"Boom, boom." A little, a little bit will get..." This is the only wish made by the famous writer Mr. Su Shuyang's Jingwei'er's work "Bursting Belly" before his death. Although the text is not long, it is written that the old man Han Yongli can't afford to know that the last wish of the world is to eat a mouthful of explosive belly, but because it was during the economic depression of China at that time, Beijing snacks were even more traceless. For this wish, the neighbors in the courtyard went all over the world to find the story of his belly. But it really writes about the human feelings of Beijing, the love affair between the people of Beijing and this Beijing snack.
From childhood, educated by two kinds of families in old Beijing, grandma's family lived in a single courtyard, and there were more gifts in the family, which was an annoying thing for a child. However, the grandmother's family lives in the courtyard, and the family that lives in the courtyard is full of humanity, and there are not so many complicated etiquettes and restrictions on the dignity and inferiority of the elderly and the young. A little more breath of life, a little less of the concept of hierarchy. I naturally like the family atmosphere of my grandmother's house, like to play with my uncles, like to run around with the children in the alley, and like to eat the popcorn made by the neighbor's black uncle.
Feng Ke painting
Uncle Black's family lives closest to my family in this miscellaneous courtyard, and Uncle Black and Aunt Black are typical Beijing Muslims. They are rich in the warm sausages of the old Beijing people, and they have a pair of skillful hands in making Hui snacks, black aunt is good at Huimin snacks, and black uncles are a must for making popcorns.
There is a saying in old Beijing: "To eat autumn, find a popping belly." "It means that in addition to eating some meat, this Beijinger has to come to the plate to burst his stomach." My home is close to Uncle Black's house, and naturally occupies a unique advantage. Every year in the autumn, Uncle Black will always make a big plate of belly explosions and my grandfather to drink two cups, and then the mountains and the north of the south sea are happy. I am a junior, although the second pot head only has the share of chopsticks to dip the lips, but the popcorn can eat a belly round every time. Every now and then, Uncle Black will definitely give us the explosive belly of our old Beijing.
According to Uncle Hei, this popcorn was originally a home-cooked dish of the Hui people, and it was found during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Because the taste is authentic, but also helps digestion, has the effect of nourishing the stomach, so not only the Hui people are good at this mouth, even the Manchus and Han people also like to eat, by the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, there were seven popcorn stalls in the Shan Dong'an Market in Beijing. The top names that we can count in Beijing are the explosive belly Feng and the explosive belly king of the Dong'an market. The popping belly stone of the overpass, the popping belly yang of the door frame alley, and the bursting belly full of the East Fourth Arch Building. Nowadays, these children have opened semicolons in the Four-Nine Cities, satisfying the blessings of more Beijing people.
If you want to make an authentic popcorn, the selection of materials can not be sloppy, and the exquisite popcorn should choose the belly of the northern sheep. The belly must be fresh, and with a miscellaneous taste, it will directly pour out the appetite of the master.
In addition to this selection of materials, the key to the production of the belly is this "burst" word. Make a large pot of boiling water, turn the fire on the most vigorous, when the water is boiling, put the louvers into the pot, more, three seconds immediately out of the pot, and then late will definitely make you giggle. This bursting belly does not all take three seconds, divided into different parts, five seconds of Sandan, seven seconds of belly plate, eight seconds of belly gourd, belly collar, belly mushroom... When the belly is out of the pot, dip in the condiment mixed with soy sauce, sesame sauce, sesame oil, and soy sauce tofu in advance, and the mouth is fragrant, authentic!
A plate of steaming belly is in front of you, and you have to eat it. Some people say, eat it with your mouth, then you can "car" (layman).
This is the real eater, pay attention to the different parts of the stomach to taste. Mr. Liang Shiqiu once discussed in detail in "Yashe Talks about Eating": "The belly is a lamb's belly, the sheep in the north of the mouth is fat and large, and the sheep's stomach has several parts: sandan, gourd, and belly plate, with the belly collar as the thickest." The popcorn in the restaurant is limited to the belly collar, and it is peeled, so it is called belly kernel. There are three ways to fry belly kernels: salt bursting, oil bursting, and soup popping. A simple passage actually said thirteen ways to eat the belly.
When eating popcorn, it is also necessary to pay attention to the steps of "eating fragrant first and then eating crisp". That is, to eat this difficult to chew belly first, in order not to relieve the breath and eat enough, but to let the aroma of this belly pass through chewing in the mouth. Wait until you fully enjoy the taste of this belly, and then eat a plate of crispy blinds, that is called addiction.
When eating a pop-up, the people of Beijing are accustomed to drinking a few mouthfuls of two pots, and there is such a record in the "Yandu Small Food Miscellaneous Songs": "The human soup is warm in an instant, and the condiments are complete and the wine is bottled." The blunt teeth failed to chew all, and the swallowing fruit was swallowed raw. "In this way, it not only warms up the body, but also relieves the hunger, which is really killing two birds with one stone."
We left the courtyard a few years ago and moved into the building. Until recently, whenever I eat a bursting belly, I will think of Uncle Black and think of the unique love affair in the courtyard that lingers.