For many people, food is not only a kind of enjoyment, but also a kind of memory, especially the food eaten in childhood, which can arouse people's memories. But over time, a lot of food is now gone. But the people of Xinzheng are lucky, because many traditional snacks in Xinzheng have been preserved, and "tamales" are one of them.
In Xinzheng, when it comes to tamales or rice noodles, many people will associate it with the Ding family, and in everyone's mind, "Ding family tamales" has become the "authentic brand" of this dish. According to Ding Hongjian, the sixth generation of the family's heirs, this dish originated from the Ding Family Restaurant in the late Qing Dynasty (later changed to Cui Bin Lou).
According to legend, an ancestor of the Ding family was once a well-known chef in Xinzheng, who had successively served as the head chef of the county court and the state capital, and then entered Beijing to become a royal chef, and opened the Ding family restaurant on the north street of the old city after returning to his hometown.
Because Xinzheng was the main north-south transportation route of the "Kyushu Thoroughfare" in ancient times, royal officials and celebrity merchants from the south to the north had to pass through here, and during the Qing Dynasty, the local officials stationed in the capital often came here to dine, so the flavor of various places and the cooking skills of the official government were also transmitted to the Ding family restaurant.
The Ding family combined the flavors of northern and southern cuisine and improved the traditional "strip meat" button bowl to create this dish, which quickly became a well-known dish in the New Zheng family, which has been passed down by six generations and has a history of more than 100 years.
So how is this historic and delicious dish made? In fact, it is not difficult, first choose a pound of fat and moderate pork, cut into two finger width, two and a half inches long, half finger thick pieces of meat; the millet or glutinous rice is cleaned and dried, mixed with peppercorns and stir-fried, rolled out;
Then mix the sugar, noodle sauce, green onion, ginger shredded, mix with soy sauce, and then put the sliced pork belly in it and knead it repeatedly to make it taste, and then put seven or eight slices in each bowl and put them into the steamer basket.
After about two hours, you can take out the buckle plate, the tamales after the buckle plate are clear in color, like crystal, red and white, put a piece in the mouth, fat but not greasy, the sauce is prominent, it is a kind of enjoyment! (Image from the Internet)