Xiaojia dumpling shop in Old Zhenjiang
Text Original / Wu Mingbao
Speaking of the long-established restaurant in Zhenjiang, I have to mention Xiaojia dumpling shop.
I remember that in the 1950s, on the south side of today's Renmin Street, the old Yanchun Restaurant on Catholic Street at that time, there was a Shop of Xiao Jia Dumplings with more than 10 tables in the open hall.
Dumplings are, of course, the protagonists of this shop. The dumplings in this shop are actually wontons, because the Huaiyang area calls small wontons Huai wontons. Wonton noodles are wontons and noodles boiled in one pot and served in a bowl. Of course, the number of ravioli and the amount of noodles are basically unchanged.
Eating a bowl of dumpling noodles, you not only taste the delicious wontons, but also experience the flexible noodles, killing two birds with one stone.
It is said that the xiao owner of Xiao jia dumpling noodles is a Huai'an person, and the shop's wonton skin production can be described as a unique skill, handmade with tough flour, thin and translucent, and ignited. Word of mouth: Put a newspaper under the dough, you can see the handwriting, the pink meat filling in the dough, clear in the eye, more mouth-watering.
The wonton meat filling is handmade from gluten-free farmhouse black pork, which is equally tough. Noodles are authentic small knife noodles, also called jumping noodles, which are continuously pressed by hand with a bamboo stick, which is called a tendon!
The restaurant's red soup dumplings exploded in Zhenjiang for decades, until about 2000, when they gradually faded out of the restaurant market. One of the reasons may be that the production is more troublesome, wontons and noodles can not be cooked at the same time, the heat is difficult to grasp, a pot of wontons and noodles at the same time, often lose sight of one or the other, chaotic.
The soup of red soup dumpling noodles is also very exquisite, soy sauce is made of shrimp seeds and Zhenjiang Hengshun soy sauce, wontons and noodles are eaten, noodle soup is drunk, there are always some shrimp seeds stuck to the bottom of the bowl in the bowl, at this time, the fresh aroma left in the mouth and nose is addictive, and I always want to come back to another bowl!
Xiao family dumplings were best suited to the working class at the time, and it was really beautiful to go to improve breakfast on Sundays. The old Yanchun restaurant on the east side is slightly more expensive, which is more suitable for holiday consumption. Xiaojia dumpling noodles are about two cents per bowl, and ordinary people come to enjoy it once a week, which is still bearable.
Xiaojia Dumpling Shop not only sells wonton noodles, but also sells wontons and noodles, and sells snacks such as shochu and buns.
No matter what kind of snack, because the production is exquisite, the quality is superior, the color and flavor are complete, the business is very good. When I was a child, on Sundays, especially on holiday mornings, my mother would often take me and my brother to taste the breakfast at The Shaw Family Dumpling Shop.
At that time, the store was full, often needing to stand and wait, and the first diners to eat would sit down and order. Because it's not easy to come here for breakfast, every time we go, we eat a lot of grease before leaving.
During three years of natural disasters and ten years of catastrophe, I never went to The Shaw Family Dumpling Shop again. In 1979, after I was transferred back to Zhenjiang, because of my busy work, two children at home, complicated housework, and rarely had time to go to the restaurant on Sundays and holidays, I basically stopped going to the Xiao family dumpling shop.
In the early 1990s, I was transferred to the District Education Bureau as the director of the office, and my work was even busier, with two children in middle school, and the housework was not reduced at all, and there was no time to take the children who were nervous about studying to the Xiao family dumpling shop.
At that time, every year before the Spring Festival, our unit distributed 100 assorted buns from Xiaojia Dumpling Shop to employees as New Year goods. I had the opportunity to go to the Xiao family dumpling shop at least once a year to pick up the buns and witness the whole process of making the assorted buns.
The production of that assortment filling still amazes me: the large vat with a diameter of about 1 meter is filled with half a jar of snow-white lard, and about half a jar of minced and watered assortment filled with vegetables, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, lean meat, etc., is put into a large vat and stirred in batches, and finally stirred into a full tank of green and white bun filling.
The price of such 100 buns is also 40 yuan, and the price has not increased for more than ten consecutive years. Later, due to the difficulty of adjusting the crowd, the greasy bun was no longer popular with young people, and the Spring Festival welfare was changed to 40 yuan in cash. Since then, I have said goodbye to the Xiao family dumpling shop.
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