In the 1950s and 1960s, Guangzhou people popular a saying, the most elegant is to go to the South Mansion restaurant to drink tea and eat, the most popular is to go to the sand noodles to cool off and eat boat porridge.
Although my family's economic conditions are not rich, my father also took us to the South Mansion to drink tea and eat boat porridge on sand noodles.
At that time, when the sand noodles arrived in the evening, if it was not windy and rainy or cold, many boats would row to the shore of the sandy surface, with a gas lamp or kerosene lamp hanging on the roof, and the stern of the ship was boiled with a kerosene stove or coal stove to cook porridge, and the water used was taken in the center of the river. At this time, the smell of rice in the pot of porridge attracted many people walking by the river.
In the past, the boat porridge was operated on top of the dinghy. At that time, on the shores of the Pearl River, Lychee Bay and other places, there were always floating dinghies, and a small flag with the word "porridge" written on the dinghy was inserted. In this way, the boat owner runs bowls of umami porridge on the dinghy.
This way of doing business comes from a local Kuo Shao, who was in the middle of the family at that time, so he had to rely on himself. He bought a dinghy and started selling porridge in Lychee Bay. The novelty of the way to sell porridge and the delicious and sweet porridge it cooks attract many people to patronize. And this business model has been circulating since then.
The boat family uses a bamboo pole to lift a bamboo basket to the shore, and those who want to eat porridge will first put a few cents into the basket, and the boat family will concoct how many bowls of porridge after collecting the money, and then put it back into the bamboo basket and lift it back to the shore with a bamboo pole. Individuals retrieve their own porridge and then crouch or stand, eating with relish. The boat owner will arrange for a person to be responsible for collecting the bowls on the shore and returning to the boat. Washing dishes is also very simple, directly with river water to wash. Measured by today's hygiene standards, such a boat porridge definitely did not meet the requirements, but at that time, no one had ever heard of diarrhea after eating.
Everyone must be curious about what kind of ingredients this bowl of flavorful boat porridge has to attract diners. As I can see myself, the boatman first takes a spoonful from the bottom of the large porridge pot and heats it in a small porridge pot, then adds fresh fish fillets, fried peanuts, thin crisps, floating skin, shredded squid, egg shreds, etc. to boil, and put a little green onion before serving the bowl, and those bowls are of course traditional chicken bowls.
Some people will ask, what is so special about the current roadside snack shops and even the boat porridge in high-end tea houses? Especially in the environment of the year. Dim lights, dripping water, cool breeze, warm habits, the boat porridge in this environment has become the memory of many old Guangzhou people.
The porridge is made of fresh shrimp, fish fillets, egg shreds, jellyfish as the ingredients, accompanied by peanut kernels, floating skin (that is, pork skin), fritters and green onions, and the porridge is boiled with the method of boiling porridge, that is, rolling is on the seat.
A bite of fresh shrimp is tender and smooth; a bite of porridge is even more fragrant. The ingredients complement each other perfectly, and if you eat a bowl, you can savor it for days.