Wen | Old Button No. 3
My mom called me and said she was going to come over the weekend to see her daughter and bring me something good to eat.
"I made a braised lion's head and brought it to you."
Originally I didn't want my mother to come from afar, her legs and feet were not good, our family was on the fifth floor, and it was strange and tired. But when I heard her say that she had made a braised lion's head, I quickly said yes. She let out a happy laugh on the other side of the phone, and she knew I loved braised lion's head the most.
When I was a child, I liked the festival the most, because the festival can eat delicious food. I especially like the New Year, when my dad will make braised lion heads.
When I was a child, there was no refrigerator at home, meat could not be bought early, it was easy to spoil, and it could not be bought until the Chinese New Year's Eve that day, the meat was very expensive that day, and my father bought the meat on the twenty-eighth day.
The meat of the lion's head cannot be too thin, and the lion's head that is made that way is too dry and too hard, nor can it be too fat, so the lion's head is too greasy.
My dad bought home a piece of fat and lean meat, washed it with water, cut it into small pieces with a knife, and chopped it up. When the meat filling was chopped, my father washed some green onions and ginger, and also chopped it with a knife and put it into the minced meat filling.
Next, the meat filling is adjusted, and salt, sugar, and a little soy sauce are added to the meat filling. When the spices were ready, my dad used a pair of chopsticks to stir hard in the meat bowl.
I watched my dad stir the minced meat, and it was very interesting, so I had to help stir it. My dad said I couldn't stir, I didn't believe it, I saw him stir it up easily, my dad had to give me chopsticks.
I took the chopsticks, held the basin, and stirred it up like a model. But the pot is really heavy, and the chopsticks are heavier. I took the chopsticks and stirred it in the basin, my dad quickly stopped me, said to stir in one direction, stir like I did, you can't make a lion's head, after saying that he let me go to the side to play, he continued to stir.
I had to continue watching, and my dad stirred the meat filling, put it aside, and took a bowl to stir the batter.
When my dad was doing these things, my mom was making a stove, and when it was on fire, my mom put a big wok on the stove and poured oil into the pot.
When the oil was hot, my dad dipped a tablespoon in the batter, scooped a tablespoon of meat filling, made it into a round ball, and fried it in a frying pan. In this way, one meatball after another is fried, and when the surface of the meatballs becomes darker, you can smell the aroma, and then pinch them out of the oil pan one by one with chopsticks.
The fried lion's head will not be broken, and when the Chinese New Year's Eve, my mother will get a few pieces of cabbage leaves, wash and dry, cut it open, and burn it with the lion's head.
The cabbage soaks the soup of the lion's head, becomes transparent, and is ready to eat. I eat lion's head first, cabbage and so on. Only in the New Year can I eat braised lion's head, how can I let it go. My dad made six lion heads, one for each of his mothers, one for me and one and a half for my brother, and there was nothing left after eating.
The braised lion's head is finished, the cabbage is also eaten, the soup left in the bowl cannot be wasted, I want to use it to make rice to eat, even eat two large bowls.
After I graduated from college and worked, the living conditions at home were better, and braised lion heads were no longer only eaten during the New Year, and my father would make one for holidays or weekends.
At that time, I didn't particularly like to eat this dish, I felt that it was a taste to burn around, nothing fresh, so I proposed to my dad that I could change the braised lion's head for a little trick.
My dad didn't say anything, and my mom smiled and said, "I came up with tricks when my life was a little better, and I forgot to eat two large bowls of soup rice with lion's head." ”
However, my dad changed the side dish of the lion's head, from Chinese cabbage to green vegetables, and sometimes used soybean sprouts, or did not add side dishes at all.
At New Year's Day, I have to fry the lion's head again, so I can help stir the meat filling. I followed my dad's method and used chopsticks to stir the minced meat in one direction. The mixed meat filling was checked by my father, and I followed his example by dipping a spoon in the paste and scooping out round meatballs in the meat filling and frying them in a frying pan.
The oil temperature was very high, and a few drops accidentally sprayed on my hand, and I was burned and shaken, and my hand shrank. My dad saw the back of my hand burning and told me to go farther away, and he continued to fry the meatballs.
My mom asked me to put my hand under the cool water and get toothpaste to smear it on the place where the oil sprayed.
I asked my mom how the oil would spray on my hands. My mom said that if the water got in, the oil would squirt out, and she and my dad would often get splashed with hot oil on their hands and faces, so they were used to it.
It hurts so much that I only occasionally fry meatballs and get burned, my parents cook every day, but I never heard of them being scalded. What they seemed accustomed to made me feel ashamed. I'm already at work, and I don't really care about my parents at all, except to buy some clothes and shoes for them.
After my dad died, it became my mom's job to fry meatballs and make lion heads. In the past, my father only made six lion heads, and there was no more than one meal. My mom was much more generous with lion's head, she bought a lot of meat and fried it out with a bowl full of meatballs. She divided a bowl of meatballs into several portions, one of which was to be eaten with stew at that time, and the rest of which was put in the refrigerator and frozen, and when she wanted to eat, she took it out to thaw.
My mother only ate the lion's head the most every time, she was old and did not want to eat greasy food, my brother compared to when he was a child, already had more favorite dishes to eat, and he was not interested in lion heads. Only I still retained my love for lion's head, and that bowl of lion's head was almost equal to what was made specifically for me, and I could eat two for a meal.
After I got married and had children, my mom would often fry the meatballs and let me take them home and reprocess them myself. Neither my husband nor my daughter ate this dish, only myself.
I feel very satisfied, because when I was a child, I was always addicted to eating, and after eating, there was no more, and now a bowl of lion's head is mine, and I can eat the next meal.
Every time I eat braised lion's head, I think of watching my dad make lion's head when I was a child, remembering that my mom helped me apply toothpaste when I grew up, and remembering that now my mom bends down to fry lion's head for me.
On weekends, you can eat braised lion's head again, and you can talk to my mother. After a busy week, being my daughter's mother, being my husband's wife, being a teacher for students, and on weekends, I was my mother's daughter again.
Braised lion's head, here I come.