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Meat balls we call meat balls here, dumplings, Yangzhou side called meat. The word 劗 here has the meaning of chopping, which, as the name suggests, is chopped meat.
There are three realms to chopping meat.
The first is called fine cutting and slow chopping, to cut the work to the best, cut to the fine place, and then simply chop a few times, such an advantage, is that the texture of the meat is still there, the tissue is still there, can remain tender.
The second is a coarse cut, but there are still some techniques, wielding the knife like raindrops, dense but not sparse, pointing to the end without death. Free from the impatience of the fine cut, and get a pleasure of chopping. But quite disdainful of the eaters, there is no such thing as not eating "a thousand knives of meat". We curse people in dialect here, and the cloud "kills a thousand knives", I am afraid that it is also from the flesh.
The third is directly wrought out of the meat grinder, in addition to saving some effort, it is also disdained by many housewives, not to mention exquisite eaters.
Three realms such as Miaoyu Xie tea in "Dream of the Red Chamber": "One cup is a product, two cups are stupid things that quench thirst, and three cups are drinking cattle and mules." ”
Living at home, there is really no such poverty. In addition to a slight pursuit of taste, the rest is how to save trouble and how to come.
However, when I read the section of Tang Lusun's "Yangzhou Meat", I suddenly found that in fact, the meat is not a concept with the meat rounds we often eat. The meat was originally called "sunflower chopping meat", and later legend has it that it was renamed "lion's head" by Wei Zhi, the Duke of Guoguo in the Tang Dynasty.
In the Qing Jiaqing Dynasty, Lin Lanyi's "Three Hundred Yin of the Han River" records: "The meat is finely cut into coarse and coarse pills, and fried in meat oil to become sunflower yellow. Vulgar cloud sunflower meatballs. And praised: "The guest kitchen has been cut frequently, so sunflowers are new." A full stomach should also think about the sun, and eat meat to whom. ”
There is a rumor about the practice: "Lion's head, pork round." Rib meat, oily and fresh, fat 70%, lean three parts, coarse cut and fine to make a round. Open on high heat, simmer over low heat, delicate and fragrant and tender. ”
Mr. Tang believes that "after the meat is chopped, use a little thin powder to make a meat ball", "the most taboo is to use egg white or water chestnut powder".
And my grandfather's approach, Cha Yi is to add egg white or water chestnut powder. The lion's head is slightly kneaded into a circle, so that it can be set on fire and steamed without being released. Finally, when it came out, the chopsticks were so tender that they couldn't be picked up, so they had to dig up and eat it with a spice spoon.
And to make meat balls, the most arduous process is to stir the minced meat, when stirring to go in one direction, stir at a uniform speed, the longer the better, and finally the meat paste is like dough to be considered successful.
The meat balls that come out in this way are very tough to eat in the mouth. Egg whites help to fuse the meat puree, and the minced water chestnuts are degreased and make the meat round and smooth, so nature is indispensable.
Making meat balls is a pneumatic work, especially the meat chopping and stirring links, which is very hard, and the family used to be either grandpa or dad to do it. Once the meat balls are made, their arms are often hanging down for several days in a row, swollen and sour.
The last step in making meat balls is frying. Fry for seven or eight minutes and cook, you can store. If you come back from buying meat in the morning and start chopping and stirring in the afternoon, it is often late at night when the meat balls are fried.
At night our brother slept in bed, and my parents specially opened a light bulb on the balcony and fried meat balls in a small charcoal stove.
The aroma of meat balls filled the air at night, making it difficult for our hungry worms to sleep, so we got up to see. At this time, my mother will fry a few meat balls for us to taste and talk about comforting the intestines.
Freshly fried meat balls, bite down, you can also feel the fragrant gravy overflowing in the mouth, think it is also infinitely beautiful.
In the memory, I was afraid of the newly fried meat round and hot mouth, and I wanted to eat it, and I was very anxious. The hardships of our parents turned into a smile of relief when they saw our monkeys eating in a hurry.
Therefore, such a huge project as making meat balls is generally only done during the New Year's Festival. Of course, when you invite guests to do things, you also have to do it.
The tradition of the feast here is that after one or two soup dishes, a plate of meat balls is first served. Moreover, it is really unreal, and it also reflects the strength of the family.
Whether the meat balls are done well or not, in fact, they are very exquisite. We have a company here, at the end of a certain year, when all the staff gathered for dinner, the result was that the meat balls were not prepared in the canteen and scattered, and the boss was very angry and scolded the director of the canteen for nearly a year.
When the economic conditions are not good, it is undoubtedly too luxurious to use so much meat to make meat balls. I remember that glutinous rice was often mixed with meat balls in the countryside. When mixed severely, there is almost no meat left.
It seems that Liang Shiqiu criticized the evil customs of this glutinous rice meat ball. It is said that glutinous rice is used the most, but only the kneaded meat balls are gently rolled on the glutinous rice, steamed and served, which is called "the meat garden of the coat".
The great writers are a bit abrupt of folk suffering and helplessness. Of course, the deception of the meat-loving stomach like glutinous rice meat balls cannot deceive me, and my grandmother liked to make this kind of glutinous rice meat balls for a while, but I almost didn't eat it.
During the New Year, the meat balls are to be done a lot, so that after eating, they will be afraid to eat.
Now generally eat the table, the meat balls that come up are almost rarely moved. Delicious things have developed to the point where I am afraid to eat, and I don't know whether it is the pain of growing up or the pain of wealth.
After getting married, my mother often made meat balls and brought us some back to put in the refrigerator, which became one of the convenient foods we often prepared.
Add a few at the bottom, or braise a few greens with a few greens, you can deal with a meal. Sometimes I sleep too late at night, and I take a few and put them in the microwave to heat up, and it becomes a good supper.
Now we will not make meat balls, although there are ready-made sales in the market, but rarely see the real goods, but also eat not very assured.
Writing articles is easy to sigh, I can't help but think of my own life, when it falls, like a meat ball, a thousand knives cut through, fried in the oil pot, hidden in the refrigerator, and later or braised or watery, it is not the original taste at all, just a way to save time, is a lazy life will be, even if it is a leisurely encounter at the banquet, but also for a number of reasons people give up.
When materials are scarce, eating a meat ball is all the joy and expectation of the day, and just a little rich, I give up all the expectations and beautiful nostalgia.
This emotion was disorganized, and it was like chopping meat.
In addition, the meatballs in the south are all pounded with wooden sticks, and compared to our double knife dance, waving two large wooden sticks has its own pride. However, it is not explained in this article.
The original title "Life is like a meat round", excerpted from "The Taste of Old Time"
Xu Yi, real name Huang Yongming, a native of Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, was born in 1976. Unsuccessful in school, after graduating from the middle school, entering the factory, entering the society after the factory restructuring, after practicing real estate, mixing the network, writing some boring articles to pass the time, claiming to be a literary youth is not talented, when angry youth do not dare. Overall lackluster. Time leisurely, unstoppable middle age, only to find that reminiscing about the past, reading experience always has something to write, after years and months, the accumulation of words, and old and miscellaneous, get by and pass, is a self-explanation for a middle-aged foodie.