This article is an original work by Mr. Pan Yingjun, author of the "Cantonese Chef's Guide" series, aiming at the study of food culture and cooking technology
Body:
Red cardamom
Native to Guangdong, "red cardamom" should have been widely known in Cantonese culinary circles, but unfortunately it has long been confused with another close relative, so that people only know its roots, but not the truth.
So, who are the close relatives of "red cardamom"?
It's "galangal"!
In fact, as early as the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589) Liang State period, herbalist Tao Hongjing mentioned "galangal" in the "Famous Medical Record", but unfortunately only a few words - "(galangal) great temperature, the main treatment of violent cold, stomach cold, cholera abdominal pain." ”
A few words, non-insiders really do not know what.
Therefore, until the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the pharmacist Su Song specially explained it in detail when compiling the "Tujing Bencao Gorangal",
Su Song in the "Tujing Materia Medica" cloud: "(Galangal) is not the old land out of the state. Tao Reclusive Cloud: Out of Kora Gun. It is now found in the prefectures of Lingnan and Qian and Shu. Although there is a county in the inner county, it is not suitable for medicine. Spring, the stems and leaves are as large as ginger seedlings, one or two feet tall. The flowers are purple like mountain ginger. Roots are picked in February and March and exposed to dry. The ancient method is also used alone, to cure the evil in the heart, and those who spit water in their mouths, take the root like a dice block, contain it, and then swallow the jin and patrol the sore. If the smell is also swallowed, more grass cardamom is the same as the end, fried soup is often drunk, good. ”
The main spice of Teochew brine is the small galangal rhizome, commonly known as "Southern Ginger" and "Teochew Ginger"
So, where is "Koragun"?
Su Song did not explicitly state!
It was not until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) that another pharmacist, Chen Jiamu, let us know that "galangal" was native to today's Maoming area.
Chen Jiamu said in "Bencao Mengquan Kusabu Gao Liang": "Gaoliang is a Guangzhi County, and the name of Jia Zhi was changed to Gaozhou Jiang. It is born of earth, small and tight..."
Let's go back to Tao Hongjing, who is the initiator of China's transformation of "fennel" into "fennel", that is, the first person to turn domestic herbs into dietary spices.
However, due to the thousands of herbs, he did not realize that there were originally two kinds of "galangal", one is that the seed and the rhizome can be used in medicine, and the other is only the rhizome can be used in medicine.
Therefore, in the thousand years since he hit, almost all pharmacists mentioned "galangal" refers to the rhizome of this plant.
It is said that when the Ming Dynasty pharmacist Li Shizhen compiled the "Compendium of Materia Medica", he read the medical books of previous dynasties, and the one who impressed him the most was Chen Jiamu, a contemporary of his generation.
It was this pharmacist Chen Jiamu who clearly distinguished the rhizome of "galangal" from the fruit in his book "Bencao Mengquan".
Li Shizhen said in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "(Galangal) bears a strong autumn harvest, and is called red cardamom. Good at antidoting alcohol poison, Yu Zhi is the same as before. ”
Later, various medical books of the Ming and Qing dynasties, including the "Compendium of Materia Medica", had the sexual function of "red cardamom".
Red cardamom
As we said before, Tao Hongjing looked away and did not realize that there were originally two kinds of "galangal", one could produce "red cardamom", and the other could not.
In order to distinguish these two plants, later generations called the former "large galangal" and the latter "small galangal".
"Little galangal" is what we often call "southern ginger" or "Teochew ginger", which will be introduced later, so here is the foreshadowing.
At this point, we clearly know that the so-called "red cardamom" is the perennial herbaceous monocot [Monocotyledoneae], the plantain [Scitamineae], the ginger family [Zingiberaceae], the ginger family [ZINGIBEREAE], the mountain ginger [Alpinia], the mountain ginger subgenus [Subgen. Alpinia] Alpinia galanga (L.) Willd. of fruits.
The galanga plant is 2 m tall, the rhizome is lumpy, slightly fragrant, the leaves are lanceolate, the apex is short and pointed, the base is tapering, and the edges are brown when dry. The petiole is short. The leaf tongue is nearly rounded. Inflorescences are densely flowered. The inflorescence shaft is hairy, with many and short branches, and each branch has 3~6 flowers. Both bracts and bracts fall late. Small bracts lanceolate.
The flowers are greenish white with a peculiar smell. The calyx is tubular and persists when fruiting. Corolla tubular. Lobes oblong. Laterally vestigial stamens finely dentate to linear, purple. The lip is inverted ovate spoon-shaped, white with red lines, 2 lobes deep.
Capsules oblong, fleshy, 1~1.5 cm long, about 0.7 cm wide, slightly shrunk in the middle, brown or jujube red when ripe, smooth or slightly wrinkled, thin skin, no cracking, fragile twist, containing 3~6 seeds.
The flowering period is in May~August, and the fruit period is in September~November.
It is widely distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan, Fujian and other places in mainland China and overseas tropical regions such as India and Malaysia.
In autumn, the red fruits of jujube are harvested by hand and dried in the sun or shade to become "red cardamom".
At this time, it is also known as "red meadow", "good ginger", "mountain ginger", "red meadow", "red bean", "red button", "nut bean" and so on
Fructus Galangae in English.
The fruit is oblong after drying, 0.7~1.2 cm long and 0.5~0.8 cm in diameter. The surface is orange-red or russet, slightly concave at the waist, with a yellow-white tubular calyx at the apex, and a peduncle dent at the base. The peel is thin, easy to break, and there are 3~6 seeds inside, attached to the paper diaphragm.
The seeds are triangular, slightly flattened, covered with a layer of yellowish pseudoseed coat, the back side is not easy to peel, the seed coat is brownish-black, shiny, and gray-white inside it is broken. It has a spicy aroma and a spicy taste.
The appearance is reddish brown, the grain is large and full, not broken, fragrant, and spicy.
Atlas of large galangal
As for the medicinal properties of "red cardamom", successive medical books have mixed with its rhizome, and they are rarely explained separately.
Since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, this situation has changed slightly, but it is also an understatement.
It was only at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty that it was slowly enriched, and the pharmacist Zhang Lu was like a cloud in "The Origin of the Original":
"(Galangal) is spicy and non-toxic. Simmer and cook. The sub-name is red cardamom.
Good ginger is hot and pure yang, rising into the two meridians of Zuyang Ming and Taiyin. If it is committed by the cold cold, it is against the cold cholera, abdominal pain and other diseases. Xin warms the spleen and stomach and chases away the cold, the cold in the stomach is eliminated, and the cholera abdominal pain heals itself.
Zhen Quan treated the cold pain in the abdomen for a long time, and the wind was cold and weak.
"Daming" mainly turns tendons, diarrhea and regurgitation, antidotes alcohol and poison, and dissipates food. Su Songzhi nausea and vomiting water, all warming the stomach and dissipating cold. And cold hernia lower abdomen pain must be used with fennel. Postpartum hypochondria is cold, bruising is not good, and patients with pain in the lower abdomen can use it.
If the stomach is gagging, heat stroke, cholera is prohibited, and it is also warm.
Red cardamom is spicy and warm, the main water diarrhea cholera, abdominal colic, anti-nausea eating, and the big supplement of life, so it is used in Zhengyuan Danzhong. However, it can be moved and hurts the eyes, and it is not suitable for a long time. ”
Modern Chinese medicine believes that it is spicy and warm, into the spleen and stomach meridians. The function can dry dampness and dissipate cold, awaken the spleen and eliminate food. It is used for cold pain in the abdomen, vomiting and diarrhea, choking and nausea, excessive drinking, dysentery, malaria and other diseases.
However, those who are weak and hot should not take it.
"Red cardamom" as a Chinese dietary spice was in the 1990s, when "white cardamom" was widely known under the influence of Thai flavor, and "red cardamom" was also discovered.
There are three major brines in Cantonese cuisine, namely "fine brine", "white brine" and "Chaozhou brine".
"Fine brine" is soy sauce (soy sauce) and spices,
Teochew brine is a combination of fish sauce and spices, and the color of the brine depends on soy sauce (soy sauce) and fish sauce.
"Fine brine" products have a jujube red color, and "Chaozhou brine" products have a golden color, so they don't care about the color given by spices.
The "white brine" is just a combination of water (or clear soup) and spices, with flawless cleanliness as the standard, and is very concerned about the color given by the spices.
Because although some spices are fragrant, the color they give often makes the food produce a non-vivid blackness.
And these spices make up the vast majority of the spices we know.
The reference to "red cardamom" enriches the part of colorless spices.
"Red cardamom" contains volatile oils, flavonoids, saponins and fatty acids.
Volatile oil contains 1'-acetoxychavicol acetate, 1'-acetoxyeugenol acetate, Caryophyllenol I., Caryophyllenol II., Caryophyllene oxide, etc., which can be used as a fragrance.
Ginger
Most people think that "brute" has a discriminatory meaning, so the word "Nanjiang" is changed to "Nanjiang"!
That's right, the Southern Song Dynasty poet Wu Wenying (c. 1200-c. 1260) wrote "Apricot Blossom Day Soup" "The taste of wild ginger cardamom is counted as the bottom of the spring breeze." Jiang Qing's love and drunkenness. Haggard Wenyuan became ill. Stop riding and singing. Remember Xiaose, Dongcheng dream. Pterostilbene halo light shampoo fine. The intestine is broken. - The "manjiang" mentioned is the "southern ginger" we are about to introduce.
There are many aliases for "Nanjiang", such as "good ginger", "wind ginger", "qiliang ginger", "bergamot", "bergamot ginger", "sea ginger", "dalang ginger", "ointment ginger" and "high cool ginger".
Ginger
But these are not the earliest names of this plant.
The earliest name of this plant comes from the "Famous Doctors" written by Tao Hongjing (456-536), a pharmacist of the Liang State of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Tao Hongjing said: "Gao langing, out of Gaoliang County." People have abdominal pain, but chewing is also effective. The shape qi is similar to Du Ruo, and the leaves are like mountain ginger. ”
Unfortunately, the "Famous Doctors" scattered, coupled with the conciseness and conciseness, Tao Hongjing's "Gaoliang" often led to misunderstanding by later pharmacists, often understanding "good" as "good" or "cool".
In fact, the "Gaoliang" spoken by Tao Hongjing was originally a place name,
Another famous pharmacist of the Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen (1518-1593), wrote in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" that "Tao recluses and said that this Jiang came out of Gaoliang County, hence the name." According to Gaoliang, which is now Gaozhou, Han is Gaoliang County, and Wugai County. Its mountain is high and slightly cool, because of its name, Gaoliang is regarded as a high coolness", only to solve the doubts in the hearts of pharmacists who have been depressed for thousands of years.
This kind of "ginger" is labeled "barbarian", probably starting in the Tang Dynasty (618-907),
When introducing tea in the south, the "Book of Man" written by Fan Xiao said: "Tea comes out of the mountains of Yinsheng City. Loose harvesting, no mining method. Mengshe mandarin ginger, pepper, cinnamon and cooked and drinkable. ”
For the first time, the name "Manjiang" was mentioned.
Small galangal atlas
In the years that followed, pharmacists believed that "galangal" and "mangalangal" were not the same thing.
We can see this in the texts in Su Song (1020-1101) Tujing Bencao in the Song Dynasty and Qu Dajun (1630-1696) in the Qing Dynasty's Guangdong Xinyu.
Su Song first wrote in "Galangal" Yun: "Gorangal did not carry the land of the prefecture in the past, and Tao retreated in the cloud: 'out of Gaoliang County', which is now found in the prefectures of Lingnan and Qian and Shu." Although there is a county in the inner county, it is not suitable for medicine. Spring, the stems and leaves are as large as ginger seedlings, one or two feet tall; The flowers are purple like mountain ginger. Roots are picked in February and March and exposed to dry. The ancient method is also used alone, to cure the evil in the heart, and those who spit water in their mouths, take the root like a dice block, contain it, and then swallow the jin and patrol the sore. If the smell is also swallowed, more grass cardamom is the same as the end, fried soup is often drunk, good."
And in the cloud of "Shooting Dry": "Shooting dry, born in the fields of Nanyang Valley, now everywhere." There are also many plantings in the courtyard of people's families, spring seedlings, two or three feet tall, the leaves are like manga ginger, and the narrow and long, sparse like wing feathers..."
And Qu Dajun first in "Guangdong Xinyu Galangal" cloud:
"Galangal, planted from Gaoliang, hence the name. Those who do not know the cold, the words are Jiang Zhiliangye. Its root is ginger, and its seed is red cardamom. The seeds are eaten, and those who have not been opened are known to contain the fetus, pickled in sweet lees with salt, and the whole winter is like amber, and the taste is spicy and spicy. Its roots are inedible, and it is used in medicine, and people do not cover their roots with their sons, but focus on the roots, so they do not know red cardamom, but galangal.
What's the ko? Yang Xiong's "Dialect" Yun: 'Everything is rich in everything'. It is shaped like red beans and grows, hence the name red cardamom. However, its flowers are also named after red cardamom, and the flowers are produced in late spring, first drained, and there are large baskets. The flowers are seen, a spike of dozens of stamens, light red and fresh like peach and apricot, and the stamen is drooping like a grape. Each heart has two petals together, red and white.
Yu Shiyun: 'The heart is like red cardamom, two petals are bitterly connected'. You Yun: 'Be with Lang, like a cardamom.' The heart is red and red, and the two lobes are dependent on each other'.
A mountain ginger flower, Liu Yuxi poem: 'The old man Boluo, leave me mountain ginger flower. I don't know how to stack the plates, but the Qi Xi is Zenghua'.
There are white cardamom, grass cardamom, and nutmeg, all named after their sons, and the flowers and roots are not heavy. Those who have grass and ginger, that is, shoot dry, the root of its purple flower, study juice and serve, and pass two defecation. With the beauty of its flowers, it is also known as flower ginger. ”
Later, he went to the cloud in "Guangdong Xinyu Sanjian":
"Three spleens, the root is like ginger and soft and brittle, sexual heat consumption, should be chewed betel nut, as konjac. Or soup with spice soup, slightly spicy and fragrant. Those who hire women are carved with three loths and birds (butters) butterflies, thin gold Fuzhi, betel nuts, coconut, cinnamon, ginger flowers, etc.
Sanlu is a mountain mandarin, also known as lian ginger, which can be a yang ("Shi Name" 曰: 虀, jiye, and all tastes of Chengye).
Yu Shi: 'Mountain spicy as golden yu, brute ginger as jade drum'.
Mountain spicy one, three squires also. Manga, galangal also. With its sons and fine spices, it can open up the disease. ”
It has been proved that "galangal" and "mangaman" are actually the same thing, and the confusion with it comes from another plant, "red cardamom".
"Red cardamom" from "Alpinia galanga (Linn.) Willd." on the body.
So, what kind of plants are "galangal" and "mangatron" from?
IT IS FROM THE PERENNIAL HERBACEOUS MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANT FAMILY [MONOCOTYLEDONEAE], PLANTAIN [SCITAMINEAE], GINGER FAMILY [ZINGIBERACEAE]GINGER SUBFAMILY [ZINGIBEROIDEAE], GINGER FAMILY [ZINGIBEREAE], MOUNTAIN GINGER [Alpinia] subgenus [subgen. Probolocalyx] alpinia officinarum Hance.
For medicine and diet, the roots of this plant are generally used.
Galangal plant height 40~110 cm, rhizome elongated, cylindrical, leaf linear, apical tail point, base tapering, sessile. The leaf tongue is membranous, lanceolate. The racemes are apical, erect, and the inflorescence is hairy. The bracts are extremely thin, and the posterior one is pocket-shaped. The lip flap is ovate , white with red stripes.
The fruit is spherical, about 1 cm in diameter, red when ripe. The flowering period is in April~September, and the fruit period is in May~November. It is found in barren slopes, shrubland, and sparse forests.
In addition to the confusion with "red cardamom" or "large galangal", once upon a time, people mistakenly mistook "galangal" for "duro"!
In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Li Ji, Su Jing and others wrote the "Tang Materia Medica": "Galangal, the one who gives birth to Lingnan is large and soft, and the one who gives birth to the left of the river is delicate and tight, and the taste is not very spicy, in fact, it is also one." The one who is in the present phase and the subtle is Duruo, and the big one is galangal, and this is not also said."
However, the sentence at the end "this non-also" makes people fall into the clouds.
I don't know if the fine one is "Duruo", the big one is "galangal", or the big one is called "duruo" or "galangal", or "duruo" and "galangal" are basically two plants?
So much so that Shen Kuo, a scientist in the Song Dynasty, said in "Mengxi Pen Talk, Supplementary Pen Talk Volume 3 Medicine Discussion":
"Du Ruo is the current galangal, and the descendants do not know it, and they have a galangal strip, such as a red arrow and a heavenly hemp strip, a heavenly name essence and a song strip, a lantern grass and a bitter strip, and so on. Or because the main treatment is different, the main treatment written by the ancient people is not exhausted, and the descendants have used it for a long time, gradually seeing its work, and the main treatment is widely immersed.
This is the case for all medicines, and it is not the only one.
Later generations also took the small and medium of galangal as Duruo, just as the use of tianma and reed head as red arrow.
He also uses Beidi mountain ginger as a duruo. Du Ruo, the ancients thought that vanilla, Beidi mountain ginger, how fragrant?
Galangal flowers are ears, Fanghua is lovely, the natives use salt plum juice to drown in the flowers, the southerners also call it mountain ginger flowers, also known as cardamom flowers.
"Tujing Materia Medica" cloud: 'Du Ruo seedlings resemble mountain ginger, flowers are yellow and red, seeds are red, large as thorns, and medium like cardamom, out of the gorge mountain, north and south of Lingnan. 'It is the galangal, whose son is Hongkoya, and the Sauren is Bizhilan and Zhizhi. However, there are at most those who are in the name of the drug, and everyone can say it independently, and they cannot be resolute. Do not suffer from too much to remember, to spread similarities and differences".
The actual answer is that "galangal" and "duro" come from two different plants!
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that "galangal" has a spicy taste, sexual heat, returns to the spleen and stomach, and functions to warm the stomach and dispel cold, eliminate food and relieve pain. Mainly treats cold abdominal pain, stomach cold vomiting, belching acid swallowing and other symptoms.
And "Shennong Materia Medica, Shangjing Grass" cloud: "Du Ruo taste is spicy and slightly warm." The main chest is under the flank of the qi, warm, the wind enters the brain, the head is swollen and painful, and tears come out. Long-term service is refined, bright eyes, light body".
One is a medicine for treating cold pain in the stomach and abdomen, and the other is a medicine for treating the kidneys and bladder.
It must be different.
In fact, during the compilation of the Tang Materia Medica, it was aware that "galangal" had a large and small difference, which was indeed a complete merit, although later they were all commonly known as "mangaman" or "southern ginger".
However, it is still gradually known to future generations that the rhizome of the big one is not fragrant enough, and the fruit of the thin one is not spicy enough, so the beginning of the rhizome of the big one and the thin one is obtained.
For the fruit of the large "galangal", please refer to the article "Red Cardamom", which specializes in the rhizome of the fine "galangal".
Although the "galangal" of the fine one originated from Gaoliang, the area of Maoming in present-day western Guangdong, Mao celebrities only knew that dried rhizomes could be used as herbs, but not as dietary spices.
Those who know that they can be used as dietary spices are Chaozhou in eastern Guangdong.
However, Teochew people use it as a dietary spice, not as a dry product, but as a fresh product.
Therefore, the fresh "galangal" is also known as "Teochew ginger". Indonesia is called Java Galangal or Laos, and Thailand is called Siamesa Ginger or Khaa.
In fact, whether dry or fresh, the roots of this plant can be used as a dietary spice.
The reason is that it contains curcumin, [1ξ]-1-hydroxy-1,7-bis[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-6-hepten-3,5-dione ([1ξ]-1-hydroxy-1,7-bis[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-6-heptene-3,5-dione), dihydrocurcumin, Hexahydrocurcumin,
[3R,5R]-1-9[4-hydroxyphenyl]-7-phenyl-3,5-heptanediol ([3R,5R]-1-[4-hydroxyphenyl]-7-phenylheptane-3,5-diol), 5-hydroxy-7-[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-3-heptanone (5-hydroxy-7-[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1- phenyl-3-heptanone), octahydrocurcumin,
1,7-Diphenyl-4-hepten-3-one (1,7-diphenyl-hept-4-en-3-one), 7-[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-4-hepten-3-one (7-[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1-phenylhept-4-en-3-one), 1,7-diphenyl-5-hydroxy-3-heptanone (1,7- diphenyl-5-hydroxy-3-heptanone), 7-9[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-3,5-heptadione (7-[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-3,5-heptadione),
5-Methoxy-7-[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-3-heptanone (5-methoxy-7-[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-3-heptanone), 5-hydroxy-7-[4-hydroxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-3-heptanone (5-hydroxy-7-[4-hydroxyphenyl]-1- phenyl-3-heptanone), 7-[4-hydroxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-4-hepten-3-one (7-[4-hydroxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-4-hepten-3-one), 5-methoxy-7[4-hydroxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-3-heptanone (5-methoxy-7-[4-hydroxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-3-heptanone),
5-Methoxy-1,7-diphenyl-3-heptanone, epihexahydrocurcumin, 5R-hydroxy-1,7-diphenyl-3-heptanone, kaempferol, 5[R]-Hydroxy-7-[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-3-heptanone (5[R]-hydroxy-7-[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1-phenyl-3-heptanone), Isorhamnetin, Quercetin, Galangin,
Rhamnocitrin, kaempferide, quercetin-5-methylether, Galangin-3-methyl ether and 7-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyflavone.
It also contains 0.5~1.5% volatile oil,
Volatile oils contain methylcinnamate, 1,8-cineole, eugenol, cubeb solycene (Cadinene), α-pinene (α-pinene), β-pinene (β-pinene), stigmasterol-β-glucoside, Rapeseed sterol glucoside (Campestrol-β-glucoside) and β-sitosterol-β-glucoside (β-sitosterol-β-glucoside) and so on.
These ingredients are extremely helpful for flavor enhancement.
In recent years, in addition to repelling flavor and increasing flavor, it also has the effect of rejuvenating and sweetening.
It should be noted that although the ingredients contained in "ginger" are more complex than "ginger", it does not mean that it is more fragrant than "ginger".
In addition to fragrant, its spicy and stimulating properties are also inferior to "ginger".
This is one of the reasons why although it is a native product of Guangdong and has the name "ginger", it cannot become the "three treasures of Guangdong".
So, why is "Nanjiang" favored by Cantonese people?
We know that spicy—which can stimulate the stomach and increase the desire to eat, is spicy—can also paralyze the taste buds and make the odor disappear imperceptibly.
That's why people love "Five Sins".
Although "ginger" is not a member of "five spices", its spicy taste is obvious to all. Moreover, its ability to stimulate the stomach and paralyze the taste buds is appropriate, and it is naturally expected to become an expert in repelling fish.
However, "ginger" has a fatal weakness, that is, "positive qi" (generally known as Wuxin belongs to oblique qi), can not do anything about extreme odors, and even makes the odor counterattack up.
At the same time, the "gluttons" found that after the tender fish meat met "ginger", the texture of the fish meat would lose its elasticity, that is, what Guangzhou people call "rot" rot, giving birth to the food texture of Guangzhou people's characterization - "mold" (later verified, this is ginger protease at work).
Now, we can completely solve the "ginger" through ingredient analysis - the cause of the odor counterattack and the loss of elasticity of the meat.
But in the past, the "gluttons" could only be cracked by the primitive method of tasting, smelling and seeing.
The summary is that the spiciness of "ginger" is the culprit that causes the above reasons.
The reason why "southern ginger" is favored is because it is spicy and calmer than "ginger"!
In fact, "Nanjiang" did not live up to the expectations of the "gluttony", and really became an expert that "ginger" could not.
"Guangdong New Language, Scale Language, Yusang" records some situations of eating river fresh and pond fresh in Guangdong, what river fresh and pond fresh are the main ones?
Qu Dajun put it in more detail, saying: "Cantonese people love fish and raw fish, using perch, using the word for fish, using bass and white fish, using yellow fish, using blue fish, using snow fish, and taking fish as the top. The carp is also dominated by the white mackerel. ”
How is it processed?
Qu Dajun continued: "Those who have just come out of the water and pour swords, wash their blood, and kill them carefully. ”
What to help with food?
Qu Dajun continued: "Wo with old mash, and with Jiaozhi. ”
In other words, the famous "Yusang" of Cantonese people would rather use old mash, peppercorns (Lingnan peppercorns), and Bai Zhi instead of "ginger", probably knowing the disadvantages of "ginger".
This point is recorded in Qu Dajun's "Guangdong New Language, Scale Language, and Anchovy" in the "Poems of a Certain Ethnic Weng Chore" - "Fresh scales out of the water make a canon, and the ginger honey wine is rich in red skin." After a taste of fish, there is no need to repeat the chicken millet period" verse once again confirmed.
The latter prefers to use "manga" (southern ginger) rather than "ginger".
Coincidentally, the Japanese "sashimi", the twin brother of "Uosang", also abandons "ginger" and uses "horseradish" to flavor, which is deliberately bypassing the disadvantages of "ginger" and then forming its own flavor and characteristics.
In addition, there is a very interesting phenomenon, that is, when "ginger" is not suitable for food seasoning, it is when "southern ginger" appears.
As we mentioned earlier, Cantonese people use "ginger" according to a principle, that is, whenever the meat is tender, no matter how heavy the fishy smell is, it should not be boiled or pre-marinated with it.
For example, the famous "white-cut chicken" in Cantonese cuisine is either dipped in "ginger mushroom" afterwards, or seasoned with other spices, and never put "ginger" in clean water or "brine" to ensure the tenderness of the chicken.
Cantonese chefs concluded from this article that poultry should not be cooked or pre-marinated with "ginger".
In addition to chickens, geese, another member of poultry, are also not suitable for cooking with "ginger", unless it is to give up the crisp and tender texture.
It is not only the unsuitability of "ginger", but also the time for "southern ginger" to show its skills!
The "brine goose" of the Teochew people is made of "brine" made of "southern ginger".
Through this, people know the wonder of "Nanjiang".
Duan Chengshi of the Tang Dynasty recorded in "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks" that "in Zhenyuan, there was a general's family who went out to eat, and every thing was unbearable (eaten), only in the heat, good at adjusting the five flavors...", and took the lead in saying that as long as the fire is through, the peculiar smell of the food itself can be dispersed and the fragrance can be highlighted.
It is true that food itself has a pleasant aroma and a nasty miscellaneous smell, and it is also true that the miscellaneous smell can be dispersed through the heat and the aroma can be highlighted.
The problem is that some aromas will also be dispersed by the heat during the cooking process, and the "good blending of the five flavors" will become futile.
How can you disperse odors while retaining fragrances?
Then you need the help of the flavor fixer!
"Nanjiang" is used by Teochew people in "brine", in addition to replacing "ginger" as a fishy repellent, it is to play a role in fixing the taste, promoting Chaozhou "brine goose" not only to maintain the tender meat quality, but also to reverberate the aroma of goose meat in the teeth.
The flavor fixing function is different from the fragrance aid function we mentioned in the article "Sand Kernel", the fragrance aid function is to induce the fragrance that is hidden or not fully emitted.
The flavor-fixing function is to fix the flowing fragrance, so that the fragrance can not only be smelled through the sense of smell, but also tasted through the sense of taste, rather than just smell.
Just as other plants of the ginger family [Zingiberaceae] often have fakes, "southern ginger" is not spared, and "Alpinia galanga (L.) Willd." and "mountain ginger" [Alpinia japonica Miq." The rhizome acts as a use. These rhizomes may not be suitable as "galangal" from a medicinal point of view.
But from the perspective of dietary spices, it does not hurt.
"Great galangal" has always been a confused product of "southern ginger",
After the Ming Dynasty, pharmacists finally confirmed that the medicinal effect and fragrance of its fruit, "red cardamom", were more protruding than its rhizome, so they abandoned the rhizome and figured the fruit.
At the same time, it was found that the medicinal power and fragrance of its rhizome were inferior to that of "southern ginger", which led to the separation of the two.
In fact, the rhizome of this plant contains methyl cinnamate, camphor, eugenol, 1,8-cineole, α-pine α ne, β-pine β ne, limonene, 4-terpineol, and Geranyl acetate acetate）、
Bornyl acetate, Chavicol acetate, Citronellyl acetate, β β-caryophyllene, α-bergamot α ene, pentadeca-ne0, Ar-onrcumene, β-Bisabolene (β-zisabolene), β-β sesquiphellandrene,
Caryo-phyllene oxide, Chavicol, Methyleugenol, Eugenol acetate, Tran-β β-rnsene, Galangin, 3-methylgalangin, DL-l,- Oxypiperonyl acetate (DL-l, -acetoxy-chavicolacatate), DL-l, -acetoxyeugenol acetate (DL-l, -ace-toxyeugenol acetate),
Trans-3,4-dimethoxycinnamyl alcohol, trans-4-methoxycinnamyl alcohol, [1,S]-1,-acetoxychavicol acetate, l,-carboxypiperolacetate 1，-hydxy-chavicol acetate）、
[l,S]-l,-acetoxyeugenol acetate ([1,S]-l,-acetoxyeugenol acetate), trans-4-hydroxycinnamaldehyde, trans-p-coumaryl alcohol diacetate, trans-coniferyl diacetyl diacetate), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (4-hydroxyben-zaldehyde) and other ingredients,
It also has the function of repelling fish.
"Mountain ginger" is a typical "running trick" (stand-in) of the famous product of the ginger family,
"Gangmu" has "mountain ginger, born in the south." The leaves resemble ginger, the flowers are red, and they are very spicy. The seeds resemble grass cardamom, and the roots are like duruo and galangal. Now people disguise their sons as grass cardamom, but their anger is very violent."
The fruit has never had an official medicinal name, and is often referred to as "soil", "pseudo" and "fake" before the name of the same family (see "Mountain Ginger").
Because its rhizome is similar to "galangal", it naturally appears as a "running trick" (substitute).
In fact, its rhizome contains Alpinenone, 9[10]-eremophilene-11-ol, 9-hydroxyalpinolide, dihydroagarofuram, 10-epi γ-γ-eudesmol, 3β-Oxidoagarofuran, 4β-Oxidoagarofuran, 4β-Oxidoagarofuran,
Alpiniol, Pogostol, Hanalpinone, Isohanalpinone, Alpinolide peroxide, Alpinolide peroxide, Alpinolide, α-Agarwood fur α an, 6- Hydroxyalpinolide, Hanamyol, Furopelargone A,
Furopelargone B, 4α-hydroxydihydroagarofuran, 3α-oxidoagarofuran, β β-eudesmol, 4α-oxidoagarofuran, 4α-oxidoagarofuran, hanalpinol, 6,9-Guia-6,9-eiene,
10-Epi-5β-hydroperoxy-β-cineoleol (10-epi-5β-hydroperoxy-β-eudesmol), 10-epi-5α-hydroperoxy-β-cineoleol (10-epi-5α-hydroperoxy-β-eudesmol), cuminone (Fenchone), 4,10-Epi-5β-hydroxydihydrocineole (4,10- epi-5β-hydroxydihydroeudesmol), 1,8-cineole, fenchyl alcohol,
Dragon brain (Borneol), myrtenol (Myrtenol), α-pinene (α-pinene), β-pinene (β-pinene), myrtenal (Myrtenal) and other ingredients,
The smell is similar to camphor wood and slightly coarse than "southern ginger", but it does not hinder its function as a dietary spice.
End of full text