1| trace back to the roots
Meatloaf, firmly grown on the land of North China.
Homely, simple, thin bread, tight meat, steaming, the aroma spread in the field, in the sand, in the water, a few bites after eating, smacking the mouth, the meat and the carb is still there.
In Beijing, the most common practice is to round the skin and thin bottom, spread the meat filling, fold it, cook it on both sides, cut it into eight large pieces, and eat it with vinegar and porridge. Tracing back to the source, this comes from the town of Xia Mat in Dachang Hui Autonomous County more than 200 years ago, when there was only beef stuffing, called meat fire - thick skin filling, can be carried around, to relieve hunger, at that time it was very popular with the public. The spark of the stars can burn the plains, and the meat cakes pass along the route of the capital to the east, passing into the four or nine cities.
Today, 200 years later, some people say that the meat cake was famous after the Qianlong Emperor tasted it, and some people say that the meat cake was famous after empress dowager Cixi appreciated it, and these legends are now difficult to distinguish. However, before Beijing became the capital in 1267 AD, the city had stood on the land of Yanzhao for thousands of years. Lifting the veil of the emperor's relatives and nobles, a large number of ordinary people have countless contacts and the same taste buds with their compatriots in North China, and the thick meat cakes imply the background of this land, rough and arrogant, plain but vast.
The standard for a good meatloaf is simple, just look at these three points:
[The skin is hard not to eat] A good meatloaf crust, both sides should be as thin and soft as a little tough, like a corner of the undershirt [skin out of oil do not eat] The best state is that the meat filling is oily and the skin does not produce oil, which shows that it is good oil and lean meat, eating is not greasy [onions more do not eat] Onion garlic eggs can not only cover up the taste, but also save the only disadvantage of the material is: not delicious
In addition, there is a kind of meat cake called mille-feuille, that is, the meatloaf with the filling is folded up and down, left and right, and the pot is "three flips and nine turns" after the pot is out of the pot, a layer of meat and a layer of cake, thin and fragrant, just like the Italian thousand layers, the more layers the higher the craftsmanship.
Donkey meat mille-feuille patty, photographed from bearded meatloaf shop
2| Beijing meatloaf
Meatloaf that satisfies these three points can hardly be found in Beijing, and there are only some legends such as "my mother will bake" and "delicious meatloaf is still made by my aunt". To say that the meat cake shop that is open to the outside world should be the closest to the Jingdong large meat cake in Heping. The shop is hidden on the first floor of the old public house along the street, although it is small, it is unusually clean. The front and back kitchens, separated by a glass door, the three chefs and the noodle pancakes can see clearly, the movements are sharp, and they are not worried about eating a bad stomach. There is only one kind of pork filling, the crust is light, the meat filling is fragrant but not greasy, it is stained with vinegar, and one or two pounds is not a problem. However, the meat of the large meatloaf is a little less, and the side of the cake cannot eat meat, which is slightly unhympathetic to eat.
Such a plate of meatloaf, I guess it will cost... Eat in 3 minutes!
I often go to Panjiayuan's Warwick meatloaf, the crowd is boiling, and the meals have to be pooled without queuing. By the standards of good patties, the meatloaf here is certainly not up to par — oily, greasy, and impossible to taste without porridge. But Sheng is close to home, the taste is fragrant, a pound of meatloaf, and then a teppanyaki beef tongue, mung bean porridge, haggis soup, two or three minutes to fill the small table, sizzling, next to the Beijing uncle on the red two light, hot meatloaf fiery atmosphere, feel the ordinary life is also red and red. I met the antique big brother who was busy here, and said to me with a smile: "Panjiayuan can't find antiques now, they are all handicrafts." He narrowed his eyes, "Or this meatloaf is real." ”
The iron plate of Warwick meatloaf is also a must, beef tongue, meat tendons, waist flowers, fragrant
At the end of the day, the origin of this atmosphere is the hutong. If you want to experience a handful of hutong meatloaf style, I would recommend the meatloaf near the market mouth. Compared to Warwick, it is more cramped and shabby, but the taste is reliable. At the entrance are a variety of cold dishes, two stainless steel iron pots filled with old soup beef and beef tendon. Sit down, a meatloaf, a small bowl of beef, a lamb casserole, and two kebabs to eat comfortably, and it will not cost you 100 yuan. The meatloaf here, stuffed with beef, is thin in skin and not oily, seasoned and richly seasoned, and when you eat it, it is plump and firm. The only drawback is that there are too many onions, which cover some of the meat flavor.
Eat a meal of meatloaf, there are fireworks of hutong life, homely, plain
It's not just these two meatloaf shops that blend into old Beijing life. Opened between the Forbidden City and Wangfujing, the riverside meatloaf tastes authentic and innovative, and also offers English menus , such as meatloaf, called beijing pie , which has become a beacon for the catering industry in the scenic spots, enthusiastically conveying the taste of new Beijing for tourists from all over the world. The meatloaf was slightly improved, but it was changed to be delicious. The first is the unique roast duck filling, followed by a slightly crispy crust and a yellow and clear texture, like a filter. There is also a kung pao chicken cube that is integrated into the life of the citizens of the capital, using chicken leg meat, which is sweet and sour. Although Kung Pao chicken is a Taoist dish, the world's most popular is still Beijing young men, according to my estimate, about 12.647% of Beijing men can eat Gongbao chicken for a week.
Other patties became legendary. Fuchengmen's big mother ghost cake, every night after 11 o'clock, only sells three things for 20 years - meat cakes, salted duck eggs, stick porridge, but every day it is overcrowded. In the previous stage, because of the strict management, the big mother changed to burn at home, need WeChat contact, in the Fuchengmen subway station next to the boutique park of the camel bronze statue to the secret number to take the cake, come in the dark, the freshly baked cake sandwiched with thick meat, thick stick slag porridge, the taste of heavy can add an egg, sandwiched in the cake to eat, eat satisfied, and the thrill of hunting, a supper has become a spy movie.
The background that needs the big mom WeChat signal asked me, let's organize a group transaction together
At the foot of the Imperial City, there must also be high-style meat cakes, such as Da Dong's book skin meat cakes, of which the Jinbao Street store is the first. This is a hidden dish, and when you arrive at the store, you need to ask the manager for a special question. "Book skin" has two meanings, one refers to the thin skin like book skin, and the other is harmonic puff pastry. As for why go to the Campbell Street store? In fact, it is because the master who made this meat cake is the person in charge of Da Dong's white case dim sum, known as the "Bun King", who has been stationed in the Da Dong Jinbao Street store for a long time. Eat a bite of Da Dong's meatloaf, crispy, rich in juice and fragrant. The chef's side dishes, like a piece of underwear under the Chinese clothes, are intimate and close to the stomach.
In fact, Beijing has its own meatloaf, that is, the door nail meatloaf that looks like the city gate nail, and like the meat cake, it is said that it is the favorite of Empress Dowager Cixi. An authentic door nail meatloaf, the size of a fist, must be stuffed with beef and scallions, covered with salt, sesame oil, pepper water, white pepper, wrapped in the upper skin to burn on both sides of the crisp, bite, the broth overflowing, the meat filling is firm, really like a strong fist. The door nail meatloaf shop I often visit is the Mars' door nail meatloaf in South Scissors Lane, which has plump meatloaf, lamb fat stir-fried tofu and above-standard popcorn. However, the store has recently closed. If you want to try this, the Baorui door nail meat cake in Chaoyangmen North Street and the ZengshunLou door nail meat cake near the overpass are all good choices. But remember, it must be burned, after 5 or 6 minutes, the cake is still hot, but the skin is too hard to bite.
Pauly door nail meatloaf, I did not eat the freshly baked, the dough is already hard
3| drive all the way to the east
To tell the truth, if you want to eat really delicious meatloaf, you still have to go to Xianghe in the eastern suburbs of Beijing. Xianghe meatloaf inherits the mantle of Jingdong meatloaf and carries forward its own characteristics. In Xianghe County, where 300,000 people are photographed, there are nearly 500 meatloaf shops with photos and those that do not. Xianghe people are almost fused with meat cakes, and every household will make them, large and small. I know a friend of Xianghe who often goes to his hometown to order rice bowls, and I ask him why? He said
"I miss the atmosphere of the meatloaf shop, and I can't eat too bad meatloaf."
From Beijing to Xianghe, it takes about an hour by car. There are the famous Tonghua Phoenix Meatloaf, Qilixiang Meatloaf, and countless Meatloaf Kings and Centennial Meatloafs. If I had to choose, I would go to the bearded meatloaf hidden in the furniture city, order different flavors of meatloaf, and chat with the owner beard for a while.
That's right, the one on the left is the beard
Their cakes are divided into mille-feuilles and ordinary ones, and there are seven different options for meat fillings alone. In addition to the regular beef donkey pork lamb, there is also sparrow meat pigeon meat, and if you book in advance, you can also eat meat cakes stuffed with snails. Each type of meat filling has different specialties:
Beef and donkey meat should have a sauce color, if you do not eat, the color will slowly become darker, is not a good meat injected with water;
Pigeon meat is a carrier pigeon that takes 28-31 days, and the specific point is the one that has just been able to fly from the ground to the roof. By the way, there will be a little bone in the pigeon patty;
If you order cattle, donkeys, pigs and sheep, the ordinary cake uses leg meat, and the mille-feuille cake uses the outer ridge meat, but the bearded man's favorite is the ordinary cake sandwich outer ridge meat, "the most fragrant", he paused, "This is the hidden menu." ”
For pigeon-stuffed meatloaf, you need to add a little onion, garlic, and leek leaves to remove the blood flavor in the meatloaf
The beard is a Xianghe person, with two thick beards on his upper lip, which is a bit old-fashioned at first glance. After getting to know him, I found that he himself was more old-fashioned than he seemed - their family made meatloaf for six generations and has been using traditional craftsmanship; he insisted on picking up and ordering food by himself, with a enthusiasm that is rare now; his meatloaf does not put onions and garlic, the marinade does not pad vegetables, meat is meat, real; donkey meat pigeon meat sparrow meat is actually made to meet the needs of guests, if it is the first time, or recommend beef, this is the craftsmanship brought by the ancestors from Xia Mat Town...
"Meatloaf, two pounds of a piece is the most suitable and the best to eat, but as much bread as you can burn, how much kung fu there is." I can bake eight pounds of bread at my peak, this level, you do well, 50 years should be able to catch up. When he said this, he said this with pride on his face, and both beards were stretched out.
Come here to call a few friends together, two pounds of beef mille-feuille, two pounds of donkey meat mille-feuille, and then a donkey meat enema, scorched creak, pickle lumps, Fragrant River tofu shreds, sticky stick porridge, sticky corn porridge, according to the head of the small two, a set of qi live, strong but not greasy, as if playing a set of Shaolin long fists, forehead slightly sweaty, but unconsciously ate a belly round.
His family's brine is also very reliable, real, no vegetables at all
Meatloaf is not a feast, nor is it precious, it represents another kind of cuisine, the taste of the city, lively, thick, with a real temperature and taste, reminiscent of Grandma's craftsmanship and the girl who has been hungry with you.
As a southerner, I often feel out of place with Beijing, my skin is dry and easy to catch fire, the road is so wide that I have to wait for two traffic lights, and the sound of children is always wrong. Only when I finished eating the meatloaf with my mouth did I feel connected to the land under my feet—the capital had left the grand narrative behind, and I could see the low houses, the old locust trees, and the large sorghum fields; Guomao took off the prosperity of the hard stickers and changed back to the simple Dabei Kiln, where there were inter-provincial buses, and if you drove east, you could eat a hot and fragrant meatloaf on the border of Hebei.
In the matter of meat cakes, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has truly realized integration.