I remember that the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival that year, the team fell to the death of a cattle, and I thought that this cow died at the right time, and everyone on the team would be grateful for it, and it died "gloriously". Our family of 5 people got 5 pounds of fresh beef, and also got 3 pounds of rotten beef, the so-called rotten beef, that is, the bones of the whole cow are cooked and pulled out of the cooked meat. At this point, my three sons were very happy, and they learned from the members of the club, putting a small ball of rotten beef into their mouths, although there was no salt taste, but they were pure and energetic. I cut the tendons of the fresh beef and stewed it in a pot, leaving a large piece of tenderloin ready to be sautéed. At this time, the sister cried out: "There is no pig grass, I am going to pull the pig grass in the afternoon!" ”
The "Holy Will" came down, and I picked up the basket and went out. In fact, pulling pig herbs is the business of their women's family, but in this house, I have to do it by this big man, there is no way, the three young men want her to take care of it.
I walked trottingly, to a few days earlier to cut the bamboo "fork rush" to pull the pig grass, there are many abandoned paddy fields, there are a lot of wild celery in the field, is a good feed for pigs, although the road is seven or eight miles, but it does not take too long to pull a full load.
When I got to the fork, I suddenly heard the laughter of the women, and I saw that there were a few young girls on our team, who arrived a foot earlier than me, and they also came to pull wild celery, and they saw me carrying a basket, and they giggled and laughed, only to hear one of them say: "This big man, do some women's things." ”
Another one was saying, "He can't do it, there is no old man in the house to help, and the three servants have to take care of it." "I didn't answer their words, jumped down the field and pulled it, and in one fell swoop, I pulled two baskets, and their baskets were also full, and we went to the field together." Suddenly, a big girl pointed to a small pond next to her and said, "Hey, you see, there are a lot of bags of bamboo shoots in the pond." ”
I looked at the pond, what was the "wrapped bamboo shoots", and what the wrapped shoots were. They all put down their burdens and went to the edge of the pond, and I followed them to the edge of the pond. I suddenly understood, they said that the bamboo shoots, should be Changsha's zi melon bar, see the pond with this long leaf grass, I remembered, yes! It is changsha's zigua leaves, remember the "bitter days" that year, my classmates and I stole the ziquay in the maojiaqiao melon field to eat, or eat raw, bite a bite of powder, at that time the stomach was particularly hungry, with everything delicious.
It seems that these zizu in front of me are wild and should also be eaten, and I remembered that there is a large piece of beef at home, and beef stir-fried zizu is a good dish, which I have eaten in Changsha. I remember a sentence sung in the flower drum play "Cai Mingfeng": "On the fifteenth night of August, beef fried melon..." Just in time, it was almost the Mid-Autumn Festival. When I think of it, I tie my pants high, because I have to walk a few meters away to reach the edge of The Melon Beach.
Beef stir-fried with zucchia. Photo: Chen Yansheng
I was the first to walk down the pond, and the water was not shallow, and even though I stuck my pants to my feet and legs, I still got my pants wet. I didn't care so much, a few steps to the edge of the zizuan beach, touched the zizun leaf, put my hand to the center of the leaf, or used the action of stealing the zizu melon when I was a child, grabbed the zizhi handle and pulled it hard, and then pulled the leaves a few times, and a zigua came out; then the second, the third... 11 in total.
In the evening, I cut 11 cucumbers into strips, cut the large lump of beef into strips, cut a red dried pepper, added enough wood to the stove, set the fire on fire, and poured a bowl of tea oil into the pot. Seeing that the tea oil was burning and smoking, the beef shreds were poured into the pot, a few spatulas, a few strokes, the meat shreds became light white, and after adding the dried pepper, the meat became red, and the shredded russet was poured into the pot; it was a few spatulas, a few strokes, and then salt, and the shredded russet became soft. I put a quick clip with chopsticks and put it in my mouth, hey! It's delicious.
Stir-fried out of this large pot of beef squash, not only do I and the sister like to sip, even my three sons are full of fast and fast, only said: "a few good sips, a few good sips", even the stewed beef is not willing to sip, they mostly know the taste. This is truly a delicacy on earth, and everyone knows how to taste it!
Every year after returning to the city, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, I would make a dish of beef stir-fried zucchini, but no matter how I fried, it was always inferior to the taste of wild russ melon that year. As the saying goes, "home vegetables do not have the aroma of wild vegetables", it seems that wild squash is more tender and fragrant than domestic squash.
【Event Introduction】
Focus on Huxiang cuisine and convey the happiness and warmth behind it. "2021 Taste of Hunan: Let's Sunbathe the Taste of Hunan in Your Heart" activity opened, with the theme of Huxiang cuisine, let's explore the soul of Hunan taste.