Text: Speak Softly (Yellow Tide)
Iron Gate Kan Wind Moon Talk (Chen Xin)
("Zhou Chicken" is eighty years old and still taking apprentices at the Minghe Hotel, photo by Hechuan)
White chopped chicken is a hard dish that no one in China knows.
And in Guangzhou, Hainan, Sichuan, different cities white chopped chicken taste, is not the same, Feng Yue talked about eating Guangzhou, Hainan white chopped chicken, although there are characteristics, but feel inferior to Leshan white chopped chicken. A few years ago, when I was in Suzhou, I ate white chopped chicken, and how to add sea pepper, it was tasteless to eat. Out of Leshan, Feng Yuetan's favorite white chopped chicken is the Hanyang chicken in Meishan Hanyang Ancient Town.
A plate of white chopped chicken contains the taste buds, history and traditions of a city.
Many people talk about the story of white chopping chicken, will mention Guo Moruo's memories in "My Childhood", Feng Yuetan feels that the story about Leshan white chopping chicken, Leshan education master Du Junsen, described more flavorfully.
Du Junsen said this in "Chatting about the Past of Jiazhou":
We now only know that the white slaughtered chicken of "Zhou Chicken" is famous, in fact, in the twenties and thirties only the white slaughtered chicken of "Shuangxi'er" croaked, and around 1900, when it comes to white slaughtered chickens, when pushing Shuangxi'er's father did the best. At night, his business was booming. At that time, the brothers peng Zijing and Zhang Chuanru must have often eaten white slaughtered chicken; the four major families at that time, namely the Jin Zhengshun "Golden Land" family who became rich in business in Gulou Street, the Lei Shifa family in He Street, the Tang Huafu family in the official eunuch YueXiaotang, and the li ming family in Shengshui Street were also patrons.
The snow-white chicken is extremely tender and dregs in the mouth. I looked up and down, and the evenly torn chicken was very well shaped on the plate, covered with a layer of specially made soy sauce, sea pepper juice, sprinkled with sugar, and it was really attractive enough.
(Caotang Temple Old House, photo by Liu Yueping)
At that time, Du Junsen and Guo Moruo were classmates of Caotang temple primary school.
Du Junsen's description of the white slaughtered chicken, Feng Yuetan combined with the historical materials that can be consulted, read out several messages from it.
First, the "Double Xi'er" white slaughtered chicken was sold from the afternoon to the evening at the Great Cross, and the specific location should be the location of Gulou Street near the Big Cross, not far from the Guihua Building where Du Junsen lived. At that time, Du Junsen entered the city from Caotang Temple Primary School, to go through the high north gate, in and out to climb a few inches high slope, the slope is also the street, through the high north gate of the ancient city gate hole, and then uphill downhill, in order to reach the big cross.
Second, the "Shuangxi'er" white slaughtered chicken was opened by Yang Shuangxi's father and son, and in Leshan, the Republic of China at the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was a well-known dish in Leshan City, and businessmen and politicians, robed brothers and bandits, and peddlers and pawns all wanted to stop and eat a plate of Yang Shuangxi's white chopped chicken when they arrived at the meal.
Third, in the daomen, Drum Tower Street, small cross, big cross, there are selling white slaughtered chicken, even if the threshold is low small business, Yang Shuangxi's white slaughter chicken business is the most prosperous, from the robe brother family like to go, it can be inferred that Yang Shuangxi in the Drum Tower Street store decoration is quite high-grade.
Fourth, in Leshan at the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were four major families, and feng yue had the opportunity to talk about the story of these four families.
(The front row, from left to right, is Du Daosheng, Du Gaochong, Zhao Jiuru, all famous residents of Leshan Education, provided by Chen Yongtao)
Du Junsen is the ancestral residence of the Du family compound in Guihualou since he was a child, and naturally talks about white slaughtered chickens, and there is more Leshan Fan. Guo Moruo went to Leshan to study in 1905 and became excellent friends with Wu Shangzhi, and the two were suspected of having broken arms. The Wu family opened a small hotel at the small intersection of Yutang Street, and Guo and Wu often bought some white slaughtered chickens nearby to drink.
Guo Moruo described in "My Childhood": Almost all the people who do this kind of (white slaughtered chicken) small business are in Jiading City. Snow-white chicken slices, bright red chili oil sea peppers, thick black soy sauce... Writing like this can't help but secrete saliva.
Later, Guo Moruo recalled many delicacies in his hometown, and the heaviest and most memorable thing was the white slaughtered chicken in Leshan City.
He wrote in his family letter: Thinking of the chicken and meat at home, the saliva is left for a long time. In his later years, Guo Moruo talked about white slaughtered chickens with his fellow villagers in Leshan, and they were still full of praise from Shuangxi'er and Shuangxi'er.
In 1942, Guo Moruo said in "Fishing City Visiting Ancient Times": The tenderness of Jiading's white cut chicken and the beauty of the juice and water are really a wonderful work of art. White cut chicken, I think, is Jiading as the best.
The white cut chicken mentioned here is the white chopped chicken, and the Leshan people also shout it as cold mix chicken and white slaughtered chicken. Calling white cut chicken or white chopped chicken can be done, "cut" is more Sven, "chop" is more cheerful, saying the same thing, shouting white slaughter chicken is more Leshan tone.
The "Shuangxier" (Yang Chicken) White Chopped Chicken Shop was destroyed during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and in 1939, the Japanese army bombed Leshan City, and almost a street of Gulou Street was blown up. Yang Shuangxi later opened a small shop on the side of a restaurant in Tieniumentian, until his death, and the business was no longer as before.
Many people think that the Zhou chicken, which was later famous in Leshan City, arose after the closure of Yang Chicken, but it was not.
Zhou Guiming, the owner of the chicken shop, in the early 1920s, set up a stall on Yutang Street (now the entrance of the post office) to sell chicken, and also sold dumplings, hired a seventeen or eight-year-old girl with a lot of posture to wrap dumplings, when the Leshan people called it "beautiful dumplings". In the fourteenth year of the Republic of China (1925), Zhou Guiming rented two shops at the Daomen Gate, the Zhong family and the Deng family, and officially opened a shop, taking the name of the shop "Ming Ming" (a shop name is "Ming He Xuan").
(Yutang Street, 1962, photo by Fang Changzhe)
Twenty-eight years of the Republic of China (1939) "Ming Ming" was blown up, Zhou Guiming has made a lot of money in these twenty years, so he bought the land of the Zhong family and the Deng family to repair the simple bungalow to continue business, hired pot makers Wen Moumou, Tang Qiao Tang Shaoqing, and about ten apprentices and family members, the business began to prosper more and more, the Thirty-seventh Year of the Republic of China (1948), demolished the simple bungalow, rebuilt the first floor and a bottom of brick and wood structure, renamed MingHe.
In the early days of Minghe, only the night hall was opened, and during the day it was to make various preparations, every day from 6 p.m. to the third more (12 o'clock in the evening) to close, by 1951, it was changed to a full-day business, and increased meals, and by 1956, the company's public-private partnership became state-owned.
By the early 1960s, this white slaughtered chicken was sold in restaurants, and the most famous one was only The Minghe Restaurant.
On the door of the Minghe Hotel, there is a bust oil painting with Zhou Guiming's head wrapped in a white towel, which is the first time in Leshan that the hotel has made a sign advertisement with a personal portrait. It can be seen that Zhou Chicken was famous at that time, and from the beginning of this advertisement, Zhou Chicken did not let him lead the cause of white slaughtered chicken in Leshan City.
Zhou Guiming was not tall, and his head was wrapped in a white headkerchief. The white slaughtered chicken he made has a different taste, especially called Zhou chicken. It is said that when Zhu De went to Emei and passed through Leshan, someone recommended zhou chicken from Minghe Hotel. After Jude ate it, he felt good, but unexpectedly he pulled his stomach. Some people have analyzed that Zhou chicken meat is only nine points cooked to ensure that the meat is tender, and Zhu De is old after all, so there is a problem with digestion. (It is said that Zhu De did not eat Zhou chicken because of physical reasons.) ）
(In 1964, Zhu De and Leshan's entourage took a group photo)
On April 19, 1964, Zhu De went to Leshan City and made three requests, watching a Sichuan opera, eating a river troupe, and taking some rice candy. Zhu De lived in the military sub-district, watched the Sichuan opera in the auditorium of the military sub-district, and ate the river tuan from the Small Three Gorges.
Zhou chicken in addition to the selection of local rooster, cooking methods are exquisite, the condiment is particularly unique, in addition to the peppers and peppers commonly used by people, but also with more than 20 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines and spices boiled juice, mixed into the chicken nuggets, the taste of food is mellow, the mouth remains fragrant for a long time, so it is favored by diners, often customers are profitable, and business is booming.
This photo of Zhou chicken taken by teacher Deng Hongxiu has been widely circulated, and Feng Yue tan has also been used many times when writing the famous food of Leshan City.
(Inner Hall of the Minghe Hotel, photo by Deng Hongxiu in 1983)
At that time, Deng Hongxiu lived in the old mansion called Renju in Yuezhutang, walked down Dingdong Street to the Minghe Hotel, and from time to time would bring tableware there to serve a portion of Zhou Chicken home, and the whole family would use the remaining juice to eat underwater rice after tasting, which was extremely fragrant and still unforgettable.
In February 1983, Deng Hongxiu accompanied his friends to the Great Buddha Temple to take pictures, and when he returned to the city, he went to the Minghe Hotel and invited them to eat Zhou chicken, and when Chen Yingxian was on duty, he went to the inner hall to take this work photo for her.
More than thirty years later, Chen Yingxian recalled: In 1957, all the service industries such as restaurants, restaurants, hotels, and bathhouses in Leshan City were public-private partnerships and came under the jurisdiction of the Leshan Catering Service Company. Chen Yingxian was transferred to work at the Minghe Hotel in 1967, from a conductor, waiter, spoon, and then to the "red case", in that era, in addition to the main dishes such as Chicken zhou, garlic and silver carp, the Minghe Hotel also added the morning "tonic soup", there are pig's trotters and red ginseng and other tonics, a bowl of dime, open at 6 o'clock in the morning, the hotel is already full of diners in the morning, everyone is very appreciative of this cheap and good winter tonic soup. The rest of the time, it is mainly the "world" of Zhou Chicken.
(The former site of the MingHe Hotel, photo by Deng Hongxiu)
(Behind the pillar should be the Minghe Hotel, not a bungalow that can be seen, provided to Le Jun)
The staff was divided into two shifts, from 6 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the morning and from 3 p.m. to 12 p.m. in the evening, and the hotel was open for 18 hours a day.
During the Cultural Revolution, billboards depicting Zhou chicken were smashed, the name was banned, and it was renamed Bai slaughtered chicken, until the end of the Cultural Revolution, and "Zhou Chicken Meat" was restored, and oil painting advertisements were re-made on the lobby wall, but somehow, only the big red rooster was painted on it, and there was no longer a portrait of Zhou Guiming.
Zhang Lei recalled that during the Cultural Revolution, Zhou Chicken was resigned and returned home, and Zhang Lei's grandmother asked him to personally demonstrate it as a white slaughtered chicken at home, when Zhang Lei was still young, and he remembered it in his heart. Who knew that more than ten years later, he made a meal of white slaughter chicken to the head of the unit according to his memory, and it was highly praised.
(After liberation, looking at Jiading Road at GaobeiMen)
When Wuhan University moved inland, Deng Xian wrote "Reminiscence of Junwei Snacks in Jiazhou", mentioning that in the early 1940s, inside and outside Leshan City, there were few luxurious and grand restaurants, touring the streets and alleys, small food shops, and often delicious in Siyan. If you have the name "Lollipop Chicken", in an old restaurant on River Street, there is a limit of 10 sticks per day, and it will be sold out. Chickens are all young, so the meat is extremely tender, the condiments are mainly "hemp, spicy, sweet", mellow and thick, small a dish, especially amusing the index finger. Accompanied by a cup of "bean blossom rice", the best fast food. If you are a drinking friend, use this "lollipop chicken" to help you, then the magic product is the first.
In the process of making lollipop chicken, you really need to use the lollipop! It can be seen that the famous white slaughtered chicken in Leshan City at that time was far more than Yang chicken and Zhou chicken.
After liberation, the four well-known hotels in Leshan City, Yudong Restaurant, Minghe Hotel, Leshan Restaurant, Jiading Hotel (one said to be Dongfeng Hotel), have not existed so far, and some of the legendary famous foods are regrettably only legends.
(On the left is the Yudong Restaurant on Yutang Street, the word restaurant can be seen, deng Hongxiu photo)
(Jiading Hotel in Zhanggongqiao)
Today's Leshan City, the most famous, is not the Leshan Giant Buddha, but Leshan snacks. In the Leshan snack jianghu, the bowl chicken is called the second, and no other dares to call the first. During the big holiday, the two or three Leshan bowl chicken single shops with the best business sold more than 100,000 a day is not uncommon.
Leshan's white slaughtered chicken and bowl chicken are like a pair of twin sister flowers, they are inextricably linked, but in different forms.
Feng Yuetan has always liked to eat white slaughtered chicken, but he is always very cold to the evolved net red bowl chicken.
In Feng Yue's childhood memories, the most delicious nostalgia is the pieces of yellow chicken.
"Yellow chicken... One point two points, one point two points..."
When I was a child, the sound of Huang Sihai (yellow chicken) was too sultry.
So to eat the bowl chicken in Leshan City, I will go to the yellow chicken restaurant in Leshan City. Fortunately, many of the best bowl chicken shops in Leshan City originated from Wutong Bridge.
The so-called food is always about nostalgia.
In the White Slaughter Chicken of Leshan, the dream of the city is hidden, and the fallen leaves return to the roots.
A few days ago, I heard that someone wanted to play the Brand of Zhou Chicken on East Avenue, restore the history of Leshan white slaughtered chicken, façade and decoration, I believe there will be characteristics, Zhou Guiming's head wrapped in a white towel bust oil painting, may appear in Leshan City again, but that decades ago, the simple taste and nostalgia, can it be said that the restoration is restored?
Special thanks: Du Junsen's work "Miscellaneous Memories of The Government Caotang Temple Primary School in Leshan County", Deng Xianzhuo's work "Remembrance of Junwei Snacks reminiscing about Jiazhou", "Overview of the Catering Industry in Leshan District" (published in the "Selected Literature and History of Shizhong District"), Xu Min's work "Leshan Yutang Street: Baizai Chicken Here Surnamed "Zhou""" and Tang Changshou's work "Leshan Baizai Chicken", Deng Hongxiu recalled, unsigned pictures are all from the Network.
Thanks to the author and the filmmaker