Li Yihao | Journey food

Li Yihao (1903~1990): Proletarian revolutionary of the older generation, diplomat, Marxist-Leninist philosopher, historian, participated in the Nanchang Uprising in his early years, worked in the Central Special Branch, translated "The Biography of Marx", "Selected Translations of Marx's Papers", and Marx's "The Poverty of Philosophy". He participated in the Long March, and later worked in the New Fourth Army, served as the secretary general of the New Fourth Army, and served in the Huaihai District and the Northeast Brigade Region during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as The Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar and Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the State Council. From 1974 to 1982, he served as executive deputy director and adviser of the Central Liaison Department. He has a good foundation in the study of ancient Chinese literature, and in 1982 he was appointed as the head of the Planning Group for the Collation and Publication of Ancient Books of the State Council. He also served as the president of the China Association for International Exchange and the Guo Moruo Research Association.

One

The middle school I attended in Chengdu (1919-1921) was a boarding Chengdu Union Middle School (now Chengdu Shishi Middle School). Eat at school monday through saturday, but free on Sunday. Sometimes I go out for a snack, sometimes I go out for lunch. The place to eat snacks is probably a bun shop in Qingshiqiao, eating golden hook buns. The fillings are pork fillings and sea shrimp rice. Sichuan calls the golden yellow sea shrimp rice "golden hook", hence the name. Ding ZiJiao, in the middle school site near the front street of the Temple of Literature, there is a small shop of tamales and tamales, using small steamers, and now Sichuan is still like this, eating a few cages will be full. The price was very low, and it is worth remembering the place where the family had lunch.

What is now called "fast food" actually had this business method in Chengdu more than sixty years ago. The name of the restaurant is "Shu Hong", the address is Xinjiekou, and the restaurant is the car hall of a huge mansion rented. As soon as the large mansion enters the gate, there is such a large open hall with five openings. You can get on and off the palanquin, and the original palanquin is also parked. Only sell rice, not alcohol. The dish is steamed, stewed, braised, or some cold dish, without stir-frying. In this way, the dishes are prepared in advance, and the dishes are served at one point, all the same. For example, five of our guests can order three dishes, or six servings of what dishes. Steamed, there are tamales, tamales, steamed fatty sausages, steamed bacon, steamed chowder, steamed button meat, steamed chicken nuggets... Stewed, there are white meat slice soup, pork lung pea soup, rock sugar elbow, goulash... Braised chicken, braised pork, braised pork, braised fatty sausage, braised beef, braised pig's trotters... Cold dishes, including spicy shredded chicken, garlic white meat, sauce belly, cold mix tripe, braised cabbage, sausage... Twenty or so samples are prepared every day, and the dishes are very good. Eating, not counting the price of rice; kimchi, one dish after another on the other table, self-selected, also does not make a price. There is no stir-fry, one point on the table, so the dish is fast, completely called "fast food". At that time, we were all middle school students, and we were very naughty to say a little better. Four or five classmates went and only ordered three or four dishes. Since rice and kimchi don't cost money, it's all about eating and kimchi, and three or four dishes are only the cheapest. A meal will not exceed a dollar. Now the memories are written out, which is meaningless. But I'm retracing that fast-food approach to business, and even now, it's worth promoting.

Two

When I was in Chengdu, when I was in middle school, there were several good restaurants. There is also a company called "Duoyi" that operates in a similar way to "Shu Yi", but it has stir-fried vegetables, you can drink wine, the dishes are medium, nothing more than chicken, duck and fish meat, so the price is also more reasonable.

The other is called "Pillow River Building", on the edge of the Jinjiang River, there are flowers, trees, bamboo and stone victories at the entrance. The upper floor is separated by one room, and the window faces the Jinjiang River, which can overlook the village in the distance, so the business is good. Of course, the roasted dishes are good, Sichuan inland, in addition to chicken, duck and fish meat, Guihai flavor, such as dried scallops (Sichuan dialect called "Yaozhu"), squid, sea cucumbers, etc., this building is doing well, there is a steamed dried scallops, I can still remember, than the major hotels in Beijing are now doing stronger. It uses garlic as a base -- not the kind of garlic that is combined by several garlic cloves, but each garlic is a whole cone, on which the best dried scallops are placed, one by one, and are not allowed to scatter. Steamed on the back end of the table, a unique garlic aroma, very inviting. At this time, the cooked garlic has rotted like mud, absorbing the fresh aroma of dried scallops, without a hint of raw garlic. This dish is mainly anti-guest, not to appreciate the taste of the main dish of dried scallops, but to appreciate the taste of garlic at the bottom of the dish. Similarly, there is another dish, tofu fish. Use tender tofu (Beijing city's southern tofu) to cook fish, of course, use peppers, after cooking, the bowl noodles are red and white, tofu covered on the fish, can not see the fish, only see the tofu. It is also a reverse dish, mainly eating tofu with a fish flavor, fish is not interesting. This building has another nickname, the Jianghu people call it "whole pig building". Because the price of vegetables is extremely expensive, to go to the "Pillow River Building" must bring more money, Sichuan is commonly known as the rich people as "fat pigs", so it got this name. Nevertheless, customers are willing to be "pigs" because the dishes are really well done. At that time, there was also a most exclusive restaurant in Chengdu, called "Jufeng Garden", which was patronized by warlord bureaucrats and ordinary students could not afford to eat. I was only taken to eat it once, and I can't tell what I've eaten now.

When you are a student, you naturally don't just go to the Pillow River Building, let alone Jufeng Garden. Sichuan custom is to sit in a teahouse, which is still the same. On Sundays, a few students went to the south to play football, visit relatives, go out of the city to visit Du Fu Caotang and so on. Most of them go to Shaocheng Park or take a teahouse in the persuasion field. The skill is in a "sitting" word, about six or seven hours a sitting. In addition to drinking tea, you can also meet friends, gossip, eat snacks, read the newspaper of the day, and so on. You can also order a few dishes for lunch in the tea house, and the dishes are also well done. If you don't sit in the teahouse, sometimes you go to the Wangjiang Tower, which is famous for Xue Taojing, where there are also meals. Sometimes go to Huangchengba to eat a bowl of beef, Huangchengba is a place where Chengdu Muslims live, and there are good halal restaurants. The current Huangchengba district has changed, and there is no longer a halal restaurant. When I write this beautiful memory, I am overwhelmed with emotion!

Forgive me for not seeing it. Sichuan cuisine is always based on taste, and it is fun to engage in those fancy embellishments and playthings, I don't know when it began? And it has become more intense, mainly to see, and it is not very good to eat.

Three

In 1932, I left Shanghai for the Jiangxi base area, and in the winter of 1934 I went to the fujian, Zhejiang, and Gansu fronts to inspect the work, but it was the time to abandon Taining and retreat to Jianning. I have paratyphoid fever, and there is no effective medicine, as long as the intestinal wall is not broken, I have a high fever, and after a four-week cycle, it will naturally gradually get better. At that time, the attending doctor was comrade Peng Zhen, my compatriot and the former minister of health, who unfortunately was bombed by a Kuomintang plane during the Long March and died.

After recovering from his illness, Comrade Yang Shangkun was then the director of the Political Department of the Front Line and sent me ten silver dollars for recuperation. Before leaving, Comrade Li Kenong asked me, "Don't you thank Minister Peng?" In fact, he wanted me to cook a meal, which was called Guanyin and invited the Arhat. There were about eight or nine comrades on a table, and I remember that there were Commander-in-Chief, Director Yang, Comrade Li Kenong, Comrade Peng Zhen, and I can't remember who else, anyway, half of the guests were tianjin people, so I dared to make chili dishes. At that time, it was the war years, and Jianning was not a Tongdu Dayi, but a small city on the edge of Fujian Province, and could not find any good raw materials, only chicken and meat, fish and duck, but it would be matched. Jiangxi and Fujian (Sichuan and Hunan are the same) have a kind of root called sweet potato, or famous pear, cut into slices and fried in pork slices "slippery meat". Jianning out of jianlian, take the lotus seeds chopped into mud, imitation lentil puree, made into lotus puree, sweet and hot, also OK. Of course, there are spicy chicken shreds, mapo tofu and the like, which can be matched. After the comrades ate it, they were satisfied, and I was able to confess it.

I also wanted to eat rice all day long, this time it was time to eat "cheek noodles", I rolled out the egg noodles, and bought several large bowls of tofu brain from the street to make a noodle soup with tofu brain. Everyone feels fresh and loves to eat. However, the hungry are easy to eat, and today comrades may not be willing to eat the dishes I make, and I may not be able to make any dishes. But ten years later, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, in 1944 I showed my hand again at the headquarters of the New Fourth Army.

Four

In the autumn of 1934, the Long March began.

On the Long March Road, sometimes the supply is good, sometimes the supply is not good, which mainly depends on the region. Hunan and Sichuan are good, guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan are a little worse. Of course, the worst are northwest Sichuan and Gansu. No matter what life is, it's coming. Fifty years ago, as long as it is the Long March, is always a good memory.

In addition to the big pot of rice, the marching army always has the opportunity to make something to eat, and it is difficult to find tea leaves on the march. Tea cannot be faked, so coffee is faked. After the meal, get some wheat to fry in oil close to charcoal yellow, the lower half of the scoop of water, a boil, the water color turns yellow, with bitterness, sugar-free, add some saccharin, a cup of coffee will come out. This became a frequent method for several of us on the Long March.

Most of the route of the Long March was rice-producing areas, and every meal was rice every day. Sometimes I find a way to change the taste, if I find lard, flour, and I can borrow a pan from the people's home, I will make my own pot stickers. We are all Southerners and don't know that eating dumplings is a big deal. In any case, the same material, the same method, the steamed pot sticker is more fragrant than dumplings, the more skillful the craftsmanship, our pot sticker is even famous.

When passing through Xuanwei, Yunnan, I got a large number of hams, but unfortunately, the cooking class cut it into pieces, put it into a large pot, mixed with a few scoops of water and boiled, the ham meat had no taste, leaving a large pot of oil soup. Some comrades are very sophisticated, and they declare that they will not cook in the public house. Divide a piece of raw ham, take it yourself and steam it, everyone knows the reason why Sherwin-Williams ham is also Sherwin-Williams ham. At this point, Comrade Xiao Jinguang gained a lot, and in addition to leaving one grid for rice, the other grids were fully filled with Xuanwei ham. This reminds me of Comrade Shao Shiping, whose kettle is not filled with thirst quenching water, but filled with a pot of Moutai wine. After leaving Moutai for a few days, he still had a drink, which was enviable.

The most arduous part of the Long March was in the two or three months in northwest Sichuan, when the rations were dried up, the cauldron of rice was not opened, and the rations were prescribed for five days per person, but in fact I ate them in two and a half days or three days, and I was ready to starve for two days. But there was no way out, the march to a place, there was a village, there were fresh pea seedlings on the ground, there were dried radishes, and I found ghee, that is, milk oil, and I was given a big teacup, which saved my life. After eating butter, I can't help but feel refreshed, and I believe that its nutritional value is great. At that time, Comrade Dong Biwu marched with us all the way, and a comrade gave him half a leg of wild lamb, and he knew that we had some cooking skills, so he handed it over to us to do, explaining that each part was equally divided, and of course we were willing to accept this small task.

After rushing through the Lazi Pass, enter Gansu with a victorious posture. One night at hada shop in Lintao County, Gansu Province, several people jointly won a silver dollar and bought a sheep. We follow the customs of the Hui people here, and the slaughter of sheep asks the seller to do as it is, because there is a direction problem, we do not understand it, the sheepskin belongs to the seller, we only want mutton, so the price should be so. A few of us took the sheep and of course there were lamb pot stickers. In one fell swoop, a few of us wiped out an entire sheep that night. To this day, I don't quite believe it, but it is.

The Long March was over, the early march, and comrades Pan Hannian and Huang Zhen in the same unit... In the later period of the march, comrades Xiao Jinguang, Comrade Song Shilun, Comrade Zhou Shidi, Comrade Cheng Fangwu, Comrade Feng Xuefeng, and sometimes Comrades Xu Teli and Dong Biwu were in the same unit.

Five

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, I was doing local work in the Huaihai region of northern Jiangsu (from 1941 to 1947) In the autumn of 1944, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was about to be won, I went to the East China Bureau and the New Fourth Army To report on my work, leaving from Siyang, passing through Gaoliangjian (now hongze county), taking a boat across Hongze Lake, to the Huanghuatang East China Bureau in Tianchang County, Anhui Province, where the military department was located.

The report was also reported, and the task was also received, and it was ready to return to huaihai district. Unfortunately it rained heavily at night and the next day, and there was a wind on the lake, which was not good to walk. Just on the third day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Comrade Chen Yi came up with the idea to stay another day and make them a Mid-Autumn Festival dinner. I hesitated for a moment, saying that there were so many chiefs of the East China Bureau and the Military Department that they could not do it. Finally, the east limit is limited to the west, set at twenty-four people, two tables. In that case, I demanded a "right" in which both the chief secretary and the cookers would obey my command. Arrange to prepare what dishes you can make, although there is no seafood, but near the Hongze Lake water network area, there are fish and shrimp, the dish is much easier to do. The director went to prepare the materials, and the cook listened to my arrangement. What dishes to cut, what dishes to want what ingredients, the order of serving, etc., are all set in order. The menu is four cold cuts, six hot dishes, and one soup. That day, I went down to the kitchen after breakfast and was busy until noon when I started to bring a few dishes to the table. Of course, the dishes will not be as fancy as today, and the materials will not be as good as today, they are all ordinary dishes. But the chicken, fish, and meat are very fresh, and I have put a lot of thought into it, and most of them still have the taste and are delicious. Zhang Yunyi's wife is from Hong Kong, and she was very surprised that I, a Sichuanese, had learned this hand from.

These two tables of rice are much easier to do than Jianning's time, the cooking level of the cooks is relatively high, the materials are relatively complete, and they can be selected in terms of materials, which is not the condition that Jianning has that time. I'm not a chef in my business, but I've officially made three tables of dishes in difficult times in my life. Comrades who ate the Mid-Autumn Festival dinner included Comrade Chen Yi and Comrade Zhang Qian, Comrade Zhang Yunyi and his wife, Pan Hannian, Hu Lijiao, Song Yuhe, Zeng Shan, Lai Chuanzhu, Peng Kang, and several other responsible comrades of the East China Bureau and the Military Department. Unless you do "external adjustment" for this sesame big thing. But there is such a thing in real life.

Six

Now there is MSG, no matter what dish is made, anyone can pick up a handful, and the taste of the dish is almost the same. But without MSG, Chinese chefs and housewives with a little bit of cooking skills have another set of skills, which can make seasoned soups. Take this soup to increase the umami flavor of the dishes you make. Because when cooking vegetables, it is always necessary to constantly add water to adjust the concentration of vegetable juice. The common way is to add white water, and the restaurant often uses broth or altar, but it is better to make a seasoned soup before cooking, and take this soup to cook vegetables, and the dish tastes good. First of all, it is light, there is no oil at all, not greasy; secondly, it is umami, fresher than chicken and broth; again it looks clear and not mixed, which is not comparable to chicken and broth. There is this pot of soup on the edge of the pot, and when any soup must be made with water, it is not white water, but a spoonful of this soup, which is equivalent to the water with MSG added now.

However, it is very difficult to make this pot of soup. Wrap a small packet of spices and chicken minced meat in a white cloth, boil it in boiling water, the fire cannot be large, you must constantly stir with a spoon, and you must beat all the foam floating on the soup. The salty and umami flavor of the soup is extracted from a small stalk of Sichuan winter vegetables and sprouts, without salt. I once told Mr. Chen Shulao, who is better than using MSG, to Mr. Chen Shutong. In fact, the Chen family has not used MSG to cook, so he greatly appreciates my opinion. Sometimes when Elder Chen invited us to have a light meal at his house, he always affirmed that the dishes on his table did not contain MSG. That's the smell of nature. Because any meat dish has its natural own delicacy. But also to avoid the opposite side, such as burning fish to make a plate of fishy, it is also a lack of effort.

Eating a light meal in Uncle Chen's hometown, sometimes only a large porcelain plate was served, and there was no other dish except for the last person's bowl of soup. That kind of large porcelain plate is now difficult to find, and Jingdezhen is afraid that it will not be fired. When the diameter is fifty centimeters long, take three times, and the circumference of the disc is more than one hundred and fifty centimeters. This was the style of being a Beijing official at the end of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty government ordered that the banquet of the Beijing officials should not exceed several dishes, and it was difficult to be community. The Beijing officials came up with such a method to deal with the emperor, and there was only one dish. The content of this dish can be very rich, the center is a large pile of shark fins, surrounded by five or six kinds of dishes, which is really enough to be called a gourmet.

Source of the article: "Literati Diet Tan", thanks!