[I]
According to the current vision, renmin road in the ancient city of Dali in about 2010 is in and has been in the incubation period before the explosion of popularity for a long time. Shop rents are surprisingly low, and with the exception of the "Look Back at The Cold Chicken Rice Noodles" and the wet market, locals rarely visit the street.
When I was in middle school, Renmin Road was exactly such a stage. One morning sneaked out to buy Xizhou rice dumplings and was found by the English teacher. In class, she said that in the ancient city, there were two groups of people who spoke English and were self-taught. Time points to the 1880s onwards, all of whom were born in the "Tuba Road" tourism industry group. One type is to catch a horse-drawn carriage, pulling foreigners from the ancient city to the Three Pagodas, Erhai and even Butterfly Spring, Xiaguan to run, and the other type is to sell Xizhou Rice Dumplings.
Not only are the three pagodas the symbol of Dali, but so are the goldfinch birds
Dali Ancient City Renmin Road
I studied in the ancient city for less than a year, and I can't remember the name of the English teacher, but her appearance, especially the scene of imitating "Xizhou Cangcang English" for the whole class, has always been vividly remembered. She shouted:
"Hello Hello,
Xizhou tuna music ball,
Tie the miko to give,
Burn the knife drip".
Xizhou is a Bai settlement, and in the above lines, except for Halalo, which is In English, all others are Bai dialects. The uncles who sell Xizhou rice dumplings always greet the foreigners with a smile and greet each other warmly, "Look at my old watch, Xizhou rice dumplings are really delicious, brown sugar sweet and sweet oozing out, do not eat saliva flowing."
[2]
As a star of Dali cuisine, Xizhou Cangcang is a bit unknown.
Dali people call wheat cake food "粑粑", Xizhou rice dumpling was first named according to the appearance, and did not put the place name in front. In the two major tastes of sweet and salty, lard (also used butter) are indispensable, so that the rice dumplings in the baking process cracks, forming a "broken crisp" effect, "broken crispy rice" is also the earliest and only "former name" of Xizhou rice dumplings. Until now, the older Bai people are still used to calling it this way.
The fact that few people love business is the unified label of the Xizhou people, and they have been carrying it for nearly two thousand years. Before the Ming and Qing dynasties, dali has survived to the present day, and the "Ballad of Hezhao Jia Ke", written in the Nanzhao state period that stood side by side with the Tang Dynasty, refers to the Merchants of Xizhou. "Heyan" is the Bai dialect for Xizhou, which has been used to this day.
In Dali and even Yunnan, Xizhou people are all business experts, but there are also times of failure and frustration, and this poem describes the embarrassment of doing business in Baoshan and Dehong:
"Winter is coming back,
Gaoligong Mountain Snow.
Autumn and summer want to return,
Helplessly, the dome is hot.
Spring is coming,
The sac is full of bribes. ”
At present, on Xizhou Sifang Street, Yan Zizhen, the owner of the Yan family compound, is an outstanding representative of the Xizhou merchant gang, and several small stalls nearby are also typical symbols. While the four major families, the eight middle families and the twelve small families lead the way, there are also many small vendors who provide them with all-round basic support such as talents.
Many large merchants, starting out similar to selling Xizhou rice dumplings, small fights and toughness, so there is a word of mouth of "River Rumors of Jia Ke". Only a large number of "river merchants" who go out to do business can Xizhou break out of its current reputation.
[III]
The experience of Xizhou's fame in the province has some connection with the previously mentioned "Cangcang English". As one of the first popular attractions after the reform and opening up, Dali Ancient City Foreigner Street attracted many foreigners, shrewd Xizhou people, and recommended small carriages, rice dumplings and beautiful scenery to foreigners in "comparative" English with a large number of Bai accents. At the same time, inheriting the business tradition of their predecessors, they did business to the whole province and the whole country, and the broken crispy rice dumplings were gradually renamed "Xizhou Rice Dumplings". Many people believe that after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xizhou people broke into the provincial city of Kunming, and Xizhou cang made the brand loud.
Along with the name change, the star identity of this food was also determined.
It's red.
Now to travel to Xizhou, it is indispensable to see the Yan family compound. Out of the compound, there are Xizhou stalls on the left and right.
Today, the best business is located on the right side of the compound, but the oldest is actually the "Revival Broken Cake" shop next door. Unlike the rising stars who often highlight the two words "Xizhou Cang", you can also touch the context through the "Revival Broken Crispy Rice Dumpling" shop.
A "Xizhou Chronicle" introduced,
"Before the liberation of Xizhou Street, there were six popular food shops, that is, women and children are known as 'Sun Dingzhen oil powder', 'Dagou Broken Crisp', 'Xianyang Pickles', 'Zhang Zihui Soy Sauce', 'Li Shicai Beef', and 'Xicai Bait'."
On the signboard of the current "Fuxing Broken Crispy Rice Dumpling" shop, the far right side is written with "century-old brand" and the two words "Dagou", which is the bottom of this old shop in Xizhou.
It may not be the first one, but it is the one with the clearest heritage and the greatest reputation so far.
"Revival of Broken Cake" has been passed down from entrepreneurship before and after liberation to the fourth generation. From the founders onwards, three generations were all women, and only the second generation was male. After taking over his mother's craft, this male dumiao used his own name "Fuxing" as the name of the shop, but the villagers were more accustomed to calling him by his nickname "Dagou".
Over the years, due to the convenience of transportation, there have been countless small shops selling Xizhou rice dumplings on the two main roads around Xizhou. In another decade or two, these will become old shops, and there may be new Xizhou shanggang legends.
[Wanton]
In recent years, when Xizhou people celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, they are accustomed to processing mooncakes in rice shops. It's similar to what you eat, but magnified. First, the volume is enlarged, and the medium-looking small cake becomes a flatbread. The second is the increase in condiments, sweet needless to say, salty desperately put pork belly, and some are also specially customized with eggs.
But fifty or sixty years ago, mooncakes don't talk about Dali, even the provincial city of Kunming is a new thing. There is a book called "Xizhou Reminiscences" that says,
"Mooncakes are very rare food, all shipped from other places.
I remember, there are 'Yu Xiang Zhai' in Xiaguan, there are 'Ji Qingxiang' and 'Guansheng Garden' in Kunming...
Xizhou not only does not have a shop that produces mooncakes, but also has no consignment points."
Today's "Xizhou Rice Dumplings" are all round, smaller in diameter than football, and are divided into sweet and salty flavors. Sweet with sugar, salty with only green onions, or green onions with pork belly. Before the name "Xizhou Candy" became widely known, the Xizhou people had special names for different types of Rice Dumplings.
The sweet habit is called "broken puff pastry" or "broken puff pastry", which is always round. "Salty is in the form of long strips, such as cow's tongue", hence the name "cow's tongue".
In the populous town of Xizhou, "broken crisps" and "cow tongues" are often used as breakfast. The use of the largest sect was not originally in the Mid-Autumn Festival, but in the local red and white celebrations, it basically played the role of breakfast. In the past, eating "broken crisp" will get a sweet taste, and eating "beef tongue" will have salty delivery, needless to say. Now collectively known as Xizhou Cane, we have to ask specifically: "Salty or sweet?" ”
Knead the dough and add the filling
To achieve a crispy effect, adding lard (or butter) to the filling is the key
[Wu]
Not only is the origin of Xizhou Cangcang vague, but "broken crisp" may not be an invention of Dali. Further afield, the "four two lumps" and other Dian-style mooncakes and pastries in the provincial city of Kunming are either branched out of the province in terms of origin. In a book about Kunming's time-honored pastry shop "Hexianglou", it is recorded that a Manchu who came to Yunnan to make a living "combined the pastry making method of the Qing Palace with the pastry making method of Yunnan to create a series of Dian-flavored pastries represented by ham four two lumps (cloud leg mooncakes)." ”
Let's talk about Xizhou rice dumplings, which have the biggest relationship with mooncakes, just look at the oven.
In order to increase the speed of the rice, an electric fan is tied
Two layers of fire work at the same time, which is one of the main points of Xizhou Cang bar
Dali and many places in Yunnan old-fashioned mooncakes, or the cakes processed at home by ordinary people, like the practice of "up and down attack". The bread and the rice dumplings are in the middle, and there are two layers of charcoal fire on the top and bottom to ensure that the heat is even and continuous.
In addition to the advanced nature of the process, Xizhou rice dumplings and their own processing cakes are made of charcoal, which is purer than the machine.
When it is cold, it is not very tasty, and the aroma is greatly reduced. All the good business of Xizhou Cangcang storefront, is a pair of "immediate and desirable" style. A pot of rice dumplings is about the size of a manhole cover, and seven or eight rice dumplings are processed at the same time, which can be baked in about ten minutes.
If it is not a hundred thousand urgent, it is best to watch the whole process and then buy. The fan stirs the charcoal to a boil, and the pig-oil on the rice ball emits a nourishing slogan, integrating all the condiments. As the complexion changes from white to yellow, soon there will be fragrances that surround you from all sides.
Such rice dumplings will be more fragrant to eat.
By the way, the local way to eat it is to eat it with "oil powder" (pea flour). One cold and one hot, one oil and one vegetarian, it is simply a golden partner. Every time I go to Xizhou Square Street, I do this.
Pea flour - the locals call oil flour
Rice cold shrimp and papaya water are also a perfect match
Plus Eggs is luxury