Upstream journalist Peng Guangrui/Wen Ranwen/Photo
You may have eaten a lot of old hot pot in Chongqing, but are you really familiar with old hot pot in Chongqing? Is the old hot pot that we eat now? What was the original hot pot like? Recently, a hot pot restaurant next to Hongya Cave in Yuzhong District launched an old hot pot eaten by one person, saying that this was a popular form of hot pot eaten by Chongqing people during the Republic of China, which triggered discussion among diners.
In this issue of Old Chongqing, we have collected some rumors about hot pot: for example, the hot pot does not burn the hairy belly when it first appears; the Nine Palace Grid hot pot is originally eight blocks... Whether these rumors are true or false, let's explore them with Chongqing literature and history and food experts.
chafing dish
Hot pot was once popular for a person to eat?
It's true! It was once popular around Chengdu
On the rusty coal stove, topped by a small iron pot with a bowl mouth. On the bright red charcoal blocks, the butter red soup gently tumbled and steamed with white gas. Mr. Liu, a citizen, sat alone in front of the pot, put down a piece of hairy belly with great interest, and after 20 seconds, he started the pot and entered the pot, and relished it.
Mr. Liu is a taster of "one-person hot pot", a new form of hot pot launched by a hot pot restaurant called Beibu garden near Hongya Cave. According to He Zhengqin, the person in charge of the hot pot restaurant, the information he consulted on the Internet showed that a small hot pot eaten by a person was popular during the Republic of China, and even some people found old photos. Therefore, according to the appearance on the picture, he changed the storefront to the Republic of China style, and also searched for the old stove and the small iron pot.
Old fashioned single fire boiler pot
Was hot pot really popular for a person to eat? The reporter asked a number of Chongqing literature and history experts for verification.
"It is true that there is such a form, but the popular area is mainly not in Chongqing." Xiao Nengzhu, an explorer of Chongqing's local culture, said that single-person hot pot should be popular in the surrounding areas of Chengdu. According to some historical records, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, there were more flag people living here, and the diet was more elaborate, so there was a single hot pot similar to shabu lamb.
Xiao Nengzhu recalled that in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he had eaten such a one-man small hot pot in Guanghan, Sichuan. At that time, you need to buy tickets to eat hot pot, roughly there are red tickets, white tickets, green tickets and other different colors of tickets, representing different grades, meat ingredients, as long as you can not eat the dishes can be refunded. Such a form has also appeared in Chongqing, but it is not popular, and it belongs to a relatively niche way of eating.
The "one-person hot pot" in the store
Hot pot doesn't burn your belly at first?
Fake! The hairy belly is an important part of the water under the cattle
Mao belly is the most popular dish of Chongqing old hot pot, but some people once said that Chongqing hot pot originally did not have mao belly, is this true?
"The origin of hot pot is inconclusive, and it was not invented overnight." Li Zhengquan, an expert on Chongqing's geographical names and author of "Chongqing Toponymic Miscellaneous", said that this form of hot pot actually existed in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and the rulers at that time cooked meat with ding and shared it for everyone to eat, which was the prototype of hot pot. In ancient times, the army also used a cauldron to cook rice, and the so-called "partner" was also an extension of the meaning of eating in the same pot. Even in the countryside, hanging on the fire with a ding can, everyone sits around the fire to warm up, and cooks a pot of food, which is the prototype of the hot pot. The origin of Chongqing hot pot, the most common saying is that the boatman boiled the "smorgasbord" of cattle into a pot.
"Chongqing hot pot should still be related to cattle." Xiao Nengzhu added that Chongqing did not produce cattle, and in the early years, chongqing cattle came by land from Shaanxi, and buffalo came from Guizhou, passing through Nanchuan, Banan and other places, and entering Chongqing through the Sichuan-Qianqian Ancient Road, with a long way to go. After these cattle walk hundreds of kilometers of mountain roads to Reach Chongqing, they are bound to have natural attrition, and sick cattle and even dead cattle appear. At that time, cattle entering Chongqing were required to pay relevant taxes (it is said that the tax card was set in Huangjueya), and sick cattle and dead cattle could not sell for a good price after paying taxes, so they killed beef and beef offal in advance. Healthy cattle are sold to farmers as cultivating cattle, and the sewage of the slaughtered cattle is boiled into a pot in the simplest way, which is the original Chongqing hot pot.
Either way, Chongqing hot pot has a deep connection to cows and cows sewing into the water. Xiao Nengzhu believes that at that time, hairy belly, as an important part of the water under the ox, was taken as a hot pot ingredient.
Shaw can cast
The nine-house grid was originally eight squares?
Fake! Originally a cross grid, eight grids are difficult to make and costly
It is rumored that the original hot pot was not "Nine Houses" but eight grids. Is there any basis for this?
"It was originally a cross." Li Zhengquan said that the original hot pot was divided by a crossed wooden block, and later gradually derived more grids, which eventually became the current nine-square grid form. But the eight lattices seem to be able to only make wooden lattices into a meter shape. In the context of the underdeveloped productive forces in the Republic of China and even the late Qing Dynasty, such a design is more difficult to produce, and the cost will be relatively increased, so the operator requires carpentry to do eight-grid partitions, which does not meet the cost considerations.
Chen Yu, a well-known food critic in Chongqing, said that in the early years of hot pot, table sharing was a relatively common situation. For example, several people eat a pot together, each person only occupies one of the grids, eats their own, and does not interfere with each other, but sometimes there are exceptions, because the bottom of the wooden grid is not completely separated, and sometimes you can eat the ingredients that are "smuggled" by other people's grids.
Hot pot restaurants sold coffee during the Republic of China?
To be examined, or for profit needs
There have been media reports that during the Republic of China, some people sold hot pot in cafes. On May 21, 1946, the Han Palace Cafe located next to the "Spiritual Fortress" on Minquan Road opened, the café operated cold drinks, coffee, milk, pastry, etc., but within a few months, there were more "fresh and clean hair belly" in the business scope, and later simply marked the advertisement of "Han Palace Fresh Clean Hot Pot Hair Belly".
"It should not be eating hot pot and drinking coffee at the same time, it is too wrong." Li Zhengquan said that the form of operation of this café should be that you can drink coffee and eat hot pot at certain times. But it is unlikely to be eating hot pot while drinking coffee.
Xiao Nengzhu added that in the early years, hot pot restaurants often did not sell hot pot full-time, because only operating hot pot often could not support the entire store, so eating hot pot used a "high stool". At that time, the hot pot tables were ordinary tables, there was no hole in the middle, and the stove was placed on the table, so it was particularly high. Diners need to overlap the two benches to get enough to get the pot. On the other hand, because the coal stove is used, if it is placed under the table, it is easy to burn the pants of diners if you are not careful. It was not until the fuel for eating hot pot was improved that there was now a hot pot table that dug holes. There are also reasons for operating income, the previous hot pot restaurant often sold other dishes, hot pot restaurant and Sichuan restaurant two-in-one situation is more common. It is not impossible to fuse a café and a hot pot restaurant, but it is still more dramatic to eat hot pot and drink coffee while eating hot pot, so it is more reasonable to use two forms of the same store at different times.