In 1912, a railway trunk line from Tianjin to Nanjing Pukou, the Jinpu Railway, was put into operation. With a total length of about 1,009 kilometers, this railway is the main railway trunk line from North China to East China. In 1968, with the completion and opening of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, the Jinpu Railway and the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway were put into operation, and the Jinpu Railway became part of the Beijing-Shanghai Railway.
The Jinpu Railway has played a huge role in boosting the economic and social development of North China, East China and other places, and improving the transportation and travel conditions of local people. And for frequent train travelers, it also brings a delicacy – Texas Grilled Chicken.
Texas grilled chicken, of course, originated in Dezhou, Shandong. Dezhou is located in the northwest of Shandong Province, with a long history of humanities, as early as the Xia Dynasty and Shang Dynasty, there were princely states.
The history of Texas grilled chicken is older than the train.
According to one theory, Texas grilled chicken originated in the Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. At that time, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was an important waterway, and Dezhou was an important dock on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Canal docks are always crowded and lined with shops, so many vendors carry bamboo baskets and come to sell their own roast chicken, which is Texas grilled chicken.
According to one theory, Texas grilled chicken originated during the Kangxi Dynasty. At that time, on the street outside the West Gate of Texas City, there was a roast chicken shop called Jia Jiancai, and an unreliable young man was invited. After the young man boiled the chicken into the pot, he accidentally fell asleep, causing the chicken to be cooked over the fire. Jia Jiancai was reluctant to throw away the chicken, or sent it to the dock to sell, did not expect that this kind of boiled boneless chicken was more popular with diners, so the Texas grilled chicken was gorgeously produced.
After the Texas Grilled Chicken became famous, it was called "the first chicken in the world" and was said to be related to the Qianlong Emperor.
The "Chronicle of Dezhou City" records that when the Qianlong Emperor inspected the work in Jiangnan, he deliberately passed through Dezhou, Shandong, ate a grilled chicken, and after eating it, Long Yan Wasue gave the name of "the first chicken in the world".
Of course, such a story, everyone just listen to it, do not have to take it seriously. Because in folklore, the Qianlong Emperor sealed many "firsts in the world", not a hundred, but dozens.
However, for a long time, the cuisine of Texas grilled chicken was only famous in Texas, and it was the Jinpu Railway mentioned at the beginning of the article that made Texas Grilled Chicken famous.
The Jinpu railway line is very long, and in the early years the train speed was very slow, taking more than ten hours from Tianjin to Nanjing. When the passengers set off from Tianjin and "whimpered" all the way to Dezhou, they were already hungry and hungry, and their eyes were full of Venus. At this time, there was a seductive aroma on the platform of Texas Station, coming out of the bamboo baskets of the vendors. This is exactly the aroma of Texas grilled chicken.
Therefore, the name of Texas Grilled Chicken soon spread along the Jinpu Railway to North China, East China and other places, and then spread throughout the north and south of the river through word of mouth of passengers. Texas Grilled Chicken is also known as "train-pulled delicacies".
One year, when Mr. Liang Shiqiu was passing through Texas by train, he heard old and young women and children outside the car window shouting "roast chicken roast chicken" in their throats, and many passengers reached out to buy Texas grilled chicken outside the window, so they bought it curiously and tasted it.
Later, Liang Shiqiu wrote the taste of Texas grilled chicken into "Yashe Talks about Eating": "Earlier, about one round can buy three, burned butter bright, split open to eat, salty, very delicious." ”
After tang lusun, a gourmand of the Republic of China, heard the name of Texas grilled chicken, he once bought a Texas grilled chicken for field verification when he took a train through Texas. The result of the field verification was: "This meal of fat and tender meat, fat and greasy grilled chicken is enjoyable, and it is a pleasure to be able to eat so much in the brigade!" ”
Eat well, sleep soundly, Tang Lusun ate Texas grilled chicken, and even slept at the station.
After Texas grilled chicken becomes an "internet celebrity", it is inevitable that some people will touch the fish in muddy waters. Tang Lusun's superior, Zeng Yangfu, warned him not to buy Texas grilled chicken from the vendor on the platform, because they were not selling grilled chicken, but grilled crows, "When the express train passes through Texas, most of them are before and after dinner, the oil lamp carried by the vendor, the light is dim, each grilled chicken is wrapped in cellophane, only it is fat and oily, and when you buy the car, tear open the cellophane and eat it, you know that it is not right, but the car has started." ”
I think Zeng Yangfu must have been fooled like this, right?
In the 1980s, as the number of people going out to work and do business increased year by year, Texas Grilled Chicken ushered in an era of prosperity. Buying a Texas grilled chicken at Texas Station has become a common wish of many travelers. Whenever the train slowly pulls into Texas Station, as soon as the door opens, crowds of people flock out to the platform to snap up Texas Grilled Chicken. Some passengers couldn't wait and simply jumped from the window to the platform.
"When they got the oily paper bag, they squeezed out of the crowd contentedly and returned to their seats, and a shiny grilled chicken was in front of them." Sun Baoyu, the first general manager of Texas Grilled Chicken Joint Venture Company, recalled.
At that time, a vendor selling Texas grilled chicken could sell for thousands of yuan a day. You know, in the 1980s, a worker's monthly salary was only a few tens of dollars.
To this day, many people who once sold Texas grilled chicken at Texas Station recall the grand occasion of that year, and still have their eyes shining and the aftertaste is endless.
After entering the 21st century, with the continuous acceleration of trains and the improvement of food, the phenomenon of "one chicken is difficult to find" in Texas grilled chicken is gone.
Then again, Texas Grilled Chicken is tender and fluffy, the taste is not greasy, especially the characteristics of deboning at the touch of a button, which is very suitable for eating on the train. Today, Texas Grilled Chicken has become a famous snack at home and abroad. When many travelers arrive in Texas, they buy a few Texas grilled chickens and take them home to give to friends and family, or share them with their families.
Naturally, the most loved Texas grilled chicken is still a Texas native. Texas people invite friends from other places to dinner, and there must be a Figure of Texas Grilled Chicken on the dinner table. In the words of a Texan: "I don't know what to talk about, I will order a chicken, just rush this chicken, I can talk for half an hour, absolutely avoid the embarrassment of the wine table." 」 ”
Well, that makes sense!