People often say that "the thousand-year-old dynasty looks at Beijing, the three-thousand-year-old capital looks at Xi'an, and the five-thousand-year-old civilization looks at Shanxi." Shanxi not only has a long history, but also countless cuisines. Among them, as one of the top ten famous foods in Shanxi, "Bowl Saucer" is the first Shanxi cuisine I came into contact with, which has always been remembered by me as a foreigner.
<h1>Historical stories</h1>
The delicacies we are familiar with now, even some Internet celebrity delicacies, were actually created in the poor years, such as Guilin rice noodles, dried sweet potatoes, all snacks made of potatoes, etc., and the bowl holder is no exception.
Once, due to the inconvenience of transportation, Chengde people rarely ate a meal of white noodles. Buckwheat, a common local crop, quickly attracted the attention of some small businessmen, who used camels as a means of transportation to drive buckwheat from the surrounding counties and process it into bowls.
At that time, in the area of Erxianju in the downtown area of Chengde, a number of restaurants with soba noodles as the main food were opened. There are also more than a dozen stalls selling bowls and lumps. Because its location is in The Erxian Residence, the old Chengde people are accustomed to calling it "Erxianju Bowl".
In the Qing Dynasty, the seven emperors such as Kangxi and Qianlong came to Chengde every year to patrol and hunt, and stayed at the summer resort for up to half a year. The princes and ministers and the harem ladies also came with them.
At first, the concubines who lived in the villa were palace women, and after learning the news that the bowls of the Erxianju were delicious, they asked the eunuchs to go out to buy them, and later, they called the young man who sold the bowls to the palace to send them to the palace. One after another, the value of the Erxianju Bowl has increased greatly, and it has become a very famous snack.
To this day, Chengde still has a pun on the quip of "Erxianju Bowl Lump - Fried (Sharp) Thorough". The meaning is not only that the fried bowls are delicious, but also that the people who sell the bowls will do business.
<h1>The delicate workers live out the delicacies slowly</h1>
Usually we see the bowl holder is just watching the master cut the seemingly solidified paste-like things into pieces and sprinkle the ingredients, it seems to be very simple, in fact, the production of the bowl holder is more complicated than we think, and the maker must not only be careful but also patient.
Blanch the freshly ground soba noodles in boiling water to remove the bitterness of the buckwheat. Then add water to beat into a paste and gently stir into a pot of water. The water in the pot should be no more and no less, just right.
There is more water, the bowl holder made is sticky and cottony, the water is less than the bowl holder is hard and fragile, and the taste is not good.
After the noodles are put into the pot, first bring to a boil over high heat, then slowly simmer over low heat. Stir while simmering to prevent sticking to the pan. After simmering, start the pot in time, use a spoon to scoop the cooked buckwheat batter into a bowl or basin, put it in a cool place, and let it dry for a few hours before eating.
Just look at the words "just right, slowly, and in time" to know that food is not rushed out, but slowly boiled out by fine workers.
With the bowl holders famous everywhere, in order to meet the demand, industrial production began, but the factory made of bowl holders can not be compared with the fine work of the bowl holders.
<h1>The three major bowls in Shanxi have their own advantages</h1>
Bowl toyin dialect differences can also be called bowls, bowls, bowls, different names but things are the same delicious, in the country not only hebei Chengde bowl holders and Shaanxi Yulin bowl holders, Shanxi bowl holders are enough to have three kinds, next let the small straw hat for everyone to introduce one by one.
1. Pingyao Bowl, which was deeply loved by Cixi
The Pingyao Bowl Tray was first created by Dong Xuan, a chef at Chengnanbao during the Guangxu Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, and has a history of more than 100 years. In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu, when Empress Dowager Cixi fled west to Xi'an via Pingyao, after tasting this food, she was full of praise and gave a heavy reward on the spot. As a result, the bowl holder became famous and became a local famous food.
Pingyao's bowl holder is different from other places' bowl holder, in addition to cold mixing and hot stir-frying, I think this is also the biggest feature of Pingyao bowl holder. When people are accustomed to eating cold and refreshing bowl holders, a bowl of warm stir-fried bowl holders must also have a different taste.
Little Straw Hat has only eaten cold mix for hot stir-fry is also very curious, if you have the opportunity to be sure to come to a bowl of hot stir-fried bowl holder in the cold winter.
Second, the willow bowl is heavy in chili oil
Locals can eat the bowl without any other sauce, but they must not put chili oil, which is the key to the mellow taste of the bowl.
Although the method of chili oil is relatively simple, the choice and details of some materials cannot be ignored. First of all, the pepper must be a dried chili pepper dried in the sun, then be sure to put enough oil and stir-fry with ginger and garlic, stir-fry until it is thick and mushy, and finally bottled and you are done. Locals say that eating other sauces of willow grove dumplings can be eaten without, but not without chili oil.
Third, the quality of the world's best, the world's unparalleled Baode bowl holder
The reason why Baode Bowl has the reputation of "superior quality and unparalleled in the world" lies in the choice of raw materials and the production of dipping soup. The authentic Soba noodles used in the Authentic Baode Bowl are sifted off the coarse, black, leaving white and fine ones, called "Shangsho soba noodles". Baode County is rich in buckwheat, and the surface of the bowl made of local buckwheat is crystal clear, the powder is slightly translucent blue, the texture is soft and fine, and the taste is excellent.
The second is the dipping soup, which can be said to be the soul of the Baode bowl. Its main condiments are garlic, ginger powder, aged vinegar, salt, sesame oil and cold boiled water, which is missing.
Among them, the most important is that all kinds of condiments should be put properly, and the other is to put water first and then put vinegar, if the order of this procedure is reversed, the dipping soup will be white and only have a garlic smell.
As long as it is done in the correct way, the dipped soup will not deteriorate for many days. There is also a special meat bowl tray, as the name suggests, that is, pork foam is added to the dipping soup, and the meat eater's friends may wish to try it.
<h1>My story with the bowl holder</h1>
The first time I ate the bowl saucer was when I was just in college, the local students in Shanxi brought us the specialties brought by the students from other places, at first I didn't have much appetite when I looked at it black, but when I mixed the pepper and vinegar into my mouth, I finally knew why the Shanxi classmates wanted to give the bowl tray to us as a meeting gift.
Later listened to Shanxi students said, this kind of factory production of bowl holders is not authentic, let me have the opportunity to eat in the store to eat pure handmade, sure enough, the flavor of the bowl holders in the store is not ordinary, compared with wholesale, the taste is more delicate, the spices are more abundant and fresh, taste the mouth is melted.
Since then, the bowl holder has become the "white moonlight" in my heart, and this small bowl holder carries not only my memories of Shanxi but also the nostalgia for the warm hospitality of Shanxi classmates.
As the saying goes, love and food can not be disappointed, the small straw hat introduced here presumably everyone has been salivating it, hurry up and eat Shanxi's various bowl holders!