The notes of Tofu

A few days ago, the doctor advised to eat more eggs and lean meat, and tofu and other high-protein foods. Speaking of tofu, an interesting incident comes to mind for no apparent reason. Many years ago, I had a dinner with a literary friend. It was a vegetarian dinner, but all the meat on the table. When we were talking, our friend suddenly pointed to the chicken feet with pickled pepper in front of him and asked how it tasted. I laughed and said, "These are all soy products. I was a little surprised, the meal is almost finished, but I did not notice that those are soy products. I only knew that antiques could be imitated, but I didn't think there were "fakes" in food.

The doctor asked to keep up with the nutrition, so that night I made tofu and carp soup. The fish was fresh and the tofu was tender. I ate a steamed bun, a few slices of roast meat, and even drank half of the fish soup. When I was young, I lived in my aunt's house for three years. There was a river in front of her house, and early in the morning, it was common for villagers to cast their nets to catch fish. I always guarded the river, encountered fish, said give me a well. The villagers did not speak, picking up a fish and throwing it over. In the summer, flash floods often rise. Everyone ran to the field to check the crops, but I looked for fish along the river bank. If I picked up a few more, I used a tree strip to pass through the gills and carried them home. In those days, it seemed that the fish was not mixed with tofu, but only stewed with oil, salt and a few condiments. Wild river fish stew, of course, tastes more delicious. But the rivers have become thinner over the years, and the fish have inexplicably decreased, so I'm afraid I won't be able to drink that kind of fish soup anymore.

As for tofu, you can eat it any time you want, and it has been uninterrupted over the years. The origin of tofu, some say in Anhui Huainan, some say in Anhui Qingyang ...... although the location is still controversial, but the age is solid evidence. In the ancient tomb of the Han Dynasty in Mi County, Henan Province, stone murals of the manufacture of tofu were found. This shows that tofu appeared in Han at the latest. For thousands of years, this food has naturally created subtlety. I forgot where in Anshun, I had a tofu feast. There were a dozen dishes on the table, fried and cooked, all with tofu.

In the early years, whenever there was a white event in the village, the host family was too late to prepare the meal, so they ground a few pots of tofu and placed them on the long table at the entrance. The first thing you need to do is to get a few bowls of dipping water, and then add two other soup dishes, so that friends and relatives who come to help can hastily cope with a meal. This kind of big pot of tofu is so old that if you are not careful and drop a pile on the table, you may not be able to break it. On those occasions, I was always unable to eat enough and had to go hungry, helping with chores and waiting for the evening to get greasy.

I'm not very particular about my diet, but I prefer to eat freshly cooked tender bean curd. When there were tofu grinders in town, they used to pick up a load of bean curd in the morning and ask which house they wanted to buy it from along the street. The kind of tender bean flower, in the pot wobbling, and can not cook more. Once the soup boiled, it was quickly washed away. At lunch time, the young bean flower simmered hot, the green chili pepper will be half cooked, torn and add wild onions as a dip, eat up full of flavor. That kind of bean flower eating is fresh, until dinner and then eat, the taste is much less.

Bijie, where I live now, also makes a name for tofu. A few years ago, I went to the town of Babu in Weaving County, and the tofu there was a masterpiece. I brought back two packs of tofu and baked it at home and ate it, and it really had a special taste. The town of Liulong in Dafang County has also made a name for itself in tofu. In terms of promotion, it is also more successful. In almost every street in Bijie, you can see the signboard of Liulong dried bean curd hot pot. In some stores, they are even marked with the word authentic. Because of the outstanding taste, every hot pot restaurant is filled to capacity. It is said that this hot pot has to be spicy to taste good. I am not very good at eating spicy food, so whenever I go to eat Luk Lung dried bean hot pot, I always ask the restaurant to put less chili. I can barely cope with the spicy taste, but friends from the north, I guess some are not used to eating.

The glutinous pig's foot hot pot is also a feature of Bijie. Inside the soup pot, there are half new feet of pig and half tender tofu. The pig's feet are stewed and cooked so well that the softness is similar to that of tofu, and the fusion of the two is very tasty. The pig's feet look thick-skinned and fatty, but they are not greasy. This hot pot is a clear soup with a dish of dipping water, usually with a piece of tofu milk in it. Sticky pig's feet hot pot soup is thick and nutritious.

China has a long history of people eating all kinds of food in a thorough and clever way. The delicious dishes written about in "Dream of the Red Chamber" are enough to derive a discipline. I am neither a gourmet nor a scholar, but I was curious about one of the foods in the book. In the eighth chapter of Dream of the Red Chamber, it is written that the tofu skin buns Jia Baoyu left for Qingwen were eaten by his mother, causing him to have a temper tantrum. I didn't even know that tofu skin could be used to make buns, and I had no way of knowing how it tasted. At this point, I suddenly thought of Jin Sheng sigh, he annotated many masterpieces, but no chance to analyze the "Dream of the Red Chamber". It is said that on the occasion of his death, in the execution ground had left last words: "peanuts and dried beans chewed together, there is the taste of ham, to get this skill to pass on, die without regret!" There is no way to examine the last words of Jin Shengmu. But this humor, as well as his calm and openness to life and death, but people admire a lot.

Tofu is an unusual food, I'm afraid there are few Chinese who have not eaten it. When I first arrived in Bijie, I discovered that the city had a love for tofu. In those years, there were many vendors selling baked tofu on the streets. A fire pit was set up in front of them, with slices of tofu on top. There are often passers-by who stop and sit there to grill tofu to eat. Some even hold glasses of wine, look leisurely. I looked at those tofu stalls and always felt that they were not sanitary enough. Later, when I saw how good everyone was eating, I finally couldn't resist trying it. The tofu was about five inches long and wide, and it slowly puffed up when it was cooked. Tear it apart with your hands, and the heat comes out from inside. Dipped in chili noodles, the taste was surprisingly good. I've also tried charred tofu, but it was not to my liking. Although the chewing sound is crunchy, but no tofu fragrance. I don't know if it's a city improvement or some other reason, but I rarely encounter vendors selling baked tofu these days. If you are visiting from abroad and want to try Bijie specialties, I can only take you to eat six dragon dried bean hot pot, or glutinous pig's foot hot pot. If you want to eat that kind of hot pot baked tofu, I'm afraid you can't find it for a while.