Huixianju was founded in the first year of the Qing Dynasty (1862 AD), Tianxingju was founded in the 22nd year of the Republic of China (1933 AD), both families are located in The Mouth of Fresh Fish, in 1956 the two public-private partnerships merged, using the name of "Tianxingju". Huixianju is the founder of "Beijing Fried Liver".
In the first year of tongzhi, a shoe shop called "Da Shun Ji" in the south of the middle road of Xianyukou outside the qianmen gate rented a façade shop to a Beijinger named Liu Shuikui due to operating losses, and Liu Shuikui and his wife opened a tavern, dealing in liquor and rice wine, and the side dishes included peanut rice, pine blossom eggs, salted duck eggs, etc., and there was no store name.
Legend has it that the owner of this family began to collect leftover meals from nearby restaurants and restaurants, which were processed and sold, and some poor people especially liked to eat this kind of "folding", spending little money, but also eating a large bowl, as well as "meaty", which tasted very good. One day, there was an old man who asked for two bowls of "folding", but the money was not enough, and the owner of the shop said tolerantly: "You are so old, it doesn't matter if you eat two bowls for free." The old man was gone after he had eaten enough. It is strange to say that on this day, there are more and more "folding Luo" in the pot, the income has increased greatly, the shopkeeper looks back and ponders, the old man who came to eat "Folding Luo" may be a god, I met the immortals, so I named the small shop "Hui Xian Ju".
Liu Yongkui later fell into the vice of smoking a lot of cigarettes, had no intention of doing business, and had no children under his knees, so he invited his wife and brother Liu Xigui to help and take care of the business. By the last year of Tongzhi, Liu Yongkui and his wife died one after another, and Hui Xianju returned to Liu Xigui.
Liu Xigui was originally a farmer, no craftsmanship, and could not do business, therefore, the trustees sent the eldest son Liu Baozhong and the second son Liu Baokui to the restaurant to apprentice, to the 20th year of Qing Guangxu (1894 AD), the eldest and second eldest were apprenticed, the third son also grew up, the brothers successively went to Huixianju to help their father do business, since then, Huixianju has changed in the variety of business, adding homemade sauce meat and fire, the number of personnel increased to 4, but the business is ordinary, Huixianju is still an inconspicuous tavern.
When Liu Xigui died in 1900, Huixianju was run by three sons, who were both united in their business and brain-stirring. At that time, a family next door to Huixianju was called "GuanglaiShui", which operated a white water soup sheep shop, and the couple made themselves for sale, and the business was very good, which made the three members of the Liu family very inspired. I began to imitate the preparation method of white water soup sheep in Guanglaishui, bought pork liver, lungs, heart, etc., and washed it. Cut the pork intestines into sections, dice the pig heart, slice the pig lungs, cut the pork liver into strips, and then add peppercorns, large ingredients, salt, and cook them in white water soup, named "white water offal". The original fire was changed to a fork fire. Fork fire method is: with salt hydration noodles, made into a small fire, with a bell to burn for a while, and then with a fork to support, put in the oven on the warm fire baking, after the oven outside the scorched tender, salty and delicious, quite distinctive, but the white water smashed because of incomplete condiments, the production process is simple, the day is long, customers do not like to eat, especially the heart and lungs, the table spit everywhere. There is no big improvement in this kind of improvement of Huixianju, and there is no way for the brothers to change it next.
At that time, Yang Manqing, the host of the «Beijing Morning Post», was very interested in the customs and customs of Beijing, often visited some Beijing-style snack bars, and was very familiar with Liu Baozhong's brothers. Once in the chat to learn the mind of the brothers, they came up with the idea: "You simply remove the heart and lungs in the "white water smashing", add the sauce color, and then hook the mustard, named "fried liver", may be attractive, if someone asks, why is it called "fried liver"? The answer is that the liver has been fried. I'll promote it for you in the newspapers in a few days. When the brothers listened, they said yes in a loud voice and decided to do so.
After research and experimentation, success. The method of frying the liver is: soak the pork intestines with alkali and salt and rub them, then wash them with water and vinegar, remove the fishy odor in the intestines, and then cook, simmer with warm heat after opening the pot, cover the pot with a wooden pot lid that is smaller than the pot, and wait for the intestines to be cooked thoroughly and do not run oil, maintaining a fat taste. After the intestines are cooked, they are cut into 5 city-long segments, commonly known as "thimble" segments. After washing the pork liver, cut it into oblique slices with a knife and form a willow leaf. In the condiment is also very hard work, now the cooking oil is boiled hot, plus large ingredients, large ingredients fried thoroughly, put in raw garlic, when the garlic turns yellow, immediately put in the appropriate amount of yellow sauce, stir-fry and set aside. Also, boil out the best mushroom soup. After all the raw materials and condiments are prepared, start to make fried liver, the method is: put the cut cooked intestines into the boiling soup, and then add the fried garlic sauce, green onion, ginger and mushroom soup, put the cut raw liver into the soup, immediately hook, the mustard to be hooked is thick and moderate, and finally sprinkled with some smashed garlic paste, fried liver is ready. In order to ensure the quality of each pot of fried liver, Liu Baokui, who has the best craftsmanship, holds the stove, sells a pot to hook a pot, and never does it in advance to prevent the sparseness of the fried liver.
"Fried liver" is more labor-intensive than "white water offal", the cost is also high, if you still use the original large bowl to sell, it will lose money, if you increase the price, and afraid of no one to eat, therefore, specially customized a large mouth with a large bottom tip of the trumpet-shaped small bowl, this bowl looks very large, the actual amount is small, although each bowl only sells two copper (a copper currency at that time), but there is still a profit. This small bowl with a diameter of only two inches, after being sautéed with liver, is like a treasure cup containing crystals, thin and moderate, pleasant color, and fragrant. When eating, you don't need chopsticks or spoons, just drag the bottom of the bowl with your hand, and drink it with your lips along the edge of the bowl, which is really unique. Due to the low price, the service is attentive and it is served from morning to night. There is a saying in old Kyoto: "The fried liver of The Immortal House, it is not early or late." In the "Yandu Small Food Miscellaneous Songs", there is a bamboo branch word, which is particularly vivid to express the heartfelt praise of Beijingers for fried liver:
The thick juice is boiled in fat sausages, and the fair trade is discussed on the block to taste.
The proverb spread the eight precepts of the pig, and a roasted liver incense was made in the market.
After the poem, it is noted that the fried liver is cut into sections with the small intestine of the pig, and the boiled with powder juice is called fried liver, but in fact, the braised pig intestine ear is not liver, and it is useless to fry it (there are liver pieces, nor have they been fried). The Beijing proverb has "The eight precepts of the pig eat fried liver and self-mutilate bone meat." In the poem "fried liver incense", the seller shouted also.
Brother Liu Baozhong carefully prepared and continuously improved the fried liver, so that the fried liver has a unique flavor, and many customers eat two or three bowls in a row. Later, reporter Yang Manqing published an article introducing Xianju fried liver in the «Mass Newspaper», describing the nutritional value of pig intestines and pork liver, and the benefits to human health. This publicity, the xianju customers are in the market, there is a great potential to meet the momentum, the business is unprecedentedly prosperous. Due to the prosperity of the business, the Xianju has developed greatly, and the number of buddies and apprentices has grown to more than 10 people. Because of the money earned, in the early years of the Republic of China, a large number of civil engineering projects were built, from a square to a two-story building, and three large gold plaques of "HuixianJu" were hung in front of the door, and wontons were added to the second floor. At this time, Yang Manqing wrote another book, in which he publicized the fried liver of Huixianju, and at this point, the name of Huixianju fried liver was in Beijing.
Although huixianju already has a two-story small building, in order to attract customers, there will be fried liver pot outside the door, passers-by as long as they stop in front of the pot for a little while to watch, immediately there is a small apprentice with a bowl of fried liver delivered to you, hospitality is difficult, the price is cheap, had to drink a bowl. Special care is given to some old patrons, and many people in the Pear Garden circle who are close to the Huale Theater (now the Popular Theater) and the Guanghe Theater are regular visitors to Huixianju, and as long as these people say hello, no matter who it is, Liu Baozhong personally goes to the backstage and delivers the fried liver to the front. People who come to eat fried liver, not only ordinary people, some rich people, well-known people and some officials, also come here to taste fried liver.
During this period, Xianju processed nearly 100 kilograms of pig intestines and dozens of kilograms of pork liver every day, and was busy from morning to night. In order to ensure the quality of fried liver, no matter how busy and tired, Liu Baozhong personally took charge of the stove, and others did the work.
Although Liu Baozhong's brothers and sisters tried to make fried liver a stunt of Huixianju, after all, the raw materials for fried liver were cheap, the production process was relatively simple, and over time, many small merchants, hawkers, and small restaurants followed suit, so many stalls selling fried liver appeared in the streets and alleys of Beijing, and then spread to Waifu.
In the 22nd year of the Republic of China (1933 AD), a specialty fried liver shop was also opened diagonally opposite Huixianju - Tianxingju. The former site of Tianxingju was originally an engraving shop, and due to the fire, it could no longer operate, and rented the shop room to Fu Hongrui, the head stove master of Yuanxiang Restaurant, and Sha Yumin, who sold large cakes in Tianqiao, and the two of them partnered to open Tianxingju fried liver. The emergence of Tianxingju has made Huixianju face a huge challenge, making Liu Jia brothers more careful in making fried liver, never daring to cut corners, as a result, because it is an old brand, good quality, or far more attractive than Tianxingju. After the death of Liu Jia's brothers and sisters, Hui XianJu was run by the third generation of the Liu family- Liu Zongfa, Liu Zongyuan, Liu Zongren, Liu Zongyu, and Liu Zongxiu. The five brothers were not as capable in business as their fathers, and they did not trust each other and were very unsympathetic, and the five brothers took turns to govern as treasurers on a monthly basis, and whoever made the monthly profits belonged to whomever was the treasurer. At the beginning of the regulations, when the successor was taken over at the beginning of each month, the raw materials for the next shift should be prepared for the next shift, and after a long time, everyone wanted to make money, so they did not comply with this rule, and when the next treasurer took over, there was a lack of raw materials. The key process of making fried liver - washing intestines is not responsible for special people, often who has time to scribble and wash, resulting in a great fishy smell of fried liver. In the end, even the important position of the treasurer was held by ordinary guys, and the management was lax and shoddy, which gradually reduced the business of Huixianju and lost the old flavor.
The two treasurers of Tianxingju learned about the bad situation of Huixianju and felt that it was a good opportunity to grab business, so they made fried liver more carefully to improve the quality. In order to improve the quality of fried liver, the following methods have been adopted. First, set up a special person to wash the intestines, and remove the head and tail of the intestines before washing to ensure clean and fat. Second, the pig liver is selected from the tip of the liver. The third is to update the seasoning, replace the yellow sauce with the best soy sauce, and replace the mushroom soup with the "Ainosu" that has just come out. Fourth, before buying starch, first brew a bowl to check, such as transparent and clear price is high also into, otherwise cheap do not want. The fifth is to select the best master of the hand to hold the stove. Sixth, we should continuously improve our business means. Set up elegant seats, take care of the waitresses, install telephones, and use liver and intestine scraps to make dishes and sell them cheaply. In this way, the quality and sales volume of Tianxingju's fried liver soon exceeded that of Huixianju, and the old patrons of the original Huixianju gradually turned to Tianxingju. Before the liberation, the business of Huixianju was getting more and more sluggish, and coupled with the fact that liu jiage's five smokers smoked a lot, this old Beijing-style fried liver shop with a history of 70 to 80 years was difficult to support.
After the liberation of Beijing, Huixianju was finally sold to Kang Kewen, Nian Fuxiang and Si Yongquan in the form of a lease in 1952 to continue to operate. After receiving Hui xianju, these three people regrouped and restored the traditional practice of fried liver in the old Hui xianju, improved the quality of service, improved the service attitude, and made the huixianju begin to improve. Before the company's joint venture, the two fried livers had competed with each other.
In 1956, the company was jointly operated, huixianju and Tianxingju were merged, using the name of Tianxingju, because there were many houses in Tianxingju and the store hall was wide and bright. After the merger, two famous names began to be used, and the new plaque "Public-Private Partnership Hui Xian Ju and Tianxing Ju Restaurant". After the renovation in 1958, the horizontal plaque was changed to remove the Huixianju only Tianxingju.
After the public-private partnership, Sha Deliang, a descendant of Sha Yongfu, the former Treasurer of Tianxingju, was appointed as the manager. In order to ensure the special taste of Beijing fried liver, after the merger of the two, the original Xianju specially made the best fried liver technology, Fu Deyin palm stove, concentrated the excellent traditional practices of the two families, and specially set up a sausage washing workshop, specially responsible for washing the intestines, so that the special flavor of Beijing fried liver was inherited and developed.
In 1992, Tianxingju "Beijing Fried Liver" was rated as one of the "Top Ten Famous Snacks in Beijing" in Beijing.