Source: Authentic Wind Objects
Soy sauce, the taste of China. China, the soy sauce empire.
This black and shiny clear liquid not only builds the basis of The taste of China, but also communicates time and space with a unique taste: it not only carries the thousand-year-old civilization, but also wanders on the tip of our tongue, becoming an authentic taste that people will always pursue but is close at hand.
Soy sauce, the water of life of the East,
It is also the breath of the soul of the Chinese.
The picture shows the soy sauce workshop in Luzhou, Sichuan.
Photo / Visual China
China is so big that one taste can't hold it.
The same is soy sauce, under the nurture of time and terroir, there are countless similar faces, but completely different insides. In the eyes of northerners, soy sauce may only be "soy sauce", at most divided into raw soy sauce and old soy sauce; but for southerners, the complexity of soy sauce and its derivatives is enough to make them confident and eat a cultural height.
Raw soy sauce and old soy sauce, just two big categories in soy sauce,
They can also derive countless kinds of seasoning soy sauce,
There are stews, there are steamed fish, there are stir-fry...
Cartography / Jiu Yang
Chinese chef, a barrel of soy sauce hit the world.
Whether it is braised pork at home, marinated pig's trotters, or grilled sea cucumbers in restaurants, ringing oil eel paste, to the dry fried beef river and sauce meat buns in the staple food industry, as well as sweet and sour meat and three cups of chicken from overseas... This water of life has opened up the cave passage of Chinese cuisine, opened up the second vein of Ren Dou of Baiwei, and made the mainland's food culture shine in the world.
Soy sauce, the most authentic Taste of China,
It is also our gift to the world.
Today, let's talk about this humble but insignificant soy sauce.
Eighteen martial arts of southern soy sauce
The difference in taste between the north and the south can be seen from the kitchen.
For example, if you say"Put some soy sauce", the northerners may take out raw soy sauce, and the southerners will ask you, "Which one?" ”
Soy sauce, with its complex flavor, is also a wonderful thing in itself.
Northerners' kitchen cabinets, vinegar is usually a large barrel, soy sauce may only be a few bottles; southerners are the opposite, vinegar only a few bottles (even very small), soy sauce types are dazzling, the bottle is written: steamed fish soy sauce, shiitake mushroom soy sauce, seafood soy sauce, cold soy sauce, soy sauce paste, meat soy sauce ... Moreover, the most commonly used one must be an oversized barrel.
Take a look at the distribution of soy sauce sources and you will understand:
Southerners have a special pursuit of soy sauce.
Cartography / Sun Lu
Yes, southerners love soy sauce, and it's unambiguous.
Cantonese people's soy sauce, that is the root of life!
Let's go to Guangdong first. Located in the subtropics, summers are extremely humid and hot, and winters are short and wet. Living here, it is easy to "get on fire": from time to time, there is a bubble in the mouth, a swollen and sore throat, red gums, nosebleeds, and people are uncomfortable if they do not eat lightly.
Cantonese morning tea. Whether it is a char siu bun or a soy sauce chicken claw,
The smell of soy sauce is deeply melted into it.
At the same time, Guangdong is rich in products and is a paradise for all kinds of mountain treasures and seafood. Eat more things, no matter how light and fresh, you also need to season; peppers, peppers and other heavy spices are not OK (on the fire of yo ~), salt and spices can not be put more (hot yo ~); taking into account the salty and fresh soy sauce, as well as natural flavor lifting, naturally more popular.
The property and climate have made Guangdong dependent on soy sauce.
As a result, soy sauce and Guangdong people achieved mutual achievements and coexisted harmoniously on the seashore in the southern country.
For example, Lao Guang invented steamed fish soy sauce - soy sauce added to the old soy sauce, rock sugar, flower carving wine, etc. boiled, more delicious and sweet, with seafood or intestinal powder, not too beautiful (not on the fire yo ~). In order to efficiently produce roasted pork, Lao Guang also invented the grass mushroom old soy sauce - the color is as black and bright as oil, put a little bit to color + fresh, not too convenient (but also save money yo ~).
Whether it's steamed fish or sausage powder, it's absolutely not okay without soy sauce.
Every old Guang, in his heart, lived the childhood lard bibimbap. At that time, the substance was not abundant, the hot rice drizzled with seafood soy sauce, all at once can promote the umami taste similar to meat, enough to deal with a meal; if the conditions are better, add a spoonful of white lard, collide with the hot soy sauce, it is fresh and fragrant, suddenly can make people forget the difficulties of the years, only to think of the mother's kind face...
An upgraded version of pot rice, soy sauce bibimbap.
Soy sauce, we can't put it down. It is so obscure that it precipitates the small happiness of the common people.
Even when eating fruit, Cantonese people love to dip soy sauce.
Photography / Zhu Mengfei
Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai's soy sauce ah, without really can't!
When I arrived in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, soy sauce had a new feeling.
In the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the four seasons are distinct, the products are diverse, people have the confidence of "not eating from time to time", and there are also different tongue tip preferences inside: Jiangbei is still light and salty, and Jiangnan loves thick oil and red sauce. However, both sides will be satisfied with the same taste - Yangchun noodles.
From Nanjing to Yangzhou, to Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai,
Yangchun noodles with soy sauce as the base, invincible existence.
Figure / Figureworm ・ Creative
Don't underestimate this bowl of noodles. Its taste code is a distinctive soy sauce soup base.
Shanghainese like to boil onion oil, chives and raw soy sauce, add the boiled sea rice (kaiyang), and mix it with noodles. Yangzhou people are good at using shrimp seed soy sauce, with noodles or wontons, can fresh teeth. The people of Nanjing mix several kinds of soy sauce and boil it with cooked lard, which is directly full of aroma, and you can't drop your saliva.
Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai wontons, soy sauce soup base is extremely important.
People here, in addition to loving the freshness of soy sauce, love the sweetness of soy sauce even more.
Sauce ribs, Wuxi people's "heart meat". They love braised pork, and the roast dish is "one hand soy sauce bottle, the other hand canned sugar"; in their eyes, the real thick oil red sauce must be soy sauce with rock sugar, white sugar has no soul. I saw the mist rising in the iron pot, the sugar and soy sauce merged with each other, wrapped around the surface of the ribs; clipped together, the "sugar shell" adhered to the brush, the taste was sweet and salty, and the rich teeth were lost.
Thick oil red sauce or clear and sweet,
If there is no soy sauce, there is no taste of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
The soul of soy sauce comes from the terroir and humanities
In fact, the earliest soy sauce was born in the north, and it is an extremely valuable royal taste.
In the classical book "Zhou Li", the earliest record of "sauce": "The king's gift eats six grains, eats six animals, drinks six qing, eats one hundred and twenty products, and treasures eight things... The sauce is made with a hundred and twenty urns. ”
The earliest soy sauce, evolved from meat, was very similar to fish sauce.
The Zhou royal family is located in the Central Plains, and soy sauce is naturally of northern ancestry. However, the sauce mentioned in the Zhou Li refers to the meat sauce developed from fish, meat, shrimp and other animal protein raw materials, called hǎi.) Later, people found that the clarification of the meat sauce, that is, the gravy made of natural fermentation, was more delicious than the meat sauce, so there was the predecessor of soy sauce.
However, the meat sauce was already precious, and the meat soy sauce was naturally more expensive, and only the princes and nobles could enjoy it at that time.
During the Two Han Dynasties, people used soybeans instead of meat.
We have the soy soy sauce we have now.
Photography / Wu Xuewen
Later, soybeans gradually replaced meat and became the lord of soy sauce. In the Eastern Han Dynasty classic "On Balance", "bean sauce" appeared; the Northern Wei "Qi Min Zhi Shu", which detailed the production of bean paste: first steamed soybeans, then added strains, salt and spices, placed in a tank for natural fermentation, and after filtering is "clear sauce". This kind of ancient soy sauce, similar to today's raw soy sauce, can also be consumed by ordinary people.
By the Song Dynasty, the brewing process continued to improve, and the soy sauce made of soybeans was already full of umami; it completely replaced meat soy sauce and became the daily seasoning of Chinese.
According to the ancient law, soy sauce pays attention to "spring song, summer sauce, autumn oil",
A good bottle of brewed soy sauce takes at least six months.
Nowadays, soy sauce has evolved with the brewing process, and has a variety of identities such as steamed fish soy sauce and straw mushroom soy sauce. Combined with the natural conditions of various places, the soy sauce in the north and south is indeed different:
The south is humid and hot, and the brewed soy sauce is usually a natural fermentation method: after the soybeans are steamed, flour is added to make koji, and then high-concentration brine is added, and the sun is sunburned for about half a year, and the finished soy sauce is more mellow. Northern drying, suitable for solid low-salt fermentation method, indoor heat preservation instead of sun, less salt, control the fermentation rate, is conducive to large-scale production, the taste is lighter than the same kind of natural fermentation.
Naturally brewed soy sauce for better flavor.
To brew soy sauce, it is extremely important to be good at the right time. A good soy sauce production area needs a humid and warm climate and sufficient light to fully ferment soybeans and make soy sauce more mellow; water and salt resources are also very important, preferably coastal areas (sea salt and natural precipitation) or salt mine distribution areas (well salt and river water), plus sufficient soybean supply (convenient transportation), in order to brew good soy sauce.
Xiamen, the ancient soy sauce brewing site.
As a result, the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Sichuan-Chongqing region have become the main areas of brewing soy sauce in modern China, and have achieved the "three oils standing" situation of China's soy sauce. This also constitutes the firm "soy sauce confidence" of southerners.
Thanks to the salt mines and developed water systems, Sichuan-Chongqing soy sauce is of excellent quality.
The picture shows the soy sauce drying scene on the Chishui River in Luzhou, Sichuan.
The soul of soy sauce comes from a unique terroir, industrious hands, and ancient wisdom that has been passed down to this day. This dark and shiny oriental mysterious water, like our ancient civilization, is thick and simple.
Soy sauce, the taste of China
For thousands of years, we have expanded soy sauce into a cultural world that is both umami and intricate.
As a condiment, it is deeply immersed in our diet, and then indirectly affects every inch of life, building an incomparably beautiful umami grand plan. It is so powerful that it has always influenced the food culture of China and even East Asia, and some people even say that the taste of the East is the taste of soy sauce.
Soy sauce, a delicious gift from China to the world.
The picture shows the soy sauce koji during the fermentation process.
In 753 AD, the Jian Zhen monk traveled east to Japan and brought with him the sauce-making techniques of the Tang Dynasty. Around 1200 AD, the Japanese monk Kyaw Shin went to China to practice and brought soy sauce from the Song Dynasty back to Japan. Since then, soy sauce brewing has taken root in Japan, combined with japan's original miso, forming today's Japanese soy sauce.
Chinese soy sauce, in the long history, has also gradually penetrated into the Southeast Asian diet with the maritime trade and cultural exchanges, as well as the "lower South China Sea" Chinese in the past three hundred years. That's why many Chinese have a soft spot for Southeast Asian flavors — it's a bit like Chinese, but not just Chinese.
Soy sauce, with the footsteps of the Chinese to the world;
The picture shows a Vietnamese soy sauce workshop, full of Chinese flavor.
It even has new cultural metaphors. In the early years, we still have memories of helping the family to make soy sauce: carrying empty bottles, queuing up in the store, watching the black and shiny soy sauce flowing into the bottle down the funnel; the focus is, as much as you want, the store will give you as much as you want, and the rest of the money can buy small snacks, very happy.
The taste of home is always the most inadvertent,
A gentle breath in your heart.
As a result, playing soy sauce has become a good memory for us. "Whoever grows up, they will play soy sauce", which is also the recognition of the children's growth and understanding among the elders. Nowadays, the metaphor of "playing soy sauce" and "what to do with me" is also interesting.
Playing soy sauce is a culture for Chinese.
The picture shows Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, where thousands of people play soy sauce.