Braised pork with osmanthus sugar

01

Second seasoning bottle

/ Cumin, chili, pepper, seven spices /

In the kitchen of most households, there are two bottles containing seasoning powder.

The first cruet was salt, which is something that everyone, regardless of race, region, or class, cannot lack.

The second condiment bottle is interesting. Depending on the region, products, tastes, and even historical evolution, it shows completely different styles:

Northwesterners use Zi Of course, whether it is dipped in barbecued beef or mutton or eaten with pancakes, it is rich and fragrant.

Although people in Shaanxi can eat spicy food, unlike people in Sichuan and Hunan, chili peppers are not common. Chili noodles ground with chili peppers, cooked sesame seeds, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise and cinnamon are the only essential ingredients in the kitchen. It can be used for frying or deep-frying. A spoonful of hot oil is also used to make it famous for its spiciness.

Shandong masters used to dry and grind sea sausage into powder. The world-famous Shandong cuisine is said to have conquered the stomach of the emperor of the Qing Dynasty with this seasoning. Unfortunately, the rise of MSG later eliminated the sea food. The status of rice rolls.

The earth fish meal used by the Cantonese people is similar to the sea sausage powder. They call the flatfish "earth fish". They dry it and grind it into powder. It is an important ingredient added to porridge, soup, and even stir-fry dishes. Ingredients. When there is no food at home, a spoonful of earth fish meal, a bowl of water and some minced green onions will make an appetizing soup.

The most popular food in southern Fujian and Chaoshan areas of Guangdong is white pepper. White pepper powder is a must when making Laohuo soup, pan-fried oysters, and raw porridge.

A bottle of red onion cake is always available in Taiwanese homes. The so-called red onions are small, strong-flavored onions that are fried into crispy mince. They are a favorite of braised pork rice, dried pork noodles, and even Taiwanese people who make rice dumplings, fried eggs, and cold dishes.

Another example is the seven-spice powder used by the Japanese, the curry powder used by the Indians, and the black pepper used by the French... After these things are spread to other places, cooks will occasionally try them. But locally, they all appear as a second cruet, a soul mark imprinted deep in everyone's taste buds.

02

Why do Jiangsu and Zhejiang like to eat sweets?

/Geographic determinism and boring personality theory/

When arriving in Jiangnan, most families The second shaker is for sugar.

You read that right. In the Jiangnan region in a narrow sense, that is, the core area of ??Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Hangjiahu, and Shanghai, white sugar is definitely the most frequently used food besides salt, whether in ordinary households or high-end restaurants. condiment.

This is probably a vivid portrayal of Jiangsu and Zhejiang sweetness. Starting from geographical determinism, under the shadow of Siberia in the north, China's climate is generally cooler than that of regions at the same latitude, so sugar has always been a rare commodity from the far south. For a long time, only royal families and wealthy merchants could purchase large quantities.

In the richest plains in China, wealthy businessmen and officials showed their status by "burning money" and accumulated more and more sucrose over time, cultivating "sweet-tasting" Jiangnan people.

In a place where sugar is added to even stir-fry vegetables, where does the unexpected sweetness appear?

03

Jiangnan with thick oily red sauce

/ Soy sauce without sugar is the same as picking up girls without kissing them/

Thick oily red sauce It is the label of Shanghai cuisine. Cai Lam commented that it is "salty and oily". In fact, he missed two words: "salty, oily and sweet".

The soy sauce used in Jiangnan cuisine is just soy sauce, and it is not divided into "light soy sauce" and "dark soy sauce" like Cantonese cuisine. Sugar is the only way to achieve the bright red color and crystal clear juice of braised pork, braised pork ribs, braised pork sausage, and braised pomfret.

Shanghai, which has 34 Michelin-starred restaurants, has a socialite vibe when it comes to food. At the same time, the thick oily red sauce that has taken root in this city is not inconsistent at all. Without sugar and soy sauce, Shanghainese seem to have lost the power of happiness.

In fact, housewives not only in Shanghai, but also in the entire Jiangnan region will hold a soy sauce bottle in their left hand and a sugar jar in their right hand. After pouring soy sauce into the pot, not adding any more sugar is like talking about holding hands with your girlfriend but not kissing her - not interesting enough.

Huzhou’s braised mutton is probably the only way to eat it in the country. Eight hundred years ago, the Song Dynasty traveled south, bringing with it not only the food customs of Kaifeng, but also Mianyang, Mongolia. For 800 years, people eating aquatic plants from the south of the Yangtze River have bred "Hu Sheep", which combines the richness of southern mutton with the delicacy of northern mutton, and is best braised in braise. Add a large amount of sugar and soy sauce and simmer it over slow fire in a wood stove. Huzhou people especially think it is not sweet enough, so they add sugar cane tops to it.

This kind of sweet braised mutton, cut from the bones and eaten with water noodles, is the most delicious delicacy that cannot be missed in Jiangnan in winter.

Kunshan’s braised hoof bones also have a sweet flavor. It is said that Shen Wansan once used this thing to entertain Zhu Yuanzhang. The emperor could not use the knife, so he took out a hoof bone, cut into pieces of crispy meat and presented it to Zhu Yuanzhang. . The story is of course apocryphal, but "Wan San Tu" still retains the method of stewing it with soy sauce and sugar until it is boneless and crispy. Essentially, Hangzhou’s Dongpo Pork and Wuxi’s Sauced Pork Ribs are all made this way.

When outsiders come to Yangzhou to eat lion heads, most of them are stewed. But Yangzhou locals eat a lot of braised lion heads. The so-called braised meat is by no means simply soaked in soy sauce and cooked. From the beginning, the process of chopping the meat is different from that of stewing: the lion head must be mixed with water chestnuts or tender lotus roots to increase the chewiness; after the meatballs are formed, they must be fried until the skin is tight; Finally, simmer a large amount of sugar and soy sauce; after serving, pour the thin red soup over the lion's head, which is sweet and delicious.

04

Jiangnan with fresh eyebrows

/ Steaming fish, cooking vegetables, making steamed dumplings/

Wang Zengqi described the south like this Pickles: "The southern style is represented by Yangzhou pickles, with the trademarks 'Sanhe' and 'Simei'. Pickles in the north tend to be salty, while those in the south tend to be sweet."

In fact, the sweetness is just superficial, pickles add sugar. , more represents the Jiangsu and Zhejiang people’s pursuit of “freshness”.

This kind of taste experience is exactly the same as the "fresh and sweet" that Cantonese cuisine pursues, but the difference is that in Fujian and Guangzhou, most of them use old fire to make soup, rapid fire to stir-fry, or dry fermentation to stimulate the food from a technical point of view. Its own umami flavor.

However, people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang often add just the right amount of sugar when cooking to make the flavors of seafood, fruits and vegetables fresher and more elegant.

Anchovy ranks second among Yangtze River freshwater fish, second only to Yangtze saury, which has been banned from fishing. The most authentic way to eat it is of course steaming. The most popular steaming method in southern Jiangsu is to stuff the fish belly with onion and ginger slices, place a few slices of ham on top of the fish body, then add sugar and wine to steam it. It has almost no salty taste and is better to be light and light. When serving, remove the fermented rice and eat it with meat. The most beautiful thing is the gelatinous fat under the fish scales, which absorbs the sweetness of sugar and fermented rice. It is sweet and delicious, much better than desserts.

Hangzhou’s West Lake Vinegar Fish is derived from Henan’s baked carp noodles, but it also inherits the fresh and sweet characteristics of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The fish is not fried, but cooked in boiling water to ensure the freshest taste. The amount of sugar and vinegar in the sweet and sour sauce is also greatly reduced. It is better to not taste the sweetness but to highlight the fresh taste of the fish. Liang Shiqiu has a very good description of this: "The juice should not be too much, let alone thick, it should be light and slightly transparent."

Sugar should also be added to meat-filled wontons, steamed buns and moon cakes. , this is a scene rarely seen elsewhere outside the boundaries of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Whether it’s Wang Xingji in Wuxi, Nanxiang in Shanghai, Wufangzhai in Jiaxing or Zhiweiguan in Hangzhou, all are sweet in the same vein. Those who are not used to it always think it is dark food, but those who have been familiar with the taste since childhood feel that if it is not sweet, it lacks deliciousness.

05

Multi-layered sweet cakes

/ Double stuffed dumplings, sesame glutinous rice balls, Dingsheng cakes, lard rice cakes/

In contrast, the sweetness of Jiangsu and Zhejiang cake dumplings is easier for people to accept.

Daoxiang Village, which is famous in the north, was actually born out of Suzhou. Although it has accepted the improvement of the taste of Emperor's Foot, it is essentially the same as Jiangsu and Zhejiang sweets. Like Suzhou Pingtan Quer, it is oily, glutinous, and multi-layered sweet, which is the biggest feature of Jiangnan cakes.

From weddings and housewarmings to breakfast and desserts, cake dumplings have always played an indispensable role in the lives of Jiangnan people. They are closely related to today’s stir-fries and noodles that have been more or less improved by Sichuan and Guangzhou flavors. Differently, the cakes have always retained the original Jiangnan flavor from childhood.

Huang Tianyuan Cake Dumpling Shop is the "belief" of Suzhou people. Every year on the Double Ninth Festival, long queues start forming at 9 a.m., with bags filled with various kinds of double-brewed dough balls, osmanthus rice cakes and Double Ninth Cake. Those who had seen the grand event that day would not say it was too much to say that Huang Tianyuan was evacuated. Double stuffed dumpling is the most local specialty. The so-called double stuffing is to "stuff" two kinds of fillings, bean paste and black sesame, into the dough skin. Bean paste and sesame seeds cannot be mixed and must be layered. This can reflect the skill of the pastry chef and test whether the diners' mouths can experience the complex yet distinct texture.

Ningbo glutinous rice balls are the most well-known to outsiders. They are chopped sesame seeds with lard and sugar, wrapped in glutinous rice flour, and nothing else. After being cooked in boiling water, the outside is smooth and the inside is oily and sweet. As a time-honored brand, the Tank Duck Dog is certainly good, but if you casually walk into a roadside shop in Ningbo, you can taste a more authentic flavor.

Hangzhou Dingsheng cake is a cake made by adding red yeast rice to rice flour and then steaming it in a fancy mold. Like glutinous rice balls, the outer skin is light and the inside is filled with red bean or date paste, which is sweet and delicious. The so-called "definite victory" is attached to the allusion of Yue Fei and Han Shizhong's victory, which is antonym to the "fried cypress" born from the hatred of Qin Hui. In Huzhou, Suzhou and other places, there are similar cakes dyed with red yeast rice, but the names have changed to "Dingsheng cake" or "Dingsheng cake". In short, they all contain auspicious and beautiful connotations.

There is also a miniature version of Dingsheng cake: candied orange peel is added to the dough dyed with red yeast rice, then cut into small pieces and steamed, which is called orange cake. Of course it is sweet, but the sourness of the orange peel makes it not too sweet. Sprinkling dried sweet-scented osmanthus and putting it in your pocket to make snacks is a childhood memory of many children in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

There is also the lard-sugar rice cake that children in Jiangsu and Zhejiang used to eat during the Chinese New Year. It was not fried in lard or drizzled with lard. Lard and sugar are added during the cake making process. Steam it until soft and then eat it. The complex taste of starch, free sugar and oil, in addition to providing enough calories in the cold and humid winter in Jiangnan, is also a childhood taste that almost all Jiangnan people can't stop eating.

Zhang Ailing once described the fragrance of camphor like this: "Sweet and steady, like clearly remembered happiness, sweet and melancholy, like forgotten sorrow."

Just one word sweet, Deep emotions and complex tastes can be read behind it. I am afraid that only this little girl who was born in a house in Shanghai can understand the subtle sense of proportion.