"Balsamic vinegar is not bad, the meat is not a dish, and the lid is boiled inside the noodle pot." Speaking of the "three monsters of Zhenjiang", the people of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Can be said to be known to everyone. Among them, Zhenjiang balsamic vinegar is famous far and wide, and meat is also commonplace, but there is not much that outsiders can understand about the meaning of the "third monster" of "cooking pot inside the noodle pot". In fact, it is very simple, that is, a small pot lid floats in a large pot, and the noodles are boiled on the wooden pot lid, so it is named "pot lid noodles". Because of the ventilation around, the boiling water does not overflow after boiling, the noodles are washed around by the boiling boiling water on the wooden pot lid, and the noodles are always non-sticky, nor sticky to the pan, one by one, bundled but not chaotic. The noodles are soft and hard, the toppings are diverse, and the soup is fragrant, flexible and tendon, mellow and delicious, fresh and tender, and can be eaten immediately.
Regarding the origin of pot lid noodles, there are many folk legends, of which "The Story of Qianlong and Zhang Sister-in-law Noodle Shop" is the most vivid. It is said that one year, Qianlong, who went down to Jiangnan for the first time, changed into civilian clothes, took an entourage eunuch, and found the most famous "Zhang Sister-in-law Noodle Shop" in Zhenjiang, and wanted to eat Zhenjiang noodles. I don't know whether it was because Qianlong came early or because Sister-in-law Zhang got up late, but after being ordered to go down, Sister-in-law Zhang urged her husband to cut the noodles while she added firewood to the stove. Soon, the water in the pot boiled and the husband's noodles were cut. Sister-in-law Zhang was anxious, grabbed a handful of noodles and put it into the pot, quickly covered the pot lid while replying to the conversation, and mistakenly put the small lid of the soup jar into the noodle pot in the busy chaos, and floated on the surface of the water. Before Zhang Sister-in-law put the ingredients, the water in the pot rolled away again, turned straight up, and was about to overflow the outside of the pot, Zhang Sister-in-law saw it, and quickly used a spoon to scoop two spoons of warm water in the soup jar and poured it, and the noodle pot calmed down again. As soon as the water was opened again, Sister-in-law Zhang used a small bamboo cage and long chopsticks to fish the noodles into the bowl and immediately deliver them to the guests' hands. After that, I heard the noodle eaters praise one after another: "The taste is good, not rotten and not hard." Sister-in-law Zhang was about to go down to the pot again, but Qianlong actually paced in, and Qianlong saw the scene and exclaimed: "Ah, how did you put the lid of the pot in the noodle pot and boil it?" At this call, Sister-in-law Zhang found that due to her own busyness, she mistook the small pot lid on the soup pot for a large pot lid, and even did not know that the pot lid was thrown into the noodle pot. Since then, Zhenjiang's pot lid noodles have been greatly renowned.
In fact, the mystery of "pot lid noodles" lies in increasing the boiling temperature of the soup. "Pot lid noodles" is when the noodle soup is boiling, because the pot lid is pressed in the most boiling place, there will be no overflow of the pot soup phenomenon, the noodle soup is always at a high temperature, the noodles are always in the process of strong cooking, therefore, the noodles are smooth and smooth, and the taste is good. In addition, the noodle pot is boiled in the pot lid, paying attention to the small lid of the large pot. In this way, the water vapor is round, and the noodle soup will not overflow, which is why the cooked noodles are not sticky, not hard, not scattered, and easy to mature into the flavor.
It's also a treat to watch how it's made. First boil the toppings in a large pot: pork liver, waist flowers, pork belly, fat intestines, long fish one by one into a colander, and then immerse in a large pot to boil, when scalding all by the feeling of the following teacher, each ingredient at different times. The assistant on the side puts the store's secret soy sauce and dried vegetables in a large bowl of layers. The toppings are blanched, and each ingredient is in a bowl. The material is put away, below, with a large handful of noodles into the pot, the famous small pot lid is also thrown into the soup, the big pot floats in the small pot lid, the water under the lid is steaming, the small pot lid is flowing with the waves, the brake is beautiful, this scene, there is nowhere else.
Authentic pot lid noodles, the noodles must be handmade, hand-rolled noodles are not comparable to machines. First of all, to choose a hand-rolled noodle with alkali, the most important thing is that this noodle is not kneaded but "jumped". When "jumping" the noodles, the dough is placed on the case, on which there is a thick and long bamboo bar, and at the end of the bamboo bar sits a master, who will jump up and down, and use the bamboo bar to repeatedly squeeze the noodles into a very thin and extremely tendonic dough, which is then cut into thick or thin noodles according to the needs of the diners. Jumping noodles need to be repeated five or six times, this process takes more than half an hour, the action seems simple, but it requires physical strength and endurance persistence. It's a boring process, but it's also because of the process that the noodles are tastier.
The exquisiteness of the pot lid noodles is also reflected in the ingredients, and the soup ingredients of the Zhenjiang pot lid noodles are different. First of all, the local soy sauce of Zhenjiang is selected, and then add cinnamon, ground, star anise, vanilla, wild mushrooms, chicken bones and other slow simmering for several hours, so that the stewed broth is delicious, and then add the right amount of salt, cane sugar, green onion, ginger, white pepper, cool and add to the pot lid noodles, you can eat. In short, each family has its own recipe, which is regarded as a secret book.
(Red Temple)