This is a beef and lamb steamed bun (pictured on January 2). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yibo
Xi'an, 16 Feb (Xinhua) -- During the Spring Festival, the Tongshengxiang Restaurant in Xi'an, which has just celebrated its centennial celebration, was crowded. Customers include Xi'an citizens and tourists from outside the city, who flock here to taste the signature dish here, beef and mutton steamed buns.
He arrives at the shop early in the morning and often leaves work at midnight, but as the inheritor of China's national intangible cultural heritage, Tongshengxiang beef and mutton steamed bun making skills, Wuping does not feel tired. "Cook steamed buns for a minute, learn the art for decades." He said that it seems to be a simple food, but there are many doorways behind it.
"We started from the selection of beef and mutton, and we paid a lot of attention. The lamb is the beach sheep in Ningxia, mostly based on the hind legs of the sheep, and the beef is selected from the old cattle of Qinchuan. Wuping introduced, there are also spices, there are mainly about 22 kinds, such as Dahongpao peppercorns from Hancheng, Shaanxi, cumin from Yumen, Gansu, cinnamon, artichoke These are all regular spices, "Some spice recipes are changed according to different seasons." ”
Wu Ping (right) and Sun Qiang make beef and lamb steamed buns on January 2. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yibo
Sun Qiang, a disciple of Wuping, told reporters that in fact, as early as two days before the completion of a bowl of steamed buns, the production process of this steamed bun has begun: first wash the beef and mutton with bleaching water, remove the lymphoid tissue in the meat, and then start boiling water, boiling, adding spices and many other complicated processes; before the master cooks the bun, the disciple uses a special blade to cut two pieces of beef or mutton that are fish-shaped, thin and uniform, and fat and moderate.
"The key factor that determines the quality of the steamed bun is the quality of the bun. Shaanxi dialect says 'the bun that is beaten, the noodles that are kneaded', and this bun is about the 'tiger's back golden circle chrysanthemum heart'. The bread in the customer's hand is usually eight to nine ripe, break it into the size of a soybean grain, and work with the chef to cook the dish. Sun Qiang said.
It can be said that it is the continuous efforts of several generations of chefs over the past hundred years that have forged the golden quality of Shaanxi cuisine at this Chinese state banquet.
It's not easy to eventually become a steamed bun chef. Wu Ping, who joined the work in the early 1980s, said that learning art before learning morality, individuals entering the industry must have good moral character and hard-working tenacity, "start to lay hands, learn to cook meat, and handle hundreds of pounds of beef and mutton in one pot." Wait until the meat cooking process is basically mastered, and then learn to remove meat. ”
The craft of cooking steamed buns is not something that can be practiced overnight. Wuping now only takes about 60 seconds to cook a bowl of steamed buns with heavy and mellow ingredients, thick meat soup, smooth steamed tendons and full of aroma according to the customer's requirements. When he learns to pick meat, he often uses his spare time to break the customer's remaining steamed buns and practice cooking steamed buns, "how to master the heat, how much oil, monosodium glutamate and salt are put in, and how to match different spices according to the customer's preferences?" This is not a matter of years to master. ”
With the change of the times, small stir-fried steamed buns have been loved by young people in recent years. In terms of ingredients, the small stir-fried steamed bun adds ingredients such as yellow cauliflower, dried tofu, eggs and so on, compared with the traditional steamed bun, the small stir-fried steamed bun maintains the traditional rich and thick taste at the same time, but also has a unique taste of sour and spicy refreshing.
Nowadays, many foreigners who like to eat sour and spicy food come to Xi'an and will also praise the small fried steamed buns. In addition, the "single-way" eating method of lamb steamed buns, water basin lamb, has also become famous for the popularity of dramas such as "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an".
"Beef and lamb steamed bun is like an antique, and traditional things are the most precious." Wu Ping believes that the most important reason why the beef and mutton steamed bun making technology can become a national intangible cultural heritage is to adhere to the "original intention" of maintaining traditional practices, "Every link is sloppy, even if there is a little detail, this bowl of steamed bun can be said to be a failure to cook." ”