Regarding the unpopular eating of "gourd head", the most famous passage is probably an anecdote of Mr. Jia Pingwa, an old cannon in Xi'an. It is said that Mr. Jia himself is a gourd head enthusiast, and he introduced it to friends from other places: "This gourd head is actually a pig hemorrhoid." As soon as the crowd listened, their expectations were extinguished in an instant, and they all hit the nausea. But our old Jia side is not finished, clipped a piece of gourd head into the mouth, chewed full of mouth oil, and did not forget to evaluate: "The gourd head is not good now, not as good as before, mainly washed too clean, no taste ah..."
Mr. Jia's crying and laughing explanation has been passed down from one generation to another, derived from various versions, although the details are different, but they have achieved the same purpose: foreign friends come to Xi'an, no one dares to step into the gourd head shop, and even some young generations of Xi'an wa, have also stayed away from the gourd head, for fear of eating this "not very clean" "pig hemorrhoids". Unfortunately, this black pot was fastened on the head of the gourd, and it was really blind to this heavy-sounding, well-eaten Xi'an hidden version of the dark dish.
Shaanxi's famous gourd head steamed bun
01
Gourd head
/ Hidden Dark Cuisine /
In fact, eating water in Chinese food is an open secret that although it is not in the hall, it is vigorously passed down. Old Beijing's boiled fried liver, Shanxi's haggis, and even the yellow throat, hairy belly, and goose intestines commonly used in Sichuan hot pot, which is not a chopped delicacy! Although they are all civilian things that can no longer be civilian, human beings' natural yearning for thick grease and animal fishiness has made eating a little water a secret hobby of many people. And the gourd head is the contribution of the Shaanxi people who love to eat water.
The full name of the gourd head should be called "gourd head bubble bun", from this name it can be roughly guessed that this thing is a rebellious member of the "bubble bun" family. There are many Hui people in Xi'an, and a major representative of halal food in the workshop is the well-known "lamb steamed bun". Not to be outdone, the Hanmin transplanted their love of steamed buns to non-halal ingredients, and as soon as they shot, they went straight to the heaviest flavored pig intestine.
"Heavy mouth" gourd head steamed bun
It is said that the predecessor of gourd head is the "fried white intestine" of the Tang and Song dynasties, that is, the pig intestine is defished and boiled into a soup, and then boiled with soup and eaten together. Legend has it that one day the medicine king Sun Simiao encountered a shop selling fried white intestines in the cooking of large intestines, smelly and oily difficult to swallow, the medicine king ate unsatisfied, so he gave him a gourd filled with spices and medicinal materials, this time the fishy dissipation, only the aroma is fragrant, the taste is good, the small shop from this door is like a city, the business is booming. In order to thank the medicine king for the great kindness of the gourd, this food has since had a more elegant name "gourd head".
In fact, whether the source is legendary and romantic, whether celebrity anecdotes are funny or not, is not important to us gourmets. Taste is the only criterion for judging everything. It is precisely because the gourd head can really fight on this standard, the gourd head has conquered me, and also conquered the generations of Xi'an natives.
02
There is not a single bowl of gourd heads
/ It's made with ease /
The essence of gourd head steamed bun is naturally the most important pig intestine. After all, it is the water, the pig intestine is very troublesome to deal with, there must be rinsing, washing, grinding, kneading, scraping, picking, turning, cutting, boiling, cooling and so on thirteen steps, in order to ensure that the large intestine is clean and white, fishy and removed, fat but not greasy, soft and tough. Of course, if you like Tony Jia Pingwo like to "bring a little inner flavor", it may take a lot of effort to find out and see if any stores are willing to make hidden versions that meet "special needs".
Process the intestines
The tummy bun in the gourd head steamed bun is slightly different from the lamb steamed bun, it is two or eight and a half hot noodles, and now some buns also add a little yeast, and the texture is softer than ordinary dead noodle cakes. Therefore, when breaking, it is also a larger piece than the ordinary steamed bun, about the size of a broad bean, so as to ensure that the entrance still has a strong taste and will not be soaked in the broth.
Lumps of bread
Now in order to meet the needs of foreign tourists to eat a bowl of steamed buns as quickly as possible, many restaurants are cut by machine, but the shape of the cut buns is clear and sharp, and the taste is a little worse. As an essential skill for Xi'an people to practice from an early age, it is probably like Chengdu people drinking plate tea and Cantonese people eating morning tea, which has a certain enjoyment and social function. This matter is not urgent, to be patient with a little bit of breaking, but also to try to make each small piece of bun grain with a pistachio that provides a flexible taste and caramelized aroma, irregular boundaries and maximum absorption of the soup. The most pleasant thing is that three or five old friends sit in the steamed bun hall early in the morning to break the buns, mouth gossip (northwest dialect, referring to small talk), the hands are not idle at all, wait until lunchtime, just a bowl of buns broken, into the back kitchen to make gourd heads, clouds and flowing water, in one go.
Break the buns
The broth used for gourd head steamed buns is made with chai chicken, pork stick bones, pork belly, and various spices, and it is said that the most cattle shops use the clearest and sweetest water in the Sweet Water Well area of Xi'an. After several hours of cooking on high heat, a pot of soup absorbs all kinds of animal fats and has turned into a rich milky white with a fragrant aroma. The production method of gourd head steamed bun is also different from lamb steamed bun, which is boiled bun and gourd head is "bubbling". A bowl of broken bun grains is laid on top with cut colon rings, pork belly slices, dried tofu, yellow cauliflower, fungus, quail eggs, vermicelli and other toppings, poured on top with piping hot soup, and then quickly returned to the pot.
A steamed bun shop in Shaanxi
The process is "pouring", and so on seven or eight times, every ingredient in the bowl is hot through, and the fresh aroma of the broth is repeatedly absorbed.
The last time, the soup is no longer poured out, left in the bowl, sprinkled with coriander shallots and pepper sauce, and can be served on the diners' table.
Eating gourd head steamed buns pay attention to putting your mouth on the rim of the bowl, eating with chopsticks planing and purring, and even sucking in a whirlwind with soup, slowly eroding out a mouth of the entire bubble steamed bun mountain, the range is getting bigger and bigger, and finally all of them are down. Add kimchi, garlic, pork belly, peanut rice, and a bottle of Hans dry beer to make the perfect gourd head set. Elegance is not important, only full dedication is worthy of the strange smell of fat intestines. You can always see a slender, gentle-looking Xi'an fashionable "woman" sweating profusely at an old bowl of gourd heads. Halfway through the meal, his head lifted, his hand waved, and a crisp and raw Shaanxi dialect popped out: "Boss, give us another head of garlic!" ”
When I was a child, my family lived in the Family Hospital Tube Building not far from the Bell Tower, which was particularly close to Xi'an's most famous Hulutou long-established brand "Spring Occurrence" and several other Hulutou old shops near the West Gate. On the weekends, my parents took me to spring to eat a bowl of gourd head steamed buns, which is one of the brightest memories of my childhood. Although because I was too young, I couldn't sit still when I broke the bun, and I was always scolded by my father, but as soon as the gourd head came to the table, I forgot everything, and I only cared about burying my head and eating, but the little one I could drop half a bowl in one breath (dié, northwest dialect, the meaning of eating). Later, I moved to a suburban new area, and it was rare to "enter the city once", and it was more and more difficult to find a delicious gourd head. After going abroad for such a long time, I really haven't eaten a bowl of authentic gourd head steamed buns for a long time. I really want to go back to the old days and listen to the wonderful music of this cannibalized gourd head steamed bun...
The large intestine is not a dark dish! (Shouting)
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