house countless times, doing my mother's work and doing my work. Mr. Feng said: "Beijing snacks can not be lost, but to contribute to Chinese food culture. We have the responsibility to develop Chinese snacks, so that it is also worthy of the ancestors. "Mr. Feng's spirit of excavating Famous Snacks in Beijing deeply touched our brothers.
Our brother decided to return to his old business, inheriting his father's business and restoring the "white water sheep's head meat" that had been disappearing in the snack industry for fifty years.
(Text/Ma Guoyi/Photo/Hou Jia)