The taste of the hometown --- Fuzhou's "pot side paste"

Author Liang Dan

Since I joined the workforce, I have been living in a foreign country for fifteen or sixteen years. First he worked as a miner in the Construction Corps for four years, and then he worked in Beijing, Hong Kong, Hunan and other places. Even when I return to my hometown, I have many business trips. Often, it was a wheel box that dragged me tired, and I was torn over countless lonely journeys.

When you leave home, you miss home and think about the benefits of home. And when yu is hungry, he thinks: how good it is to have a bowl "pot edge" to eat!

This "pot side", Fuzhou dialect should be called "pot side paste". It may be that these three words mandarin is difficult to read, and modern people who pay attention to fast pace will refer to it as "pot side", and "pot side paste" is rarely mentioned. Zheng Dongkuo of the Qing Dynasty wrote in his "Fuzhou Terroir Poems":

Gardenia blossom swallow first chicks,

Yu Han LiXia is still worried,

Blind bowl cake strong foot bamboo shoots,

Old clams buy boiling pot side paste.

It shows that this "pot edge" has a history of more than 400 years in Fuzhou. The inventor of "Pot Side" is said to be called "Lower Tubo". Xiadu, in Cangshan near the area of Three Forks Street, is a necessary place for ancient Fuzhou to enter Beijing to catch the exam. Legend has it that when the Wukou invaded the Houguan Lin Pu Township, he was defeated by the army led by qi Jiguang, a famous general who resisted the Wu Dynasty, and the Qi family army triumphantly passed through xiadu, and the people of Fuzhou prepared fine wine, pigs, sheep and rewards. Unexpectedly, at this time, it was reported that the enemy army was eager to move, and the consolation wine and vegetables were not ready, and the Qi family army was about to pull out and kill the enemy. In order not to let the soldiers fight on an empty stomach, the "Lower Dubo" let the people quickly pour rice milk into boiling soup along the edge of the ding, make a delicious "pot side" for the soldiers to eat, and finally make the army excited and report the victory. Since then, this "pot edge" has become popular and has become a famous snack in Fuzhou. Unexpectedly, this ordinary "pot edge" actually came from the famous Qi family army conquest process. Although the legend is long and untestable, it makes me fascinated by it today. Think of that "flat meat", the south is called "Wonton", the north number is "Wonton", The Sichuan is "scribe", the Xiang is "bao noodles", sour and spicy, the name is chaotic, how to get this "pot edge" in my hometown, it is famous, outstanding, and it has been a hundred years of Cangsang without making another name, all over overseas Hong Kong and Taiwan and only this exclusive. An old friend returned from the United States and said that there was a restaurant in New York's Chinatown that sold this "pot edge". The old delicacy, sighing and admiring, asked what is this? The official proudly said: "GUOBIAN". So the old beauty is only wei, and the food in my hometown has become famous as "Ami Wei Nibble" also.

Fuzhou famous snack pot side paste

My love for "pot edge" comes from my grandmother, who is a master of "pot edge". When I was a child, my grandmother was in charge of the family, and she handled the family's seven or eight mouths of chai rice oil and salt three meals a day. At that time, there was a shortage of materials and a difficult livelihood, and if you could eat a "pot edge", it would be a family holiday. The good news was often announced after dinner, and the grandmother solemnly said: "Tomorrow is Sunday, how about making a 'pot edge'?" "Then I inquired about my father's meaning. Father was naturally happy: "Good, improve and improve life." A few of our children coaxed up:

"I want to do it with a tangle"

"I want a lot of meat"

"I also want bean sprout pancakes" Our childish impatience often made the adults laugh.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of reciprocating stone grinding. It was grandmother grinding rice syrup from the rice she had soaked last night. The stone mill in my house is very small, the grinding disc is not as big as the washbasin, and the grinding is very light. While scooping a spoon half a meter and a half of water into the grinding eye, the grandmother turned the grinding handle, and in the sound of eh nai, the snow-white and rice-scented slurry water oozed from the edge of the grinding groove, and the water flowed through the grinding mouth and fell into the clay pot below. Curious, I also wanted to play with this stone mill, so I asked my grandmother to let me try it too. But the young man was anxious and always turned the grinding fast. My grandmother then dipped some rice milk from her mouth with her fingers to show me: "Grinding rice can't be rushed, too fast rice grinding can't be broken." Sure enough, there was broken rice in the rice milk, so I was discouraged and told my mother to play with something else.

When I came back from a flurry in front of the house, my grandmother had already made the preparations. At that time, my family's kitchen was enough to make today's housewives envious. Its size is seventeen or eight square meters, the north side is against the stone wall of Longshan Mountain, facing the courtyard and the old longan tree, and to the south is a large water tank. The desk is wide and neat, and the windows are open and transparent. In the middle of the kitchen stands a huge wood stove. The wood stove is like a large cap, high in front and low in the back, and the high end is the stove mouth, and the hat is placed in a circle with a large ding, and its capacity is enough to meet the meals of one or twenty people. This is the best kitchen utensils for making "pot edges".

A large vat of rice milk, a pot of tanger soup, a small bowl of dancup, a plate of shredded meat, a plate of minced parsley and a plate of diced shiitake mushrooms have already been laid out on the kitchen stove. The grandmother first poured the dancillus soup into the ding, and then added the shredded meat and diced mushrooms, and the most important condiment - shrimp oil. The grandmother added firewood to the hearth to blow the torch. When the soup is boiling, the grandmother takes a radish, dips it in some oil, lightly wipes it on the top of the soup water, and then scoops out half a bowl of rice milk from a bowl and pours it along the edge of the oiled bowl, and then covers the lid. At this time, the fire is in full swing, and after a while, the pot is lifted, and the dry rice milk is gently swirled with a spatula, and the dried rice milk is rolled and broken, falling into the soup like white petals. Repeat this a few times, and when the steam, which is like a cloud like fog and a dream, rises up, sprinkle a pinch of chopped celery into the pot, and the "pot edge" can be served.

I like the color of the "pot edge", a milky white clear soup, half floating and half sinking on top is the petal-like rice flakes, lilac danzi meat, inky black shiitake mushrooms, and then dotted with some dots of turquoise celery and green onions, so "beautiful" taste, how not to make people appetite for food fingers? So as a teenager, I couldn't wait to eat, that kind of refreshing and smooth and fresh with the different fishy taste of shrimp oil simply scattered into the internal organs, so beautiful that you want to sigh. At this time, my grandmother was tired, she took a bowl herself, but did not eat, she watched us eat, her eyes were soft, full of love and satisfaction.

Grandmother's "pot edge" always does a lot. At that time, the neighbors were harmonious and close, and the grandmother put a few cylinders of "pot side" as a "gift" to send to the left neighbor to taste the early, and for a time the neighbors tasted the "pot side", which was also a good story. When it comes to dinner, the remaining "pot edge" at noon is heated and then eaten, at this time the "pot edge" has long been condensed into a paste, and it is not clear which soup is which piece is when eating, just go down, but it also has a different taste.

Eating "pot edge" needs to have a "match" (matching), our family usually "match" is bean sprout pancakes, and the best match is the shrimp crispy taro oyster cake three. The smoothness of the "pot edge" and the crispness of the shrimp crispy taro oyster cake are simply a "perfect match". These three "perfect matches", the family can not make it, you need to go to the street "pot side" stall to eat. There is an "old shop by the pot side" outside my house, and the neighbor "Oyster Cake Im" is the staff of the shop. "Oyster Cake Yimu" originally sold oyster cakes in the frying pan in Qixingjing Lane, and then small businesses were not allowed to do, so she became a staff member of the pot side shop, and the oyster cakes she made were particularly delicious. This "old pot shop" is prosperous because of its good quality and low price. In the 1960s, the "side of the pot" was divided into a bowl for five points, the shrimp cake was divided into three pieces, and the taro fruit was sold for four cents. For a dime and two, you can be dashing. I used to go to the "restaurant restaurant" with a few neighbor teenagers. The store first brought the "edge of the pot" up, and then sent a plate of shrimp crispy taro oyster cakes, which belongs to the "purchase of goods", eating counts money, do not eat does not count. We usually drink the soup from the "side of the pot" first, leaving some "pot edge" slices in the bowl, and then shout "Add some juice!" ”

"Come on—" The one in charge added a scoop of soup to the bowl. At this time, we ate slowly, felt that we had earned some more, and our hearts were too beautiful to do it.

When I grew up, I never ate such a delicious "pot edge" again. Today's "pot edge" has added a lot of seafood condiments, but I can't eat the taste of that year. Despite this, as long as I went back to Fuzhou and passed the "pot side" shop, I still couldn't move my feet, and I had to go in for a bowl before I was willing. Nowadays, the food is like a brocade, the delicacy is like a cloud, but how can their temptation not be able to resist a bowl of ordinary "pot edge"?

I think that although the "pot edge" is ordinary, it is unusual, that is the taste of my hometown. You see, the lilac is nostalgia; the inky is far away; the turquoise is the joy of childhood; and the petal-like floating, I'm afraid it's not the nostalgia of travelers who frown but have a heart?

"Oh, shopkeeper, just another bowl!"