Tomorrow (January 5, 17:04) Xiao Han, there is a way is "small cold and cold, dripping water into ice", as the penultimate of the twenty-four solar terms, although there is still a big cold behind, but the small cold is often the coldest time of the year, according to past meteorological data, only a few years of the cold temperature will be lower than the small cold.
Xiao Han is the penultimate solar term of the lunar year, and also the first solar term in the number nine, which is between the end of the 29th and the beginning of the 49th, and is the coldest festival of the year, with sayings such as "cold in the third nine" and "small cold is better than big cold". Animals always perceive changes in the climate before people. Xiao Han Sanhou "Geese northbound, magpie nest, pheasant first pheasant", it is said that the geese are ready to migrate north because the yang in the north has moved, in order to escape the coming hot climate in the south, the magpie feels the yang and begins to build a nest for the coming year, and the male and female pheasants feel the yang and begin to chirp together. In the cold season, the yang gradually rises, but the temperature does not rise quickly, so people can always find some good ways to keep out the cold in order to ensure a smooth winter.
As a northern city, Beijing naturally faces the test of the severe cold of mid-winter. "Chinese, maybe the people of Beiping are more hungry in comparison." Beijing, which Liang Shiqiu sees as "more hungry", is first reflected in the diet in dealing with the cold. In the small cold festival, from the perspective of dietary health, it is necessary to pay attention to eating more warm foods in the daily diet to supplement the body. In the past, old Beijing would eat hot rice, lamb noodles and so on.
Hot rice
Listening to the elders, "hot rice" is a kind of bubble rice in some parts of old Beijing. In those days when food was supplied in quantities, in order to take care of the members of the family who had a large amount of food, when eating, they would mix as much dry as possible to save staple food.
Beijing people's hot rice is really not simple! First put the oil in the pot, let the oil heat up, then put the green onion pot, wait for the aroma to come out and then put the water, pour the leftovers into the pot and stir it with a spatula, then add your favorite seasoning, and then use it after the soup is opened.
The raw materials for hot rice can also be complicated and simple. You can use some leftovers and leftovers that you have at hand, or you can use meat such as sea rice. Many old Beijingers also like to eat lamb radish hot rice in winter.
Lamb noodles
Beijing's lamb noodles can be roughly divided into old Beijing Hanmin methods and halal practices. The more common method of han people is to first cut the lamb into thin slices, feed the flavor with soy sauce, sesame oil, etc., sit in oil at the bottom of the pot, first fry the cabbage shreds with green onions, and then add water to the pot while it is hot, put the noodles into the boil after the water is boiled, and when the noodles are almost cooked, pour the lamb slices fed through the taste into the pot chopsticks to scatter, and the lamb slices change color and then sprinkle pepper noodles to fish out and eat.
Shabu-shabu
In the cold winter of Counting Nine, everyone sits around and eats a hot and lively shabu-shabu, which is the choice of many Beijingers to spend the winter. Cui Daiyuan in his book "Jingweier" recounts his memories of shabu-shabu as an authentic Beijinger. Beijingers are very particular about eating, as far as shabu-shabu is concerned, the first day of each "nine" and the last day of nine-nine must eat shabu-shabu, and the ingredients of each shabu-shabu cannot be repeated, such as the first day of the 19th is the lamb pot, the last day of the 99th is the "one-pin stove meat" pot, and there are various pots such as pheasant pots and white meat pots in the middle. In addition, the selection of meat, the mixing of the bottom of the bowl (that is, the dipping sauce), the selection of the pot, the production of the soup base, and the procedure of the pot are also exquisite.
The most common shabu lamb is only one of many shabu-shabu, but it is also the most popular, the most tangible, and the favorite of the master of traditional Chinese studies, Ji Xianlin. Shabu lamb is also exquisite, the authentic way to eat is to use a copper pot to shabu, to use charcoal fire, meat with a large tail fat sheep outside the mouth (outside the Zhangjiakou), beef and mutton can not be mixed in a pot of shabu, said to be mixed together, the soup is not good. Cui Daiyuan and Tang Lusun both said that the slices of meat cut by the machine "ate the slag in the mouth, and there was no vitality", which was not as good as the slices of meat cut by the master. From the perspective of Traditional Chinese medicine, mutton is warm, and eating shabu lamb in winter is appropriate and can play a role in warming. In the past, Donglaishun, Xilaishun, Tonghexuan, Liangyixuan, etc. were all places where shabu-shabu was more recognized by old Beijingers. In addition, there is also a family simple way to eat lamb: "pot collapse", that is, use a sand drum (Note: Beijing Mentougou Zhaitang production, a kind of casserole, with a lid, large and deep, stew meat is not out of gas, cooked fast, more capacity) shabu-shabu, and bake a few pieces of noodle cake on the side of the pot to eat with shabu-shabu. From this point of view, shabu-shabu is really a favorite food in Beijing.
Sugar gourd
Liang Shiqiu once said in "Yashe Talks About Eating": "Drinking sour plum soup in summer and sugar gourd in winter is something that everyone can enjoy in Beiping regardless of class." "It can be seen that the sugar gourd is a sweet memory in winter. Regarding its origin, there is a slip of the tongue: "Half a man, Wu Dashao, selling sugar gourd is to play tickets." "It is said that at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, a young master of the Wu family imitated the big sugar gourd at the temple fair and created a rock sugar gourd dipped in sugar liquid, stuffed with filling, and embedded with melon seeds on the filling, and began to buy and sell, although the loss, Wu Da Young Master did not care, but the business was good. Later, his family fell in the middle of the road, and he opened a shop to make a living, and the rock sugar gourd he sold gradually became famous in Beijing. According to the "Sound of One-year-old Goods and Chinese New Year's Eve", there are more than ten kinds of sugar gourds in the late Qing Dynasty: flat-ripe mountain red, raw mountain red sandwich sand and walnut kernels, white begonia raw and cooked two kinds, grapes, yam beans, pear slices, black dates, red begonias, large red dried, oranges, water chestnuts. The more famous sugar gourd sellers are Kowloon Zhai, Xinyuan Zhai and Yi Pin Zhai, and the most complete style is also the "Long Ji" of the main street of the gate of Dong'an Market. In his "Sweets of Beiping", Tang Lusun recorded the three kinds of sugar gourds in the mountains of "Longji", namely red inlaid bean paste filling and melon seeds, peeled water chestnut fruit, and sand camp grape sandwich golden cake. There are three kinds of sugar gourds, but Liang Shiqiu, who likes to eat sugar gourds, believes that "it is not very good to wrap maltose or syrup, and it is delicious to dip in rock sugar", and "only 'mountain red' is authentic". Mountain red is a temperate food and is suitable for eating in winter. The "Yanjing Chronicle" said: "Winter night eclipse, quite able to go to the coal gas." ”
Baked sweet potatoes
Iron barrels are the "standard" for selling baked sweet potatoes, which can be pushed by cars, and in the past, they were also picked with burdens, and now they can often be encountered on the streets of Beijing. "Chestnut-flavored roasted sweet potatoes" are the most common cries of vendors and are considered synonymous with high quality. It's hard to say whether you can really eat the chestnut flavor, but comparing it to the chestnuts of the season is an art of barking.
In addition to "roasted" sweet potatoes, there are also "boiled", also known as "boiled white potatoes", but now it is rare. The difference between the two is not only in the method, but also in the choice of white potatoes. Stewed white potatoes are cheaper than roasted sweet potatoes and are a delicacy that used to be full of hunger for the poor. The bottom of the pot will be glued to the skin of the white potato will be glued with a layer of syrup, which is the best product in this pot of boiled white potatoes, and the "Beijing Chronicle" records: "People sell this pot in winter, and those who bring juice to the bottom of the pot taste good." Recent and roasted sellers, also good. ”
chinese cabbage
Winter storage of Chinese cabbage is the usual way for Beijingers to meet winter, in Beijing at least 500 to 600 years of history, because of its close to the people's price and easy to store characteristics, has a wide range of consumer groups. Old Beijingers once had such a metaphor: "The cabbage that everyone eats for a lifetime is stacked up, probably as high as the Beihai White Pagoda." Wang Zengqi also lamented the dependence of Beijingers on Chinese cabbage in the article "Five Tastes": "Beijingers used to know how to eat Chinese cabbage. ”
There are many ways to cook cabbage, and you are particular about what parts and dishes you make. One of Cui Daiyuan's favorite is vinegar-boiled cabbage. In addition to vinegar-boiled cabbage, there is also a cabbage dish with Beijing characteristics: mustard mounds. It is said that mustard dunge is a famous dish of Lao She's family, which is also a refreshing cold dish for the New Year's Festival. In addition, there are many common ways to eat cabbage such as boiling vegetables, pickling, filling, and cold mixing. It is precisely because Chinese cabbage has a variety of ways to eat, but also hardy and storage- resistant, so it has become one of the "old three" in winter storage vegetables (or even the first).
Sauerkraut
The most common vat in the hutong is used to accumulate sauerkraut, and the raw material of sauerkraut is the cabbage that we Beijingers love to eat. Sauerkraut can be used to make sauerkraut stir-fried meat slices, sauerkraut hot pot, sauerkraut pork dumplings, or sauerkraut pork stew noodles, as well as white meat sauerkraut or sauerkraut vermicelli.
dumplings
From the head to the winter, from the winter solstice to the Chinese New Year's Eve, the Beijing people's dinner table is inseparable from dumplings all year round, but in the winter they miss this pot even more, because... It's hot!
Burst your belly
In the matter of eating popcorn, how to eat, what to eat, no one is more authentic than Beijingers, the key to bursting belly is in the "explosion", bursting is very crisp, bursting old very skinny. Entrance, taste, chewiness, you slowly experience it, eat the popcorn is the most important "tooth feeling".
The highest realm of eating a popcorn is to eat a belly collar, which is more expensive, very tender, and more tender than the belly. It is said that it takes several stomachs to produce such a plate.
Eat the seasoning dipped in the belly, it looks very much like the seasoning when we shabu meat, in fact, there is a big difference, the seasoning of the belly must be lighter, the dipping sauce that is adjusted is no different from the meat, then the belly is not necessarily authentic.
Grilled meat
In the past, Beijingers liked to put a hot iron plate on the stove, the pine branches below were roasted, the lamb was stirring on the iron plate, and the whole family sat around the stove, beautiful and hot while eating and roasting. Now there are fewer families with such stoves, and a new generation of Beijingers are more likely to go to barbecue restaurants to find the taste of grilled meat. To eat grilled meat, you must eat burnt bread, if you eat rice, the taste is far worse. It doesn't matter whether you eat wen or martial, whether you are waiting in your seat for the chef to bake it, or whether you are willing to grill yourself. On this cold day, the big guys sat together, smelling the smell of meat, listening to the sound of roasting meat, just outside the snow, that is really a fortunate thing for Beijingers in winter!
Roast lamb
"Buffalo, buffalo, first out of the horn and then out of the head, your father and your mother to buy you roast lamb yo, you don't eat, feed the dog to eat yo ..." Old Beijing joke, lamb This nursery rhyme not only records the old Beijing people's childhood interest, but also records their memories and love for the dish of roast lamb. Fragrant, can't afford to buy, smell can eat two burnt cakes. Big winter, it's quite cold. Old Beijingers like to take a bath. It was warm inside, and this one was also hungry, so I came here to cook lamb and put on two or two pieces of liquor. Finally, I ordered the brine soup under the bowl of noodles, and after eating, it was warm and warm and it was not cold when I went home.
Casserole white meat
On snowy days, Beijingers are also indispensable to casseroles, casserole white meat, casserole white intestines, casserole white belly called casserole three whites, that is very exquisite. Casserole white meat selected meat is lean but not chai, fat and not greasy, the soup is pure and thick, this dish is very simple to make, but the way to eat is very exquisite, with the casserole white meat on the table with some dipping sauce. On the day of the snowflakes, eat a casserole pot of white meat, the fragrance in the mouth, warm in the heart.
Fried lamb with shallots
Fried lamb with green onions, but luxury, not only this and this, but also this green onion, you know that in the winter of old Beijing, green onions are also stored in winter, so this fried shallot flavor has also become a winter, making people salivate.
Snow lily
Snow red stir-fried minced meat, think about it is considered a luxury, at least there is meat, mostly snow red fried soybeans is enough to relieve hunger, so this minced meat with the salty taste of snow is the best next meal. Nowadays, many Beijingers still have to fry such a plate from time to time. Eating is not only the feeling of incense, but also the memories of childhood and the taste of home.
Frozen persimmons
In the past, old Beijing also had its own winter fruits, such as frozen pears and frozen persimmons. "Frozen persimmons" is a unique way of eating in old Beijing, and the persimmons that are picked after the frost falls are frozen and stored until winter, at this time there is only a bag of water left, which can only be smoked. Drink the juice first and then eat the skin, sweet as honey cool and delicious, making people feel comfortable, the fire gradually disappeared. That's why old Beijing called it "drinking honey." Frozen persimmon taste sweet and cold, with the yin of nourishing the lungs and stomach, suitable for fire and dry body, not only can relieve the poisonous gas of fire and heating, but also moisten the throat and relieve cough, which is a good fruit for defeating fire. Because of its cheap price, it has become a must-eat thing in the winter of old Beijing, which can be called a high-quality and inexpensive health care fruit, which is the so-called "one side of the water and soil, one side of the people". Even the Qing Dynasty scholar Wang Shixiong called it "the holy product of fruit".
Frozen sour pear
"Frozen sour pear", now this pear is not common, it is ungrafted wild pear, strange acid, Fangshan area is produced, the flesh is hard, can only wait until the winter after the frost softens, can only eat, but the sour taste is heavy, not everyone likes.
Frozen begonias
In the past, the stalls and dried fruit shops in old Beijing were indispensable to frozen begonias in winter, and they also called it "three friends of the cold year" together with fried half-empty peanuts and frozen persimmons. Now the frozen begonias are almost invisible. Put the whole frozen begonia with the ice ballast into the mouth and hold it, and then pull the handle out, the fruit is connected to the core, it is pulled out, the flesh and juice of the frozen begonia are all left in the mouth, and immediately the mouth feels cool, sour and sweet.
Roasted sweet potatoes, sugar sautéed chestnuts, sugar gourd
On snowy days, Beijing children of course are indispensable to roasted sweet potatoes, sugar fried chestnuts, sugar gourds and other snacks, and eat more in the snowy winter. Come to the root roasted white potato first warm your hands, and then peel it little by little, the outer charred and tender white potato, eat it while it is hot, hot, take a big bite, chew twice and have to take a breath of hot air, white flowers, hot whirring, happy.
In addition to the winter food mentioned above, Beijing also has frozen tofu, Laba porridge, Lapa garlic and other winter seasonal foods, these cold winter foods are not only people's way of coping with the cold, but also reflect a positive attitude in the long winter. After a little cold, spring is one step closer.
(Content source: 49 City; image: from the Internet)