▲ Curd milk is a small ingredient that adds to the taste of life. Photography / Wu Xuewen
-Fengwujun Language-
Tianjin without curd milk
Incomplete
If you use a food to connect the life of Tianjin, "curd milk" should not be tolerated.
Curd milk, this peculiar tofu sealed in a jar, looks bloated and a little swollen on the outside, like a treasure bag with flavor. Tianjin, a charming capital living on the water, the meandering Haihe River and European architecture complement each other, and the fusion of the two textures makes her full of style, encompassing dozens of bridges and bending rivers; and curd milk is not only hidden in the juice of the jar, it is also in the streets and alleys of Tianjin.
▲ Red-hot curd milk. Photography / Wu Xuewen
There are differences between the north and the south of the dish, and the curd milk is also divided.
There are three main types of curd milk from color identification - red square, white square and green square. White side to Guilin and other places of curd as a representative, the taste is soft, the appearance of tofu to maintain the original clear, southern food is small and dry, curd milk is also so, the taste is concentrated in an inch of the world; Qingfang is commonly known as stinky tofu, such as Beijing's well-known old brand "Wang Zhihe", smelling and eating incense, opening the lid requires a certain amount of guts; and the red side as the backbone of the northern curd milk, a big taste thick, from the meal to the seasoning cooking can be matched, added red yeast curd color is festive.
▲ White curd milk. Photography / Dapeng dp picture / figure worm · creative
In Tianjin, red square curd milk is a small table ingredient that is familiar to every family, and the local people are more accustomed to calling it "soy sauce tofu". Tianjin people especially prefer to use an action when cooking to name the food, directly hit the main points, such as "old explosion three" refers to the three main ingredients fried with a strong explosion, and the "sauce" in the sauce tofu is more pun, it not only represents the process of fermenting curd milk, but also the shape when the curd milk is covered with sauce.
It is easy not to be fooled by the appearance of curd milk, it is rough under a piece of tenderness - gently pinched, the red sauce sweaty and slowly falling, chopsticks and hand action to pinch the force, leaving a scale of branding - "snap", a rub, when the two chopsticks meet, the curd milk is also split in two; the milky white interior is exposed, revealing the texture behind the red coat, and the tight layers are blurred into irregular snow-colored mountains.
Glutinous rice wine is the finishing touch to tianjin curd milk production, a piece of curd milk from soybeans to evolve, from soy milk to tofu to a few days of natural fermentation, and finally put into the sauce tank to wait for the whole year. I remember when I was a child, the street often sold loose curd milk, people used old porcelain jars to store at home, and the process from sauce jar to porcelain jar was like a kind of transmission, sealing the lid, waiting for the taste answer given by time.
▲ The sauce of the curd milk is very attractive. Photography / Wu Xuewen
The smell of curd milk is far from fragrant, and even some people avoid it, it is similar to Beijing's bean juice, only lovers can understand that kind of beauty. Curd in the Tianjin sense may not be as simple as taste, and when making home-cooked food, people always think of its existence, "click" - put it a little bit, as if to make the taste stand out a little.
Tianjin breakfast is a symbol of life on both sides of the Haihe River.
In the general perception, "big cake sandwiches everything" is the urban spirit of Tianjin, which only relies on one oily pancake to wrap up thousands of things and taste endlessly. And curd milk is a must mention of the ingredients, it is matched with it, the brush on the cake surface to write the pen is hot, after fermentation, the sweet bean aroma is wrapped, hidden, no trace, but the moment of entrance bursts out. Good at stopping behind the stage, it is also a kind of kung fu that penetrates the back of the paper.
▲ Curd sauce for Muji pancakes in the northwest corner of Tianjin. Photography / Zhang Li
Curd milk makes the morning more flavorful
Most of the burrito sauces in Tianjin are very simple, only two things - noodle sauce and curd milk, and the smell of curd is strong, and the bean flavor gradually spreads in a cloudy posture, occupying the mouth, which in my opinion is the existence of the noodle sauce. Pancakes are originally made of mung beans, and together with the curd milk made of soybeans, it is like a group of deer in a cake. The simpler it is, the more it highlights the skill of the store, usually the sauce needs to be seasoned, and then fried or steamed, one more step will evolve several kinds of changes, each family's noodle sauce or curd is the director behind the pancake layer curtain, it dominates the depth of their respective signs.
Mu Ji pancakes in the bottom of the national building under a humble house, this kind of "front shop after the factory" simple window must not be underestimated, often the age of the boss is the history of the store, and even to recall the ancestors. Master Mu's own curd milk looks inconspicuous, but it is the link that makes up the word Mu Ji. The taste of curd milk is very similar to cheese, the bean aroma after protein fermentation is similar, it smells slightly smelly, but the pancake and the noodle aroma of the dumplings are completely covered, and the curd milk is connected in series after the entrance, and the soft texture fills the gap between the crust and the dumplings, making the layered feeling more distinct and flavorful.
▲ Curd milk is the secret of Gaba cuisine. Photography / Zhang Li
Using curd milk to make sauce is no more convenient than noodle sauce, just by crushing the blocky square tofu into fine pieces, so that the finished product can not see the okara, it is enough to take a lot of work, fortunately, there are machines and other means today, how to do it in the past, it seems to be all by heart. The consistency of the curd required for all kinds of eating is different, the pancakes need the texture of the rice, easy to spread, and the Gaba dish has to be diluted again, mixed; the moment of drizzling with dark red curd milk is probably the most eye-catching moment of a bowl of Gaba.
Enqing cheng Li Ji has been running the Gaba cuisine for several years, and there are rumors that there are many origins of Gaba cuisine, including the version of the Li surname. The appearance of the Li family's curd milk is the most special, under the action of more than ten kinds of spices, the aroma is tortuous and clear, changing the usual red appearance of the sauce, and the dark brown sauce is like a mystery. Gaba is essentially homologous to pancakes, but is cut into finger-wide willow leaf strips, and the twist of taste is due to the seasoning and soaking of the brine. Curd milk is in it, complementing the various flavors, quietly guiding, and attacking the senses of diners with a different color taste.
▲ Haiji roll circle, the filling is tempting. Photography / Zhang Li
The façade of the Haiji scroll circle is not large, just a common convenience breakfast cart, focusing on the flavor of curd that Tianjin people love. It is not easy to make the coil, the dough is wrapped in a filling mixed with curd milk under the pan fried, inside and outside the double day, to do both - cooked but not burnt, crisp and not scattered, the coil made of bean skin in the early years has been difficult to find, but the inner material is still mired. In terms of form, the coil filling is very similar to the "jinwei vegetarian" that Tianjin people are keen on, and the main use of bean sprouts is supplemented with side dishes; gently broken, the curd milk slowly flows out in the crisp cracking sound, and when it bites into the mouth, it also has a preliminary impression of Tianjin.
It is easy to eat "curd milk vegetables"
Whether it is bibimbap or spread steamed buns, curd milk presents a similar scene of reluctance, you have to try your best to press, crush, and then mix with your heart to dissolve the taste with any food you rely on, like a parting. The process seems to be both arbitrary and stubborn. Curd milk invades every corner of its unique breath, but it becomes invisible, and even if the taste is so prominent, it never dominates. If you don't taste it yourself, you'll never know what it's like to have fermented food.
▲ Curd milk with steamed buns is also delicious. Photography / Wu Xuewen
In the Lunar New Year, Tianjin people are keen to pack "Jinwei Vegetarian" dumplings, the filling is peculiar, there are several kinds of dumplings, red pink skin, dried incense, etc., each family is slightly different, but they all tacitly add curd pieces to mix. Its name can be seen, the key to jinwei vegetarian is made of vegetarian dishes, how to make vegetarian dishes delicious, all depends on how to mix the filling with spices; the emergence of curd milk, so that vegetarian dishes are added with a touch of red makeup, the vegetarian dumplings are also lined with hot.
Jinwei vegetarian is not only found in dumplings. Another business card of Tianjin, the bun, eighteen folds like petals. Tianjin's bun shops love to decorate with glass, and the workers who make buns are skillful, which is indeed a scene from the outside. The sauce in the bun filling is rich, on the one hand, the vegetarian dish oozes out, but it also means that it should be diluted with more curd milk, and the skilled master can pull the rolled dough thinner and thinner, and include a pocket of water-like vegetarian filling. It may be more accurate to describe a "curd soup bun" to describe a jinmi vegetarian bun.
▲ Ximen Li's second sister bun, full of curd sauce. Photography / Prawns
The soy products in Wuqing are famous, and it is common for hawkers to walk the streets and alleys to shout, which shows that they must have a unique approach. Vegetarian stew is a household remedy of Wuqing, and curd milk appears more invisible in it, and it is hidden at the bottom of the soup after the pot is boiled, silently offering. The soup that comes with a vegetarian stew can be used as the base for any stew, but the key is to spice up the curd, braised tofu, braised flour skin, risotto bean peel, or more generously spread out a white-noodle pancake stew. Wuqing stew is a combination of creative and curd milk.
Curd milk button meat is a good dish for Shandong people, and Tianjin, which inherits Lu cuisine and the strengths of each family, naturally likes it. The method of buckling meat is simple, but as long as the fermented milk is drizzled before steaming, it can make the button meat have a special taste; the aroma of the curd milk replaces the role of cooking wine, so that the golden meat slices add another touch of peach, which is really tempting. Similarly, any home-cooked cooking that can be imagined, such as boiling fish, stewed meat, and stewed chicken, can be added to curd milk, and as a highly culturally integrated city, curd milk is everywhere in Tianjin.
Who would reject the taste surprise of curd milk?
During the epidemic, Tianjin's local media "Song Nai Tianjin" reported a news about the box lunch: after the return of international students, they recorded the daily quarantine meal in the hotel, and the content was varied, showing the talent of "Wei Zuizi" who was keen on food, making netizens frequently jealous - Tianjin's box lunch can also be set up; but the only meal that made the "blogger" exclaim was a meal when a piece of curd milk was found in the lunch box - "I haven't eaten curd milk in a foreign country for a long time!" "You see, the taste of mountains and treasures of the sea cannot withstand the aroma of a piece of soy sauce and tofu."
▲ The gin vegetarian filling of the Second Gu Bun in XimenLi. Photography / Prawns
Visit small shops, walk into restaurants, curd on the table, in the stove. The stir-fry spoon in the master's hand is hot and flying, and Tianjin cuisine is boiling and rushing in it, a bun, a bowl of vegetarian stew, and curd milk are hidden under the experience of a secret taste bud, invisible but profound, dotted with the mellow between the lips and teeth.
Why Tianjin people love curd milk, and what charm of curd milk can conquer a city, there may not be an accurate answer; it can only depict its slow texture after entrance, reminiscent of the air in the temperate sea breeze, calm and comfortable. Just like this city built by the water, the gentleness of not being alarmed has long been carved into everyone's heart, if you seriously taste it, you will find the rhythm of the Western-style buildings, the tide of the Haihe River... These are also like the soft taste under the appearance of curd cubes, hiding a variety of possibilities, unique, but not ostentatious.
To taste curd in Tianjin is to taste Tianjin.