A few years ago, there was a debate about the name of the pot kui in the mainstream media in Chengdu. Some say it should be "pot helmet", some say "pot kui", a "kui" and "helmet" word, making the city full of fierce debate, endless debate. Subsequently, Sichuan Culinary Magazine carefully examined from a professional and academic point of view, and clearly stated that "pot kui" and "pot helmet" are two different concepts. The former is a kind of noodle dish similar to the northern "burnt cake" in Sichuan and southwest China; the latter is a halal Hui food, which is a pasta dish from Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and other places north of the Qinling Mountains. And the two methods, sizes, and flavors are not the same. Especially the latter, its size, as small as the helmet of an ancient soldier, as large as a shield against a sword, so it is called "pot helmet".
Henan pot helmet
The reason why Sichuan people call it "Pot Kui" is that it has a long history. According to legend, the earliest "pot kui" is called "pot feed". It is reported that during the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang was just out of his infancy, helped Liu Bei burn Bowangpo, and before returning to Xinye, he ordered Guan Yu to lead a thousand troops to guard Bowang. At this time, it was an autumn drought, and Bo Wangdi was short of water and could not cook, so Guan Yu had no plan, and sent his soldiers to Xinye to ask Zhuge Liang for advice. Zhuge Liang immediately repaired a letter and placed it in the bag, ordering his relatives to send it back in a hurry. Guan Yu received the bag and hurriedly opened it to take a closer look, but it was a local pasta preparation method, writing: "When making this food, when using dry noodles, mixing a little water, synthesizing hard blocks, large pots of kangzhi, food for feeding, crisp and delicious, suitable for storage." Guan Yu immediately ordered the soldiers to concoct the same method, and the aroma of food was indescribable, so morale was greatly boosted. Later, when bowang was withdrawn, Guan Yu ordered each person to carry a three-day pot to the White Horse River to raid the Cao army, and counterattacked to reverse the war situation.
Oil spinter pot quill
Chengdu pot Kui style
In the old days of Chengdu, Pot Kui was a very common and convenient food. The streets and alleys of Chengdu are full of small shops and stalls that play pots and pans, and many noodle restaurants and cold powder shops can be at any time, and the prices are also very cheap. Nevertheless, for many small dolls from poor families, they cannot be eaten if they want to. Therefore, whenever the sound of the rolling stick hitting the board is heard from the pot shop, and the crisp smell of wheat noodles wafting out of the hearth, it is always coveted, and it is hoped that there will be a hot and crispy pot kui entrance.
Chengdu people usually call the pot Kui, mostly refers to pure flour without any seasoning, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, crispy slag, sweet noodles back to the sweet white noodle pot Kui. However, there are many varieties of pots and pans on the market. From the shape point of view, there are flat circles, rectangular, triangle, beef tongue shape, semi-circle, roll tiles and other shapes; from the flavor, that is, there are white noodle pot kui, pepper salt sesame pot kui, noodle mixed with brown sugar mixed sugar pot kui, as well as rectangular white sugar pot kui with white sugar heart, brown sugar pot kui, triangle with onion oil kui with onion and salt, square slightly sweet and crispy pot kui, as well as salty spinner pot kui, fresh meat pot kui, strange flavor pot kui, wine rice (glutinous rice) pot kui, corn pot made of fresh corn and so on. There is also a kind of black noodle pot kui, which is made of wheat bran flour and flour half mixed, gray and black color, thick and hard pot kui, because of roughness, eat a full mouth of drill, so there are more spicy watercress and salt vegetables in it to facilitate swallowing, the price is cheaper, specially sold to the city to sell small vegetables, pick urine and other hard-working farmers to eat. The white noodle pot kui also deduces a variety of flavorful pot kui with a variety of meat dishes. If you look at it from the perspective of the land of Bashu, there are too many varieties of pot kui to count, at least there are dozens of varieties.
Marinated meat pot quill
In the past, old Chengdu made pot kui, using a large bamboo basket, which was made of refractory clay into a large and small space, a round pan, which was the tool for frying the pot kui. Add a board and a rolling pin to open. Later, a waste gasoline drum with the top cover removed was used to make a stove. The seller of the pot is usually two people, one person is responsible for kneading the dough on the board, constantly rubbing the fermented noodles in the hand until they feel satisfied, and then putting them aside to wake up; the other is according to the needs of the customer, sweet with sugar, salty with pepper and salt, put aside. The person who beat the pot won picked up one by one, knocked the rolling pin in his hand, while hitting the case board, while kneading the dough, almost, he "snapped" the dough on the board, rolled out three or two rounds, rolled flat, and finally shook a tin box, the bottom of the box was chiseled into a sieve-shaped hole, the box contained sesame seeds, a few more times, a few more, can be at will. The other one put the rolled dough on the clay stove, fried it in a pan with a little vegetable oil for a while, then lifted the pot, sandwiched one by one into the inner wall of the red hearth to bake, and then lifted the pot again, turned the pot in the hearth over, about three or two minutes, the master gently clipped out of the hearth, the leopard skin pattern of the pot, directly handed to the waiter. At this time, the pot is tender on the outside, crispy and fluffy, and it seems to be a little hot to hold, but it is particularly fragrant and delicious when eaten.
The roasted white noodle pot has a leopard skin pattern, and the aroma of wheat noodles is authentic.
In the past, whether it was a pot kui shop or a pot kui stall, the master who beat the pot kui was wrapped in a white veil, a blue soil cloth around the waist, a blue cloth short coat, a large placket, a pair of shoes with threaded ears, and a round wooden stick in his hand, just like the hero of liangshan good Han grass. There is a set of techniques for playing pots and pans, and it is necessary to pay attention to rhythm and rhythm. Usually on a small table or board, the dough is first cut into about two or two sizes of dough with a knife, the rolling stick is picked up, and a string of long and short links and pauses and intermittent are crackled on the panel, and the rhythm is very strong, just like the opening of the play to beat a gong and drum to create an atmosphere, and publicize it.
Then there is the right hand on the side of the beating, the left hand at the same time kneading the dough, when the noodles are evenly formed, the rolling stick suddenly like a rolling thunder burst: - click click - and finally a "bang" sound, the dough on the left hand is thrown to the board and pressed down, emitting a soft with rigidity, just with soft soft sound. Finally, while rolling out and turning the dough, two or three round flattened pot embryos become, and then put into the pan, both sides take turns frying for a while, and then lift the pot, put one by one into the stove on both sides of the kang cooked. This series of actions is intertwined and completed in one go, which is deafening and dazzling.
Although it is a snack, it is also very skilled
Some of the more skilled, playing the pot is also like a juggling performance, very exciting, attracting passers-by to watch in a pile. Like a drummer, he struck a crisp and pleasant sound with a long and short speed, and the wooden stick in his hand danced up and down, left and right, making the onlookers involuntarily exclaim in admiration. Especially at the flower party and the lantern party, it is even more lively, and where the pot is played, there is always the largest crowd of onlookers. At this time, the master fu is even more energetic, while dancing all kinds of flowers, he will also suddenly throw the rolling stick in his hand into the air, throw it high for more than ten meters, throw it low for several meters, the wooden stick rotates rapidly in the air and falls, and the hand catches it and is a burst of "snapping and snapping" sharply, at this time the crowd of onlookers bursts out into a burst of cheering applause, and the winner of the pot is naturally squeezed forward and pushed back. People believe that such a wonderful master who plays with a rolling stick must be delicious, which is the business benefits brought by the wonderful performance. Of course, this is also an indispensable style landscape of the flower party and the lantern meeting. It has even become a kind of nostalgia and nostalgia, which is deeply imprinted in people's minds as the years pass.
In Sichuan townships, most of the people who do pot quitting are women
Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Editorial Board of "Sichuan Province Chronicle • Sichuan Cuisine Chronicle" Sichuan Cuisine Culture Person Sichuan Cuisine Contributor
Author of "A Hundred Years of Sichuan Cuisine Legend", "The History of Sichuan Cuisine on the Roadside", and "Three Hundred Years of Spicy Hemp Temptation"
Original Jianghu Gluttony East 2019.08.14 Chengdu