Donkey meat fire is a popular traditional snack in North China, originated in Baoding City, Cangzhou City, Hejian City, Hebei Province, widely spread in the Jizhong Plain, according to historical records, donkey meat fire originated in the second year of Jianwen in the Ming Dynasty (1400 AD).
Donkey meat is stewed over high heat and then warm fire, with nearly 20 kinds of seasonings, the cooking time is long, the ripeness is thorough, the color is fresh and tender, the meat is fragrant but not firewood, the fragrance is long, soft and palatable. Medical books record that donkey meat replenishes blood, qi, and deficiency. According to modern medical research, donkey meat is a low-fat, high-protein food, and has high calcium, phosphorus and iron content.
Donkey meat is often seen in my hometown, and luckily I have developed a special relationship with it, which leads me to constantly think about its significance to me and the food culture of the North China Plain as a whole.
01 The mystery of North Chinese people eating donkey meat
Looking at the whole country, eating donkey meat seems to be rare, Chinese eat meat mostly eat pigs, cattle, sheep and other animals, donkey meat accounts for only a small part of the country's meat consumption, and most of the areas that consume donkey meat are in North China, the first question we face in the face of donkey meat fire this delicacy is, why do people in the North China Plain love to eat donkey meat?
First of all, there are relatively few types of meat to choose from in North China. Cattle play a great role in the agrarian society as the main force of arable land, the cost of slaughtering cattle is relatively large, eating cattle has become a luxury, and mutton has always been the diet of the upper class because of its high price. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the scale of pig breeding has been relatively large, but there are also certain differences between the north and the south, the most developed area of pig farming in Sichuan, the north is relatively smaller.
In addition, there are also a considerable number of donkeys in North China, which is a small donkey produced in the east of the Loess Plateau, inside and outside the Great Wall to the Huanghuai Plain, and is the second largest animal after cattle in the northern agricultural areas of the mainland. From the perspective of benefit and cost, donkey meat itself has rich nutritional value, and the amino acid composition of donkey meat is very comprehensive, with 8 essential amino acids and 10 non-essential amino acids very rich.
Tryptophan is an important substance to identify whether the protein in the meat is comprehensive, and it is also an important indicator to evaluate the quality of meat, and the content of tryptophan in donkey meat is 300~314mg/100g, which is much larger than pork (270mg/100g) and beef (219mg/100g) Donkey meat is a cost-effective meat in the eyes of North Chinese people, so it is also delicious.
In this case, donkeys, which are better fed than cows and horses, have become part of the recipes of the people of the North China Plain, and have been transformed into a variety of donkey meat delicacies with the best taste and flavor of the Chinese nation.
02 Donkey meat cooking skills of North Chinese people
Like many other cuisines, donkey meat is also a matter of culinary skills, which are mainly divided into two parts: the selection of donkey meat and the mastery of the heat.
Donkey meat should be preferred, as it is better to choose wild free-range donkey meat or fatter donkey meat. After choosing the donkey meat, the more important part is the stew. Donkey meat should be stewed in a pot with aged soup with secret condiments, first of all, to ensure the quality of the stew, donkey meat can not cut corners, can not put too much salt, too much salt is not only bad for human health, but also affects the taste of meat.
Secondly, we must master the heat, sometimes the donkey meat is not easy to chew and has a lot to do with the heat of cooking donkey meat, so it is necessary to ensure sufficient stewing time, but the time should not be too long. The last step is to have a salty taste, if the cooking taste is too light, it will affect the aroma of donkey meat, and if it is too salty, it will directly affect the taste of donkey meat.
For fire, the first step is to make good noodles, and noodles determine the taste of the finished product, neither more nor less water, less water is too soft, and more water will make the noodles hard. The second step is to make the dough, the most important of which is to use oil, which must be donkey oil to make an authentic traditional flavor of donkey meat.
After the previous steps are done, the third step is to make a fire, put the prepared dough agent into a flat pot, and then use a special wooden mold to press the dough to make it shape. Finally, put the fire to be cooked on a special fork, and put it into the stove to grill evenly, so that the finished fire is more drumming, more crisp, and more fragrant, including the side of the fire should also become yellow.
After the donkey meat and fire are both prepared, with a little green onion and green pepper, a delicious donkey meat fire is made.
03 I burned with donkey meat
The story of me and the donkey meat burning started slowly in high school. My high school is closed, requiring every student to live in a dormitory, and other aspects of management are also relatively strict, and I can only go home every two weeks to rest, and at that time it became one of my expectations to go home and have a good meal.
One time when I came home, my father bought a bag of food that I had never seen before, a square fire sandwiched with minced meat that looked like beef but was redder than beef. My father said that there was a new donkey meat roast shop nearby, and he happened to pass by and brought me two to try it.
I couldn't wait to open the plastic bag, and the air was filled with an enticing aroma mixed with spices, meat, and noodles. That was my first encounter with donkey meat, and the smell of donkey meat has been etched into my memory ever since. After that, every time I go home, I will go to the donkey meat roast shop near my house, the strong taste of the fire, the taste of salty, juicy donkey meat, the combination of the two, the unique flavor in the taste buds bloom, every time I eat donkey meat roast is a very favorite experience for me.
Slowly, the donkey meat roast for me is not only a taste of its own, but also a mixture of my longing and yearning for home. At that time, although the busyness of studying Xi could try not to think nonsense, there were moments when that touch of homesickness would also occupy my heart, I missed the soft bed at home, missed the moment of peace without having to brush the questions, missed my beloved parents, and missed the donkey meat that I could only eat every time I went home...... In this way, donkey meat roast, a food with peculiar ingredients, has become a carrier of my homesickness as a high school student, and it has been given a unique meaning to me.
04 North China taste of donkey meat fire
In my opinion, donkey meat roast is a food that can represent the food culture of the North China Plain. The folk customs in North China are simple, the diet is not luxurious, the emphasis is affordable, and the three meals a day are mainly pasta. From the selection of ingredients, to the cooking method and flavor, donkey meat roast is very suitable for the food culture of North China.
As we mentioned earlier, donkey meat is a very distinctive meat in the North China Plain, which is a very affordable animal food with low cost and rich nutritional value, which is in line with the characteristics of North China food culture.
In addition, it is needless to say that one of the characteristics of the food culture in North China is that it is dominated by pasta, and the fire as one of the characteristic noodles reflects the characteristics of the food culture in North China.
From the point of view of cooking methods, the processing method of donkey meat is mainly stewed and boiled, the delicious donkey meat is stewed by the old soup with the secret condiments in a large pot, and the production of fire cakes is mainly to burn and bake, and the dough cake formed in the pot is put into the stove to be grilled evenly.
Stewing and roasting are not complicated in terms of cooking techniques themselves, and the focus is on mastering the heat, so the production method of donkey meat roasting can be said to be a good fit for the simple and not luxurious characteristics of North China food culture.
From the point of view of flavor, North China people prefer the taste of fresh and salty and mellow, donkey meat fire pay attention to the saltiness and suitability is only to require the salt taste not to be excessive, the food itself is still relatively salty, and the production of fire dough cake to use donkey oil, donkey meat itself also contains a certain amount of oil, some makers will also pour a spoonful of hot soup after the fire is completed, these make the donkey meat fire itself has a heavy oil taste, and this is also a reason why it tastes particularly fragrant.
The salty and oily flavor of donkey meat is also well suited to the dietary taste of North Chinese people, and can be called one of the representatives of food culture in North China.
"Donkeys are everywhere in the river, and clever women roll dough like paper. Make a fire with donkey meat, a gust of wind comes to a burst of fragrance", donkey meat fire roast with its characteristic ingredients selection and cooking methods show us the classic taste of North China. The donkey meat is fragrant and long, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, waiting for you to taste!