The legend of Sherwin-Williams ham cake
King Ren Tian
Since the introduction of the pickling method of Xuanwei ham since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, due to the geographical characteristics such as climate, its taste has taken full advantage of it, and it has become an excellent local delicacy, and its reputation has become more and more loud, and people near and far have unanimously praised Xuanwei ham as delicious, so That Xuanwei ham has gradually been valued by people and hung with the cake.
It is said that the production of Xuanwei ham cake is related to the Ming Yongli Emperor. Legend has it that ham cake was originally not called ham cake, it was called "ham stone". At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Yongli Emperor took refuge in Yunnan, worrying all day long, not thinking about tea and rice, so one of the imperial chefs accompanying him had a whim and ingenious choice to cut the famous Xuanwei ham essence into cubes, with honey and sugar wrapped in filling, baked into dim sum. I never thought that this kind of dim sum was fragrant, the taste of food was sweet and mellow, the Yongli Emperor was very fond of it, and the dragon was very happy, and he has since refined his diet. The chef saw that the ham cake was made of ham meat, honey and sugar, and was shaped like a hammer, so it was named "ham stone". Since then, the production of ham has been passed down. Folk also call "ham buns" "ham buns", but the practice is not to use steaming buns, but to use roasting.
During the Xianfeng Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a chef named Hu Shan, who had been the emperor's imperial cook in the capital in the early years, and after coming to Kunming, he became the white case cook of Shu Xing'a, the governor of Yunnan, and said that he was the cook of Liu Changyou, the governor of Yunnan, in short, he was a full-time chef for a larger official in Yunnan. When this official left Kunming, Hu Shan was reluctant to leave the magical land of Yunnan and stayed in Kunming. However, as a result, he also lost his job, and in order to make a living, he took his son Hu Zenggui to open a "Hexianglou" shop to make a living. Inspired by the story of the imperial chef making "ham stones", he began to use Materials such as Sherwin-Williams ham and honey to research the production of ham stones.
However, first of all, it is not satisfied, the production is very hard, so it is called "hard shell ham stone", and then because each has only four cities and two weights, it is also called "four two stones". Speaking of four or two stones, there is also a story of "four two stones" beating thieves. Just when Hu Shan had not yet succeeded in developing it, he was still holding a ham in the shop late at night, thinking bitterly, how to make the skin of the ham stone become crispy? Just at this time, a thief because of the incense of the cake, turned over the window and entered his house to find food, because there was no light, he only heard the thief rummage through the box and the cabinet, but the thief fell in the light of the moonlight in the light, he was in the dark, at that time the hatred was gritted teeth, he picked up the ham stone and threw it at the thief, shouting: "Give you two stones..." Did not think, the thief is good at martial arts, heard the shout, turned over, listened to the wind to identify the position, took the ham stone with his hand, took it under the nose and smelled it, it was very fragrant, and he did not say that he was put in his pocket. Hu Shan was even more angry this time, and he picked up two more stones and hit them, saying, "Give you two more stones." The two stones hit the thief on the back, and the thief picked it up, smelled it, and it was still bread, and together they took the window and came out. But no one expected that this thief was actually a filial piety, and when he returned, he steamed a few hard-shell hams to his blind mother. After his mother ate it, she said in a loud voice, "Delicious! delicious! And asked him where he came from? He had to lie and say, "Four or two."
People sent..." Hexianglou ham was successfully trial-produced, the business became more and more popular, the thief's mother died, and he should recruit workers in Hexianglou and enter Hexianglou as a buddy. One day, while he was helping sell ham, a blind old mother who was begging along the street smelled the cake and asked, "What?" So fragrant! Hearing this voice, coupled with the scene in front of him, he couldn't help but think of his mother who had died, and the boy blurted out: "Four or two." The speaker has no intention, the listener is intentional, the boss Hu Shan heard it, and simply made four or two hams each, so it became a veritable "four two stones." "Four twos each, four in a box, just one pound of the old scale." Therefore, the ham stone was also called "four two stones", and then because it spread to Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi ate very much praise, and gave the name "Hexiang", Kunming people also like to buy this kind of cake on August 15 to eat, it was named "ham moon cake." ”
At that time, Master Hu Shan of Hexianglou had two apprentices, Chen Huiquan and Chen Huisheng, two brothers, gifted and very diligent, under the sponsorship of his brother-in-law Yuan Jizhi, he also opened a pastry shop in Luofeng Street, Huashan South Road, named "Ji Qingxiang", and carried forward the craft of "ham stone", which was exported to Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, and even Hong Kong, becoming a well-known "hard shell ham mooncake", and a veritable "ham stone". Mr. Wang Zengqi, a famous Chinese writer and gourmet, once commented: "Ji Qingxiang's ham mooncake is the first in the world." Of course, this statement is a bit exaggerated, but the famous ham mooncake is true, and the "Eight Pieces of Yunnan" of Yunnan Famous Special Food: one hard, two white, five red, one of which refers to the hard shell ham, and the ham kohlrabi crisp in the five reds also refers to the ham pastry. Now the very famous Zhan Yi Xiao Cang is also developed by ham, which is actually the ham mooncake in the past. In the past, Xuanwei and Zhanyi were one, that is, Zhanyi Prefecture, until the late Qing Dynasty, they were divided into Xuanwei Prefecture and Zhanyi Prefecture, so Xuanwei ham cake was called Zhanyi Xiaocang in Zhanyi. As for the real "Cloud Leg MoonCake", it was after liberation, in 1956, Ji Qingxiang merged thirteen pastry shops such as Hexianglou, Cuixianglou and Demeixuan in the public-private partnership, and established Kunming Jiqingxiang Pastry Factory to produce a variety of Dian-style pastries, including the very famous hard-shell ham mooncake, "Cultural Revolution", Jiqingxiang changed its name to Dongfanghong Pastry Factory, and the provincial leaders at that time inspected the factory and renamed the "Hard Shell Ham Mooncake" to "Cloud Leg Mooncake", which has been used to this day.