□ Chen Fuqiang
In the early 1970s, the head of a major Western country visited China and arrived in Hangzhou. In addition to seeing the West Lake, the hospitable host also invited him to taste Hangzhou dishes at the Louwailou Restaurant, among which there were famous dishes such as "Dragon and Phoenix Legs", "Family Portrait" and "Vegetarian Roast Goose" made of Tofu Skin in Dongwu mountain, Fuyang. It is said that the head of state was very happy to eat these tofu skin products and praised them.
An ordinary tofu skin can do this, it must have its superiority. I like to eat soy products, and I have always longed for Dongwushan tofu skin. Go to the vegetable market, go to several famous soy product stalls in Hangzhou to buy tofu skin, the preferred brand is Dongwushan. I have always had the wish to go to dongwushan origin to see the authentic tofu skin production process.
Finally, one day, mobile phone navigation took me to the Dam of Fuyang Dayangwu Reservoir. The water in the reservoir is clear, it is an intoxicating tender green, and if the color is dark green, then the water depth here is at least more than two or three meters.
On three sides of the reservoir are rolling mountains, and facing the dam is a canyon. It is said that it is a canyon, in fact, it is not deep, the mountains on both sides are far apart, a small stream flows through the village, on both sides of the creek, the farmhouses are scattered, and the exit of the canyon is the road to Fuyang. This picturesque village is Dongwu Mountain. The tofu skin, which is admired by the heads of western powers, is produced here.
This time in Fuyang, I ran through several villages and found a common point: almost every village edge has a reservoir or a small lake, and the villages are built along the lake by mountains. From above, this lake is dotted with stars, and the street where Dongwu Mountain is located has the name of Silver Lake, which is estimated to come from this.
Everything on the side of the water nourishes man. And the water of Dongwu Mountain, its composition must be more special - there is no good water, no matter how you can not raise skilled craftsmen, of course, can not make a good tofu skin.
On the side of the reservoir dam, you can see an ancient road in The Great Ocean Dock, which is more narrowed by crazy thatch and forest. The village director said that from here, go up, cross the mountains to The Pond, pass through Songcheng, Meijiawu, Shili Langhu, and you can reach the Lingyin Monastery and the Tianzhu Monastery. In the past, the tofu skin of Dongwu Mountain was carried out by the villagers along this ancient road, went to the city to sell, and then bought soybeans from the city and returned to the village.
Historically, the Dayangwu Ancient Road is also the only passage for Dongwu Mountain to connect with the outside world. Judging from the earliest economic curve of Dongwu Mountain, the main supply point of tofu skin should be Lingyin and Tianzhu Temple, these two thousand-year-old temples, coincide with the thousand-year-old production history of Dongwushan tofu skin, and their connection lasted for more than a thousand years. In the Ming Dynasty, Dongwushan tofu skin was listed as a tribute, and its reputation was even louder, and the temples supplied were extended to Shanghai, Suzhou and other places. In fact, in the history of Dongwu Mountain, there are nine temples and thirteen temples. Now, these temples have been submerged by time, leaving only a stone stele inscribed with the inscription "DongwuShan Jiu'an ThirteenTh Temple Ruins Group", standing by the reservoir. Together with the Ancient Road, it is an indispensable evidence of a thousand-year-old civilization, proving the origin of Dongwushan tofu skin and Buddhism. If it weren't for the tight time, I would have been very willing to walk along the ancient road and experience the feeling of the villagers going out of the mountain.
In Dongwu Mountain, there is a saying called "three mouths blowing out the millennium golden clothes", "thousand years" refers to the dongwu mountain tofu skin has a history of more than a thousand years; "golden clothes" refers to the tofu skin made as thin as cicada wings, the nutritional value is very high. Obviously, the "three-mouth wind" is the unique work of Dongwu Mountain, and the pure handmade tofu skin is handed down by this craft. There is a legend passed down from generation to generation in Dongwu Mountain: earlier when a little monk was grinding soy milk and making tofu, because he was too focused on chanting, he missed the time when the tofu came out of the pot, when he woke up and reached out to fish, he saw that there was a thin layer of skin on the surface, so he fished up this layer of skin and tasted it, and found that its taste was even more delicious than tofu. He told the abbot about this matter, and the abbot was also quite surprised, ordered people to experiment, after several improvements, the tofu skin was indeed as thin as a cicada wing, and it was named "tofu clothes", also known as "tofu skin". As the demand for the monastery grew, the villagers of Dongwushan made a living by producing tofu skins for the temple to eat. Whether this legend is true or not, the Dongwushan people have indeed fed generations of people with their own craftsmanship and with a tofu skin thinner than paper. Mr. Early counted poverty, there is cooking smoke rising on the roof of every household in Dongwu Mountain, that is, the villagers are cooking soybean milk with firewood, usually, 18 pounds of soybeans take 18 hours, and it takes 300 pounds of firewood to cook a pot of soy milk. And this pot of soy milk is the first process of making tofu skin.
This legend also proves that Dongwushan tofu skin has a long history of interaction with the temple. I once ate vegetarian food at Lingyin Temple, most of the ingredients are taken from soy products, including tofu skin made of tofu bamboo fried black fungus, tofu skin fried green vegetables, I believe that the tofu skin of Lingyin Temple vegetarian food comes from Dongwu Mountain.
However, after asking the locals for a small amount of money, I expressed doubts about whether the Dongwushan tofu skin purchased by the vegetable farm came from Dongwushan. Xiao Qian said that whether it is Dongwushan tofu skin depends on whether there is a dongwushan origin mark. She also comforted me that the Dongwushan tofu skin sold in the market was like West Lake Longjing tea. As soon as she said that, I understood. Xiao Qian also told me that the tofu skin I bought should be from Fuyang, but it is almost certainly not handmade, and the probability of machine production is higher.
Liu Miaogen, who is over 70 years old, is the main heir to the tofu skin making in Dongwu mountain. Liu Miaogen is most worried about the handmade tofu skin want to do less and less people want to learn, after all, it is too hard, because handmade tofu skin usually has to operate in a closed room at room temperature of 45 ~ 50 ° C for more than ten hours, the elderly people can not eat physically, and young people are not willing to do it. However, to Liu Miaogen's relief, his two sons learned to make tofu skins with him from an early age, and the intention to inherit the tradition of Dongwu Mountain to make tofu skins is also very clear. Thousand years of gold clothes and three winds, finally have a descendant.
Those famous dishes made with tofu skin for the heads of Western powers, except for vegetarian roast goose, I have no chance to taste it, but the same famous dry fried bell in Louwailou is the masterpiece of tofu skin, which is low price but delicious. I don't know if the chef has put one on the table, but from the known menu, it seems that there is no such famous dish, which is a pity.
The main ingredient of the dry fried bell is tofu skin, and the auxiliary ingredient is meat foam, which is mainly made by crispy frying. Like all Hangzhou famous dishes, there is also a legend about the origin of the name of the dry fried bell dish. It is said that in ancient times, when this dish first appeared, it was neither the shape it is in today nor called it by this name. Later, he was appreciated, the horns of his head were revealed, and more and more people went to restaurants and restaurants to appreciate the taste. Once, an unnamed hero HaoJie came into the store to order this dish and wine. Unfortunately, the raw material of tofu skin has just been used up. This person has the tendency not to give up until he reaches his goal, so he returns to the store and swings his whip and buys the tofu skin himself. The chef was touched by his love for this dish so much, and cooked it even more carefully, and specially made the shape of the dish into a horse bell to commemorate his love of the dish and the galloping of the horse. Therefore, later generations called this dish "dry fried bell".
I would like to see the production process of tofu skin at the site of Dongwu Mountain, but the season is not right, and this wish is disappointed. However, the knowledge learned about tofu skin is enough to be useful. Moreover, I also bought the real Dongwushan origin tofu skin, went home that night, fried with green vegetables, and sure enough, ate the flavor of Dongwushan. After all, it is a thousand-year-old golden coat, transparent like a cicada wing, pure, tender, light, with a sense of melting in the mouth, but also the smell of green mountains and green water, and a few hints of Zen taste.
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Source: Qianjiang Evening News Hourly News