Crispy vegetables, the traditional dish of Jinan people for the New Year
Text / Chun Jiang Yue Ming
Crispy vegetables are the favorite dishes of Jinan people for ten minutes. In the era when there was no refrigerator at home, in order to facilitate storage, it was to make a pot of crispy vegetables in the tenth winter month, place it in a cold place, and eat until the end of the New Year, and even eat until the fifteenth day of the first month. As a result, crispy vegetables have become a traditional dish for the New Year. Jinan people love to say that making crispy dishes is "playing crispy pot", probably related to the arrogance of Shandong people, if you don't do it, you have done it, and it is a big pot. In people's hearts, making a crispy pot is a big thing for the New Year. When it came to Nian Gen'er, the neighbors met and often asked, "Did your family hit the crispy pot?" ”。 The colder the day, the longer the crispy pan can be left, people will happily say: "This is the taste of the Year!" "When the snowflakes are flying and the Spring Festival is approaching, the families are busy making crispy pots.
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The crispy pan is made of cabbage, kelp, lotus, chicken, fish, meat and fried tofu as the main ingredients, accompanied by sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, salt and peppercorns, and simmered on the stove for seven or eight hours until the various ingredients are stewed soft and crispy, so it is called crispy. A successful pot of crispy vegetables, its color and flavor must be "fish crispy meat rotten, sour, salty and sweet, crystalline shape, color like amber". Due to the different tastes of each person, the inheritance of each family is different, the understanding of crispy dishes is different, often each has its own high tricks, and the content of crispy dishes is not the same. Therefore, neighbors are gifting each other with the prepared pastry dishes, tasting each other, often one family. It is said that pastry originated in Zibo, where the pastry is rarely put in soy sauce, white, light and delicious. After it spread to Jinan, the people of Jinan have a heavy taste, add soy sauce, and the pastry is light sauce color. Lu restaurants such as Huiquan Lou, Yanxitang, Jufengde and Cheap Fang in old Jinan all make crispy dishes, and each has its own characteristics and has its own unique skills.
When I was a child, my parents attached great importance to the New Year's cake pot. Every twenty-seventh and eighth day of the Waxing Moon, I get busy with this. Because I work during the day, I can only beat the puff pastry pot at night. The cabbage stored at home is ready-made, go to the old gang that has dried out of the outer layer, peel off the leaves inside (the cabbage heart leaves cold vegetables), wash and set aside. The haired kelp is carefully washed away from the sediment and rolled into rolls one by one. The clean lotus root is cut into half-inch thick lotus pieces. The steamed tofu is fried in oil until golden brown. Cut the pork belly and chicken into large pieces and wash the fresh crucian carp. Mix a pot of sauce with vinegar, soy sauce, cooking wine, salt and sugar, and wrap it with peppercorns and large ingredients to form a sauce. These preparations must be done carefully and without sloppiness. When loading the pot, first put a few elbow bones at the bottom of the pot to prevent the paste. Whole slices of cabbage, the vegetables are placed facing down along the pot yard. The crispy pot can not add water, all rely on the seasoning and cabbage oozing juice, is the original taste, so put more cabbage. Then add the lotus root, kelp, meat, chicken, fried tofu and fish, then add the green onion and ginger, and the bag. These orders can not be messed with, and the lotus is placed below for easy ventilation. Kelp and meat are put together to absorb oil and taste. The fish is placed on top, and the thorns are crispy and will not be crushed. For each stack of dishes, add a few spoonfuls of blended seasonings so that the seasonings evenly adhere to the ingredients. Finally, the various ingredients are wrapped in cabbage leaves, the lid is compacted, the heat is boiled, the heat is low and slow-simmering, and simmer on the stove for a night. Whenever the crispy pot was beaten, my father could not sleep deeply all night, and he got up several times at night, put on his clothes to take care of the stove, listened to the movement in the pot, and was afraid of pasting the pot. After a night of tossing, the crispy vegetables are stewed at dawn, sprinkled with sesame oil when the pot is raised, and the aroma of the pastry immediately spreads all over the house. At this time, my father took out a plate one by one, poured a glass of wine, tasted the fruits of a night's hard work, and showed a sense of satisfaction in life on his face. I can never forget the feeling of falling asleep smelling the aroma of crispy vegetables.
Crispy vegetables should not only be crispy, but also sour, sweet and salty, and all three flavors must be had, and they should not grab the taste, especially not too salty. The crispy pot was successful, the whole family seemed to have added a happy event, and the parents were very happy, thinking that the next year would be smooth. The beaten puff pastry pot should be divided into the same parts into the basin and soaked in the soup of the dish, and the taste will become more and more intense. New Year hospitality, the table is always indispensable to a plate of crispy dishes, guests praise the taste of the dish is pure, parents will be particularly pleased.
In the era of lack of materials, each person provided four or two meats with a ticket for the New Year, and chicken and fish could not be bought. When it comes to Nian Gen'er, the mother is difficult to cook without rice, and is worried about not being able to beat the crispy pot, and the friend who the father entrusted to work in the canteen bought a pig's head, which can have a good year! The whole family worked together, scraping the pig's hair and splitting the pig's head, washing the cabbage and shabu-shabu kelp. At that time, there was no running water in the house, so I had to go to the yard to wash it. His face was frozen red, his water was cold, and his hands were shivering with ice. But my heart is still beautiful, because I can eat the crispy vegetables that I have been waiting for for a year. That year, the crispy pot beaten with pork head meat was still delicious, and the taste of the crispy vegetables remained deeply in the memory.
Only when there is the taste of crispy vegetables in the home can there be the taste of the year. After the death of my parents, every New Year's Day, my wife and I still have to be busy making puff pastry pots, which is a family craft. At this time, I remember the happy scene of playing the pastry pot with my parents, and I see the figure of my father making crispy vegetables all night, tasting and drinking. Although I have tasted various flavors of crispy vegetables in Lu Restaurant, I still think that it is still delicious to make at home, because the sweet and sour taste is suitable, light and soft taste, which is taught by parents, and tasting crispy vegetables will remind you of your parents' nurturing grace.
Every time you make a crispy dish, you must share it with your family to taste, not only to share the taste of the pastry, but also to share the taste of home and the taste of the year. When fragrant and shiny crispy vegetables are on the table, you will think: Oh, it is the New Year again!
(One Point No. Harue Moon Ming)
The content of this article is published by the author of One Point and does not represent the position of Qilu One Point.