Shiping County, Yunnan Province, has a pleasant and self-sufficiency in a corner. The wide driveways and cement houses of the new county town are not featured, but the old county town it wraps around, as if to give outsiders a hidden surprise, exuding the simplicity of the years. Life in traditional mountainous agricultural counties is relatively uninterrupted by the outside world and has its own idle rhythm.
The most concentrated manifestation of this idleness is the tofu stalls interspersed in the streets and alleys. The tofu stall is actually a barbecue stall, a barbecue iron mesh about 1 square meter square, charcoal burning on the bottom, and tofu cut into mahjong chunks on the top. The owners of tofu stalls are mostly middle-aged women, using two slender bamboo skewers to pull dozens of pieces of tofu, each piece of tofu needs to be turned back and forth, otherwise there will be a risk of burning. Some of the owners of roasted tofu coated the tofu with duck oil, which added flavor and was not easy to roast.
Barbecue stalls generally carry baked potato pieces, sweet potato pieces, meat pieces and so on, but tofu is the absolute protagonist, Yunnan people call this kind of roasted tofu "roasted tofu". According to the county chronicle, Shiping tofu was produced in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, and was selected as a tribute at the end of the Qing Dynasty, which has a history of five or six hundred years.
The tofu stall was low on the ground, and the small mazas around a circle were only a foot high, and the diners sat down on the low stools as if they had joined a meeting that the hostess was presiding over. Such a close relationship between diners and guests makes us a little embarrassed at once. Fortunately, when it comes to tofu, Shiping people can say one or two, and the strangeness disappears immediately.
They relished the uniqueness of Shiping, and the object of comparison was Mengzi, the capital of the Red River State, not far away. Shiping people will say: "After Mengzi's tofu is roasted, the skin looks very crispy, but when you bite open, the inside is very empty." Our tofu is different, it doesn't shrink when it's baked, and the tofu inside the skin is full, dense and tender. Mengzi's tofu is still not looked at by them, and tofu in other places is even more "without tofu flavor". Shiping tofu is delicate and smooth, chewed vigorously, full of flavor, and adds the caramelized aroma of charcoal after burning.
Tofu stalls are basically paired with rice noodle stalls, which are staple foods and tofu is like a snack. In order to fill their stomachs, some diners sit down at the tofu stall and order a bowl of rice noodles. The business of the tofu stall continues from morning to night, at noon parents bring their children from school to eat, young people on lunch breaks come in groups of three or five to eat tofu, middle-aged people who drink a little wine in the afternoon can eat for a long time, until the night there are also people who eat it as a supper.
The local people's love for roasted tofu stalls is like the Sichuan people's demand for teahouses, and walking dozens of meters up the streets and alleys will definitely meet one. The booming "Pan Jie Barbecue" is in the hutong of the county town's south main street, and the stalls are not easy to find, but the "Former Residence of Yuan Jiagu" next to it is very famous.
The plaque of "Dakui Tianxia" hanging from the East Gate City Tower of Shiping was set up because of Yuan Jiagu. Yunnan set up a province since the Yuan Dynasty, and for more than 600 years, the first person in the world was the only one in the world, Yuan Jiagu. This "economic special yuan" who won the first place in the first class of economic special science in the year of Qing Guangxu (1903) recorded the local characteristics: "There are several wells of acid water in (Shiping) City, which is not drinkable, and it is very delicious to use tofu. Unexpectedly, more than 100 years later, the roasted tofu stall next to his former residence roasted the most praised taste of the locals.
( The magic of Shiping tofu is that it uses underground well water, a good well, which is the foundation of the survival of the tofu factory )
Sister Pan is about 40 years old, with a smile on her round face, sitting on the charcoal side and sweating on her head. After her divorce, she lived alone with her daughter who went to middle school, and the diners teased her about finding another family member, and Sister Pan replied with a round mouth, and her hands did not stop for a moment. With one hand, she kept turning over the tofu like a juggler, and the other hand had to free up other work, adding food to the iron net, adding dipping sauce to the guests, collecting money to find money, and she couldn't idle for a moment.
(Pan Jie's roasted tofu stall.) Shiping people's love for roasted tofu is no less than the Sichuan people's demand for tea houses)
How to burn tofu is exquisite, turning over too early tofu is not heated enough, it is difficult to be heated and expanded; turning over a little later, there will be burnt black spots on the tofu, which is not beautiful, and there will be a hint of bitterness when eating. The tofu pieces that are just right to burn, the body is very round, the golden skin is slightly swollen, just absorbing the soup of the dipping sauce, but does not affect the crispness of the tofu skin chewed up.
Dozens of pieces of tofu above the charcoal are grilled to varying degrees, whether they prefer to be tender or burnt, all depending on personal preference. The tofu cubes used for roasting are left fresh tofu for a few days and sprinkled with a little salt, which is equivalent to marinating. As for whether the tofu is left for two or three days or five or six days, this depends on the preferences of the hostess and the taste of the guests. The tofu that has been put for a long time has a slight odor and is a little salty to eat, and some guests who like to drink are good at this bite. They also did not forget to be proud, "Shiping tofu grows out of the fermentation is a probiotic, which is good for the body." Regardless of whether this tofu really grows probiotics, this passion for local food alone gives people a glimpse of their satisfaction with life.
The ancient city is full of old houses, temples and pavilions, and there are also many people basking in the sun and chatting in front of the old county ya and confucius temple. In such a historical scene, the roasted tofu stall follows the local customs for hundreds of years, the barbecue method has not changed much, and the enthusiasm for tofu from generation to generation is the same.
The small stalls are like a flowing feast, and the relaxed and natural relationship between people and people can be seen everywhere with these tofu stalls. Originally, the barbecue stall only had seven or eight matzas, filled with guests, and if a new person arrived, everyone immediately huddled closer together to make room. The latecomer picked up the maza on the side and naturally joined the team that ate tofu side by side. The hostess will ask the guests what kind of dipping sauce they like, and immediately mix it on a small plate, including sweet and salty soy sauce, marinade sauce, pepper oil, coriander, mint, paste spicy seeds, etc.
Roasted tofu is a public food, and some people also order other foods to grill, and these a la carte food hostesses will put on a small plate and hand it to the guest. In this way, everyone has a dynamic communication with the hostess, and the diners who don't know crammed together also chatted together. Sometimes four or five people are gone at once, and two or three more people are added later.
We ate a meal of roasted tofu, and suddenly we were confused at checkout. These more than 10 guests gathered around to eat tofu, I can't remember how many pieces I ate, how can the hostess remember it? Sister Pan's mysterious smile will let you look at a few small dishes in her hand. It turns out that every time a diner corresponds to a plate, every time the guest eats a piece of tofu, she takes out a corn kernel and puts it on the plate and counts it for you. If the guest eats other food, she will take all kinds of small items to remember for you. These more than 10 plates are all in her hands, there is no ability to be quick and quick, all of a sudden, you have to mess up, don't forget that her other hand is still churning with tofu blocks. So I ate a meal of roasted tofu and had to admire the boss lady's skillful ability to use it.
When I understood the Shiping people's love to eat tofu complex almost well, I learned that the "Eighteen Monsters of Yunnan" has a phrase called "tofu is burned and sold", which shows that my fuss is also appropriate here, and the yunnan people's love for grilled tofu is indeed a must.
--------------------------------------------------
This article is excerpted from Shiping Tofu by Wu Qi.