Qijiawan in Nanjing is a Muslim settlement, which is said to have existed during the Ming Dynasty. Because of the relationship between faith and ethnicity, the relatively closed and stable living habits of Qijiawan are more conducive to the inheritance of food culture, and most of the traditional specialties of Nanjing are now related to Qijiawan.
After so many years of development and integration, Hui people's diets such as brine duck, dried cut beef, and pot stickers have entered the streets and alleys of Nanjing City and have become popular varieties that do not distinguish between Hui and Han. But some unpopular food is really only available in more traditional Muslim shops, such as "bacon".
May 2018 Jinshajing Jinji
The smoked beef is bright red in color and soft and crispy in taste, although it does not reach the level of melting in the mouth, but it is almost the same, and the old lady without teeth can enjoy it. The taste is not complicated by spices, but it is close to the salted beef in Western Province, and you can eat the aroma of the beef itself.
In the past, there were many shops selling smoked beef in Qijiawan, but my mother-in-law liked to buy the one north of the qijiawan intersection on Guanghua Road, saying that his family's bacon was exquisite. Everyone calls that shop "Fuchun" (probably pronounced this). I also know that the shop is a household, and there is a wooden barrel selling bacon in the doorway. Later, because the demolition of the shop was gone, my mother-in-law's family did not buy much smoked beef.
Qijiawan traditional restaurant will have smoked beef for sale, if you happen to catch up with the meal near Qijiawan, a bowl of smoked beef noodles is also a good choice, I think the flavor is not as exquisite as Fuchun, but the basic characteristics of smoked beef are still there.
July 2010 Jinshajing Jinji Smoked beef noodles
Later, due to various reasons such as moving, Qijiawan went to qijiawan less, and had not eaten bacon for several years.
In 2018, in time for a meal in Jinshajing, I came to Jinji with a bowl of long-lost smoked beef noodles. The result was quite disappointing, completely without a soft and crisp texture, and the taste was not right. Is there a problem with the craftsmanship of this shop, can not make traditional bacon, during that time I went to several traditional Muslim shops to eat bacon, the taste and taste are different, but not the flavor of the past bacon.
May 2018 Jinshajing Jinji Bacon Noodles
Later, when I told my mother-in-law about this, my mother-in-law also felt sorry. She said that in the past, smoked beef was boiled with salt and salt, and the difference in the taste and taste of the various houses of smoked beef is largely due to the amount of salt used and the length of the marinade time.
I remember that in the past, Liuhe had a famous product, "Liuhe Beef Breast", which was as crispy as smoked beef. Run to the six-in-one to ask, and now the traditional flavor of "six-in-one beef breast" is no longer there. The master said that to do beef breasts to use "nitrate", and later the state grasped food safety and rectification of food additives, and the use of "nitrate" was limited, so the method changed, and the flavor changed.
It also makes sense to think about it, not only the smoked beef and beef breasts, but also the current Zhenjiang cuisine is different from the traditional flavor, and it seems to be related to the change of ingredients.
With the progress of science, some unhealthy eating methods in the past must be adjusted and changed in line with the times, after all, between delicious and healthy, most people will choose to be healthy...