Beijing nancheng changluzhu

everything in Beijing, the ancient capital of the imperial city, is quite different from other places. No matter how big the watermelon rolls to Beijing, it is only a sesame seed; And the smallest sesame seed, when it enters the capital, may really become a watermelon. In the eyes of old Beijingers, I am afraid that it is the sesame seed that has become a watermelon.

In Beijing in 1978, I had heard that Beijingers were fond of braised dishes. Stores specializing in braised pork can be seen everywhere, and there are stalls selling braised pork near many famous scenic spots and around big business districts. In addition to franchised stores, most street stalls are filled with disposable cups and bowls and eaten with bamboo sticks. Some nightclubs, which also feature stewed signs, attract many migrant workers to eat at midnight every night. The eating in front of the stewed stalls with Beijing famous food signs on tourist attractions is daunting. For those who are taboo to eat animal offal, it is inevitable to add some fear to take a look at the pig intestines and pig lungs in the braised cauldron. Smell the fishy and dry smell of floating animal organs in the air again, and it will make you sick.

Some old Beijingers said that braised pork was originally a court delicacy of Qing Dynasty, which evolved from "Suzhou-made meat" brought to the imperial city by a chef from Suzhou. In fact, few people really believe that braised pork has such a big head and such a high price. Looking at its source, it turned out that the poor people who couldn't afford meat in the old society used pig water discarded or sold cheaply by rich people as ingredients, cleaned it, and then covered the dirty air of the large intestine, liver, abdomen and lungs with various condiments to cook an attractive taste. The practice of braised pork may not be much different from the "Suzhou-made meat" enjoyed by the royal family, but the chop suey is something that can't be served on the table after all. The emperor Lao Tzu is tired of eating delicacies and delicacies, and he may not value this pig intestines and lungs. If these "poor people's food" is also considered as court food, then what else can't Beijing get involved with royal rumors?

What is the allure of this delicious food that ordinary people can't enjoy, which makes it a famous local traditional snack and online celebrity cuisine? Curious, after the epidemic eased, we searched for traces and came to the doorframe alley outside the front door. Eating places in Beijing are all over the city, which can be roughly divided into four categories: modern hotels, old houses, street restaurants and hutong snacks. If you want to eat authentic Beijing flavor and find the taste and feeling of old Beijing, it is still inseparable from Beijing Hutong. Too close to the business circle, most of them have a strong commercial flavor, which is not much different from ordinary street restaurants. If you want to taste the authentic old Beijing stewed flavor, you must go deep into the hutong. This is an experience that friends in Beijing have repeatedly reminded. Sure enough, as soon as I got into the alley, the smell of stewed food came to my nose.

Nancheng is the birthplace of Beijing's century-old stew, and the doorframe hutong, which is close to Qianmen and Dashilan business district, is the area that has inherited the most stew mantle from Nancheng. Here, tourists are concentrated, and so are braised dishes. Almost a little famous people have stores here. From the second corridor to the east and south is the doorframe alley. In the narrow alley, there are actually many marinated shops, many of which are hung with signs of "doorframe marinated". Maybe when we went there, every pot-stewed restaurant was packed and lively. Some of them are still waiting in line, and many of them want a takeaway after eating. It seems that the stew business here is really good. Moreover, it is closest to the life of the old Beijingers. Grandpa Beijing, who is home inside and outside the hutongs, wears big underpants, has a big belly, shakes a big cattail leaf fan, and is thin in the alleys, which is still ancient.

We stopped in front of a door called "A Century's Stewed Boiled Old Six Doors", and we saw the shopkeeper greeting us with a thick Beijing film: "Come, you, sit inside!" Most of the waiters in other stores are Mandarin or accents outside Beijing, and you can feel that you are in old Beijing when you listen here. The diners inside were also very cooperative and left after eating, making room for us. This is the facade of a two-room building. Apart from the steaming cauldron and the console, there are only six small rectangular dining tables, each with two or three people at most. But there is an endless stream of people coming to eat pot-stewed, and the free table will be occupied soon. On one side of the shop, there was a black word on the red background "Don't eat well, don't pay", so we dared to put up such a slogan at the store, and we didn't hesitate to choose this one.

The owner, Lao Liu, is obviously a frank person. Since we entered the door, we haven't seen him idle and busy. He took turns to introduce past lives, an old Beijing stew, to us diners from other places. He said openly that Beijing stew originated from Nanhengjie, which is a "half history of Nancheng", and his family moved here from Nanhengjie, so the authentic Nancheng stew technology was brought here. Dashilan area, where the doorframe hutong is located, has suffered from frequent fires in history, and only the doorframe hutong has survived, so people who do business have gathered here one after another, and of course, they also sell braised dishes. In the case that most stew shops have been contracted to foreigners, this stew shop is the real old Beijing stew shop opened by old Beijingers. He himself said that he is the only old Beijinger who works as a boss and cooks in dozens of stew shops around Qianmen.

Lao Liu told us that good braised cooking depends on the cleaning of ingredients. Fresh pigs bought must be carefully washed in the water, which is the most troublesome and particularly laborious. It is necessary to repeatedly wash and clean with yellow rice wine, salt and vinegar, and it is also necessary to remove the fat oil from the pig intestines and only keep the muscle part of the small intestine. Lung leaves should also be repeatedly irrigated and pressed. After the treatment, it is necessary to blanch and blanch the water and sundries, and then add various seasonings with traditional cooking techniques and simmer slowly together, so that the stewed food can turn the "dirty food" in people's eyes into delicious food. Lao Liu also said that whether a bowl of stewed rice is good or not depends only on the appearance. The color of the soup stock should be heavy and the taste should be fresh, but it should not be muddy or too salty. Intestines are boiled in a large pot with a small fire, and they should not be soft and rotten in the mouth, but should be chewed. The lungs should be soft and not smelly. Add garlic, spicy oil and coriander, and a bowl of vigorous stew can reflect the authentic stew culture in Nancheng. Nancheng is famous for marinating and cooking, relying on small fire and old soup to restore the true nature of food, instead of just using salt to enhance the taste or using other seasonings to cover up the evil taste of pig intestines and lungs.

Lao Liu specially reminded me that there are a lot of marinated dishes in the past century, and fake marinated dishes are flying all over the sky, but few really marinated dishes. Whoever is not long-sighted will regret it. We have little contact with braised pork, and it is difficult to find out who is authentic and who is counterfeit. However, watching bowls of fragrant stewed fire makes us feel that this family is more realistic. The person who cooks with less words is a woman, who looks like the family of Lao Liu. She skillfully picked up a kitchen knife, cut off the intestines picked up from the boiling iron pot, cut them into even small pieces and put them in a bowl. In addition, pick up a fire soaked in a pot and a rectangular piece of fried tofu, cut them neatly into strips or triangles, pour a spoonful of thick soup, sprinkle some auxiliary materials, and a bowl of boiling pot-stewed will be served to us. Those with pig intestines and lungs are called stewed pork, and those with fire and tofu are called stewed pork. In terms of price, it's also true that a large bowl of black porcelain can be cooked and burned. As long as the 3 yuan is not enough, it can be added. A bowl of stewed fire reveals the open-mindedness, tolerance and atmosphere of old Beijingers. There must be internal reasons why the original humble stew can be prosperous for decades.

to tell the truth, I don't like being fat at ordinary times, and I'm not so interested in eating pig viscera. One year, I ate fried liver in an old shop in Beijing. The foul smell of pig intestines and liver almost made me spit it out. This time, I just wanted to experience the taste of braised pork, and I didn't intend to eat up a bowl of braised pork, so I didn't care how much or how little there was in the bowl. Even so, I am worried about whether I can eat all the pork intestines, pork lungs, fried tofu and noodles full of soup. I never thought that there was no evil smell at all, just a few mouthfuls, which made me so happy that I took a big bite. The muscle texture of pig small intestine is clearly visible, almost no fat is seen, and it is soft and not greasy when chewed. The lung head is soft and waxy, and the lung cartilage is crunchy. Eating a piece of marinated sausage, taking a bite of marinated lung, and then chewing a bite of fire or tofu, several different tastes alternate, which actually makes people forget that this is a bowl of pig viscera. Confucius once said that "lust does not eat" and "cutting incorrectly does not eat". That was when he lived without cooking. Besides, Confucius is a saint, so it is naturally difficult for ordinary people to restrain themselves by the standards of saints, and it is naturally difficult to miss this tempting delicious food. No, a big bowl of stewed food with thin and dry ingredients, staple food and non-staple food, can't be eaten by a small eater like me. In particular, that bowl of soup stock, which is thick and salty and suitable, is even more full, so it can only be left in the bowl, and it is really impossible to drink. This bowl is better than a gluttonous meal. It's hard to describe the taste when you eat it and burp. According to our southern Shandong dialect, this bowl of rice is starving, which is really in charge!

The high-quality cooking with vulgar ingredients has broken my understanding of animal viscera food. The indigenous flavor of Nancheng pot-stewed also gave me a new understanding of the allure of being close to the common people. Beijingers probably like the special taste of pig and cow viscera. Braised pork, fried liver, fried belly and so on are also the animal viscera delicacies that old Beijingers can't live without. They are not only the favorite of ordinary people, but also many powerful celebrities. On the wall of the "Old Six Doors for a Hundred Years" shop, there are many photos of diners and Old Six, and several of them are celebrities in the entertainment industry. Nancheng stew, which is full of authentic Beijingers' heritage, has made a pig into a nutritious and high-quality delicacy suitable for all ages. It has not only become an ineffable landmark food in old Beijing, but also represents the yearning of the old Beijingers and carries their childhood memories. People in the imperial city of Beijing are most likely to associate secularism with poetry. No matter what the situation, they can enjoy their lives. Even if they chew with their mouths alone, they can find the joy of life and enjoy the fun of life. From this point of view, Beijingers love pot cooking. Isn't it a nostalgia for the old days and a taste for a new life?

I left the doorframe alley with the richness and fragrance between my lips and teeth, and my mind was full of stew. I'm really worried that I'll have to eat it specially in a few days.