After sorting out the previous catalog, I found that there were two less types of "five meats" introduced earlier. Here's a supplement.
Let's talk about the "five meats" first. Here first of all, we must clarify a concept, the word "meat" does not mean animal food, but a plant with a "cursive head". What plants? It is a plant with a pungent odor. "Five Meats" is also called "Five Spices". In the "Materia Medica And Vegetable Department", it is recorded: "The five meats are five spices, which are spicy and smelly. Alchemists take coriander, garlic, leek, shallot, and coriander (coriander) as the five meats; the Taoists use the herbs, garlic, leeks, onions, and coriander (coriander) as the five meats; and the Buddhists use onions, garlic, leeks, herbs, and Xingqu as the five meats. Xingqu is Aweiye. "I introduced garlic, leeks, and coriander in the previous introduction." Xingqu "is rarely seen in our recipes, so I will not write it, and what needs to be added here is the onion and the grass.
Let's start with onions. Allium is a perennial herb of the genus Allium in the family Liliaceae. The crop is native to Siberia, but was introduced to China very early through the northern peoples. The Guan Zi Jie Records that the Duke of Qi Huan "went north to the mountains, produced winter onions and rong shu rong, and clothed the world". However, this onion is only one of today's onions, and in the Han Dynasty, another kind of onion was introduced from the western region for the second time, known as "shallots", which combined with chinese native onions to form the family of today's onions. In terms of large classification, onions can be divided into green onions and shallots.
Let's start with green onions. Green onion can be said to be one of the representative ingredients belonging to the north, the famous Shandong Zhangqiu green onion is the representative of today's green onions, it has the characteristics of tall, long, crisp and sweet, short up to 1.5 meters, high up to 2 meters, on the weight of its single plant, the weight of up to 1.5 kg, as early as the Ming Dynasty Emperor Jiajing Emperor on the imperial seal of Zhangqiu green onion as "the king of onions". There are two varieties of this kind of green onion: large sycamore and qifu wind: the personality of the qishengfeng is rough, short and thick, not as sweet and juicy as the large sycamore, but it is very disease-resistant, and it is often planted by farmers and sold to the south. The large sycamore was a little more expensive and sold to the north and Japan. Shandong's diet in the green onion occupies an important position, in addition to the famous pancake roll scallions, scallion fried meat, sea rice roasted scallions, scallion roasted sea cucumber, etc. are representative dishes of Lu cuisine, and it is for this reason that Shandong is also known as "onion province". Shandong's green onions are very long and very thick, not only not spicy, but also have a sweet taste, so in addition to stir-frying, raw eating, especially dipping sauce, is also very delicious. Not only in Shandong, but also in the whole north there is a tradition of eating green onions raw. Winter storage of green onions is a characteristic of life in the north. Green onions are probably the least afraid of freezing vegetables, and can be left to dry for a few days in winter, and then beaten into small bales and placed in the shade. There is a saying called "green onions are afraid of moving and not afraid of freezing", which means that after storage, do not turn it over without any problems.
Shallots are generally called chives, shallots, shallots, shallots and so on. The shape of the shallot is like a shrunken green onion, the green onion is long and white, and the leaves are thin. Generally the plant is about 20-30 cm tall, with green leaves, cylindrical, hollow, and tapering apex. The main function of spring onions is to remove fishy Titian. The aroma of spring onions and green onions are very different, is a very habitual taste of southerners, its titian effect in many dishes is equivalent to a foot in the door, that is, often the end of the dish sprinkled with a handful of chopped shallots, both titian and color. In fact, the way to eat shallots is also raw and cooked. In addition to stir-frying, shallots are found in cold dishes such as shallots and tofu.
Whether it is a green onion or a shallot, it contains two flavors, one is spicy and the other is spicy. The spicy taste is different from the spicy pepper, and the spicy taste of the onion mainly comes from the "garlic spicy", concentrated in the bulb part of the onion, that is, the white onion, so the "green onion" is far less spicy than the "green onion". At the same time, garlic is insoluble in water, so it is difficult to remove the taste by cutting the chopping board of the onion, peeling the hand of the onion, and directly washing it with water. But the magic is that the spicy taste will disappear automatically after cooking, because the garlic is afraid of heat and acid. The spicy flavor type of onion mainly comes from several "sulfides": propylene sulfide, methyl mercaptan and so on. They are hidden in the cells of plants and are released when the pectin in the cell wall softens or the cellulose separates, forming a pungent fragrance that obscures the odor and stimulates people's appetite. This is why green onions are usually cut into small pieces such as green onions and shredded shallots, which is the main reason why green onions are used as condiments.
Just like the attitude towards coriander, people also "love to die of love, hate to hate", and many people I am familiar with do not eat onions, mainly because they dislike the taste of sulfides.
There are so many shallots that I can't count them. The more common ones are shallot oil noodles, shallot oil cake, shallot mixed with tofu, green onion dipping sauce, and so on. In addition, Beijing roast duck, Tianjin pancake fruit, etc. are inseparable from the blessing of green onions.
In our eastern neighbor Japan, we are also very particular about eating green onions. Green onions are produced in the western part of Tottori Prefecture, and the soy sauce produced there is "Onion Dew", which is an important raw material for ramen soup base. At the same time, shredded green onions and green onions are also used extensively in the side dishes of Japanese ramen. In addition, "Nine shallots" (くじょうねぎ) are often used in Japanese cuisine, which is a representative variety of green onions in Japan and one of the representatives of "Kyono cuisine". Because during the Edo period, this kind of green onion was widely cultivated in the Kujo area of Kyoto, so it was named "Kujo Onion". Kujo onion is a traditional vegetable in Kyoto, divided into two cultivated varieties, thick and thin, the main features are that the green onion is very short, the green onion leaves are long, and the green and oily green onion leaves are also the main edible parts. The texture of the nine shallots changes with the seasons: the spring onions are soft and refreshing; in the summer and autumn, the flavor is gradually stronger and the spicy taste is obvious; and in the winter, especially after the frost, it will have a faint sweetness. Nine shallots can be seen everywhere in Japanese cuisine, such as shallots in Kansai-style sukiyaki, and even the special "nine onion ramen".