Author: Alexis
Statement: Soldiers say original, plagiarism will be investigated
The people love Chairman Mao, and many people are very concerned about the Chairman's diet and living, but they also know that Chairman Mao has never demanded material life, has always been very simple, and does not like the set of extravagant pleasures at all. To say that the chairman's "hobbies" are actually very close to the "regular meals" of the people, such as the well-known braised pork.
Braised pork is a very down-to-earth "home cooking". Nowadays, people's living standards are high, and ordinary people are a little disgusted that it is too greasy, too crude, and cannot be elegant, but Chairman Mao loves this dish quite much, which shows how simple and great he is.
So why did the chairman fall in love with braised pork, a home-cooked dish? It cannot be simply attributed to the poverty of material life during the Yan'an period, but it is related to a person who made this home-cooked dish that was "not on the table" beautiful, so that the chairman tasted a little delicious in the hard years.
This person was none other than the chairman and other leaders during the Yan'an period who cooked rice and cooked for the chairman and other leaders
“
Red Chef
”
Kaiwen Lee.
Li Kaiwen was a native of Xiangshan Temple in Jinzhai, Anhui Province, and when he was young, his hometown was revolutionary, and Li Kaiwen, whose family was poor, joined the Red Army like many poor people.
Li Kaiwen was 35 years old when he joined the Red Army, which was already an "old man" at that time. So he received a lot of care from the moment he joined the army, not fighting on the front line, but as a squad leader of the stretcher team. afterward
The cadres found that Li Kaiwen was quite good at cooking, and the dishes he cooked were very delicious, so he arranged for old Li to go to the cooking class and became one
Old squad leader
。
Captain Li later took part in the arduous 25,000-mile Long March. When the Long March crossed the meadows, some days were rainy and rainy, everywhere was muddy, everything was wet, even the cooking class made a fire to cook, could not find a little hay, not even light a fire. How can this be done? When Captain Li saw that the soldiers had not eaten or drunk, could not even drink hot water, and some of them were sick and fell down, their hearts were very anxious. He came up with a way to find a large handful of wet grass, stuff it all into his arms, and use his body temperature to cover the wet grass into "hay", and finally it could be lit on fire. However, the old squad leader was overworked, coupled with too much humidity, and his whole body was puffy, and he almost sacrificed himself on the grass.
His superiors learned of Captain Li's deeds of self-denial and transferred him to the core organs to cook for Chairman Mao and other leaders.
Don't think that the old squad leader is just because of his good heart, but in fact, he does have a family heirloom, which can be regarded as a "royal kitchen descendant". Li Kaiwen's hometown Xiangshan Temple, in the Ming Dynasty is quite famous, the Li family has a secret recipe braised meat, famous far and wide, Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, once tasted the Li family braised meat, Long Yan Dayue, brought this dish back to the palace, made the "royal meal red square", since then the Li family has become famous, generations have passed on this unique work.
Li family's braised pork, you need to choose a good middle pork belly, cut into squares, heat the pot with pine wood, heat the pot with oil, first put in the ginger shreds, put the pork belly into the stir-fry, pour water after the grease is boiled, simmer slowly over low heat. Add the secret recipe color scheme so that it stays for 4 hours. As soon as the heat arrives, the juice is just in the right place, and the braised meat is finished! The braised meat produced in this way is bright and attractive in color, fragrant, fat and not greasy in the mouth, which makes people's appetite open and can't stop.
Li Kaiwen was a teenager and also mastered this technique, but unfortunately, the inferior gentry in the old society were rampant, and Li Kaiwen could not make a living from it, and finally joined the revolution.
The old squad leader had this simple and unpretentious craft, which was immediately loved by Chairman Mao and other leaders. Love is love, even if they are, it is actually a long time to eat a meal of braised pork. Yan'an is short of materials, from top to bottom are hard and simple,
Therefore, only during the New Year's Festival, or when there is a good news of great victory from the front, can everyone eat braised pork made by the old squad leader!
Cooking for leaders is not an easy task, not that they are demanding, but that their life schedule is difficult to grasp. For example, Chairman Mao forgot to eat when he got busy, and often found himself hungry very late. Therefore, Li Kaiwen must always wait in the gang room, and it is not possible to cook food early or late, and he must "collude" with the chairman's guards. The guards felt that the chairman was almost busy at some point and might feel hungry, so he quickly ran to the dormitory and ordered Li Kaiwen to cook.
Even so, the meal was often ready, and the chairman could not stop. One big winter night, the chairman was busy late again, and dinner had not yet been eaten. As soon as Li Kaiwen saw that he could not do it, he took the meal himself and sent it to the chairman. The kitchen was hot, and Lee was wearing only single clothes, but the outside was dripping with ice. When the chairman saw that Li Kaiwen was wearing less, he hurriedly draped his coat on Li Kaiwen and quipped in his mouth:
This can't help it, we can't freeze our old squad leader, the old squad leader is sick, and he can't eat the braised pork of the old squad leader!
In this way, Li Kaiwen has been working at the chairman's side for 11 years. After the founding of New China, the organization arranged better treatment for Li Kaiwen and talked to him:
Old Li, the organization is worried that you suffered a lot during the revolutionary period and wants to give you one
‘
sweet
’
A little work, intends to make you the director of Tianjin Sugar Factory, what do you think?
Li Kaiwen asked, "Then how many cadres and masses are there in this factory?" ”
"More than a thousand people."
When Li Kaiwen heard this, he shook his head in a hurry:
No, no, no, I am an illiterate, no education, no level, managing a cooking class is OK, managing a large factory of more than a thousand people, without that ability, we can't help the country!
Li Kaiwen has been away from his hometown for a long time and wants to go home, so he asked the organization to arrange for him to return to Work in Jinzhai, Anhui. The local government considered arranging for him to be the deputy county magistrate, and Li Kaiwen's head shook even more:
No, no, no, I can't manage a factory of more than a thousand people, at least 300,000 people in a county, where am I that piece of material.
The county comrades said: "In fact, there is not much specific work, that is, to take care of the old comrades." Li Kaiwen was anxious when he heard it: "Let me just eat and not do it, that is even worse." I listen to the President' words that to serve the people, we can do as much as we can. ”
Finally, Li Kaiwen was appointed director of the Xiangshan Temple Township Grain Management Institute.
For this small post, Li Kaiwen is very satisfied, and has worked diligently until retirement.
During his work, Li Kaiwen was rated as a model worker, entered Beijing, was invited to his home by the chairman, and he made braised pork for the chairman who had been missing for a long time.