01
I have been in Beijing for many years, and I have never tried braised and roasted food at first. Braised and roasted is a favorite of old Beijingers, but it is not easy for me to accept.
Walking into a small restaurant on the street, the room was full, the people were buzzing, and the diners were eating enthusiastically. There is a big pot in front of the counter. There is a thick white mist on the big pot, and a strong smell of pepper and aniseed is exuding. Look at the things placed in the big pot: pig intestines, pig lungs, pork, fried tofu, fire... ....
In the living environment in the south, we are not used to the smell of pepper and aniseed, and we rarely eat pig offal. I was impatient and walked out of the restaurant without having the courage to try.
However, as my life experience increases, my patience gradually increases. When I go to a braised restaurant, I can quietly look around and think about the smell and the ingredients. People eat? This food must be delicious. How would you know if you don't try it? How can you experience the flavor of Beijing without eating traditional snacks when you come to Beijing? So, sit down and taste it slowly.
Braised cooking and fire roasting. Braised cooking is the water boiled with peppercorns, aniseed, cinnamon, cloves, star anise and salt or soy sauce. It is called brine. So, braised cooking is made with this water. What to cook? The cooking ingredients are the previously mentioned pig intestines, pig lungs, pork and fried tofu, and finally the fire is added. The fire is sesame cakes, which are cooked over fire and cooked in brine.
How does it taste when braised and roasted? The roasted and stewed pig intestines and pig lungs are cooked together, plus fried tofu cubes, marinade, garlic sauce, soybean curd juice, coriander and other accessories. The texture is not sticky after being cooked thoroughly, and the meat is rotten but not bad. The taste is rich and mellow.
02 The origin of braised pork belly BBQ
According to legend, in 1780, Emperor Qianlong visited the south and stayed at Chen Yuanlong’s home in Anlan Garden, Yangzhou. Qianlong was very fond of the exquisite skills of Chen’s chefs. So the cook followed Qianlong into the palace and became the royal cook. This chef's specialty dish is a meat dish, which is mainly a broth made from roasted pork belly, cinnamon and other medicinal ingredients. Because the chef is from Suzhou, the soup of this dish is also called "Suzhou soup". The meat is called "Su Zao Meat". How delicious is this "Su Zao Meat"?
The ancient book "Miscellaneous Odes of Yandu Snacks" once commented: "Su made fat and fresh food to satisfy his craving, and a bowl of ointment has been filled with oil." Later, this famous dish slowly spread from the palace to Folk, but the folk ingredients are not as luxurious as those in the palace, so the "protagonist" of this dish was replaced by relatively cheap pig head meat, and the broth was added with pig waste, which slowly evolved and became what we eat now Braised and roasted.
Luzhuhuoshao is a folk snack. The reason why it has been popular for a long time and is also operated by southerners in Beijing is mainly for two reasons. First, in terms of price, it matches the consumption power of the people. It’s rice again, soup is watery, rich in braised flavor, it’s a big bowl of hot food, it’s so beautiful.
In "Miscellaneous Songs of Yandu Snack Foods", "Su Zao Meat" is praised as follows: "Su Zao Meat is made of fat, fresh and satiating, and the meat is soaked in soup and cooked over fire. Even though the gluttonous people say it is greasy, it will make people hungry." The anointing oil is all over the clothes." In the commentary, it says: "Suzhou cooks long strips of fat meat, stews it in a very rotten sauce, and the flavor is very thick. It is said that the method of Su Zao Pork was spread to the people, and people naturally did not have many expensive ingredients and high-quality meat at home, so they simplified it and added it to the fire, and it became a folk flavor.
03
From a variety of information, we found that braised pork comes from Su Zao Rou. But now the reputation of braised and roasted meat exceeds that of Su Zao Pork. What I don’t understand is, what kind of meat is Su Zao Rou? The stewed and roasted braised pork based on it is already very popular among the public. So, wouldn’t it be more popular if Su Zao Pork was made and shared with everyone? However, I have not heard of the traditional snack of Su Zao Pork.
In daily life or when eating in restaurants, we rarely hear information about Su Zao Rou. Only when we talk about braised pork and roasted pork, do we get the information that braised roasted pork comes from Su Zao Rou, but no one Can explain clearly what Su Zaorou is.
Nowadays, if you go to the streets or restaurants in Beijing and mention braised pork, most people will know about it, but when it comes to Su Zao Rou, almost no one knows about it. If the Braised Pork with Fire is indeed an improvement on Su Zao Pork, and the change has become famous, and has been popularized for hundreds of years, it means that the improvement of Braised Pork with Fire is very successful. Perhaps, this just proves: the skill is better than the skill.
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