Local specialty snacks | Qufu famous to eat Confucius smoked tofu

The famous cultural city of Qufu has a unique flavor of traditional smoked tofu in Confucius, which can be eaten everywhere in Qufu's large and small restaurants and snack stalls on both sides of the road. Every time I return to my hometown, I will bring a large plate of smoked tofu to eat. The taste of this hometown is still so strong.

Four kilometers northeast of qufu city in Shandong Province, there is a Susi Academy, formerly known as the Ancestral Teacher Lecture Hall, which was renamed in the Yuan Dynasty, which was the place where Confucius practiced and lectured in that year. The village where the lecture hall is located is named "Shuyuan Village", and the Shuyuan Village is not only famous for sitting in the ancestral court of the Confucian Academy, but almost every household will also make this kind of historical and cultural Smoked Tofu of Confucius.

According to legend, once upon a time there was a family surnamed Han, who lived near the Ancestral Teacher's Lecture Hall in the northeast of Qufu City, and his ancestors sent tofu to KongFu for generations. During the three volts of that year, it happened to encounter a cloudy day, and after the tofu made by the second elder of the Han family was delivered to the KongFu, there was still a lot left. He was afraid that the weather was hot and steamy, so he cut the tofu into many small pieces and placed it on the straw curtain to dry. Who knew that his house accidentally caught fire, the straw curtain to dry the tofu was burning, because the curtain was wet, and some of the dried tofu blocks were roasted, and some were smoked brown. The second elder of the Han family was reluctant to throw away these tofu, so he took some pieces of tofu that were not burned and boiled them in salt water, and after cooking them, they tasted quite good, so he sent some to Kong Fu, let Yan Sheng Gong taste, Yan Sheng Gong tasted, the taste was very good. Since then, the second eldest of the Han family has specially made smoked tofu for Confucius, and smoked tofu has become a delicacy of Confucius.

The imprint of history in time and space, smoked tofu in Qufu widely popular, every time I return from abroad to my hometown, I see the villagers busy making this Kind of Kongfu smoked tofu. They first cut the white tofu into cubes about 5 to 6 cm wide and about 1 cm thick, put them on the iron grate, and burned the pine, cypress, pear, dates, apple wood sawdust or chaff below, and when the tofu was smoked until brownish brown by the sawdust or bran oil, and the oil shiny, the smoked tofu was ready. This smoked tofu has a brownish yellow surface, a firm surface, and a fine white and tender inside, with a strong woody or grain bran aroma, full of strong nostalgia and nostalgia.

Hometown smoked tofu can be mixed cold, stewed, or cut into thin slices or thin strips, stir-fried with fresh peppers or garlic. Of course, the most authentic way to eat is the hometown 'spiced oil spicy smoked tofu pot': a large pot steaming, the smoked tofu and pork belly into the pot, add water, and then add pepper, fennel, pepper, cinnamon and other condiments to stew, emitting a burst of aroma. This smoked tofu pot to stew for a long time, so that the meat and the flavor of the ingredients are immersed in the inside of the tofu, coupled with the smoked tofu itself unique smoke flavor, after cooking into a small dish, pour a few spoonfuls of boiled chili sauce, eat the local flavor is very unique, endlessly evocative. Whenever foreign friends come to qufu to play, I will definitely ask for some smoked tofu in Confucius, so that they can taste the traditional food of their hometown and feel the deep history and culture.

Qufu, Shandong, is the hometown of sages, which not only has rich cultural accumulation, but also has a unique flavor of traditional food. Warmly welcome guests from all over the world to qufu to worship Confucius' ancestors, taste the hometown's special smoked tofu, will certainly make you in the edification of the soul to leave a fragrance of lips and teeth, the aftertaste is endless.