Chapter 257 The Specialty of Twice-cooked Pork
“Personal belongings of celebrities, are there any similar things in history?”
“Yes, the Palace Museum in Beijing has a collection of Su Shiming’s Duanshi Knotted Rope Patterns Inkstone, Su Dongpo's Mo Miao broken tablet inkstone, and a Congxing inkstone, which is said to have been used by Su Dongpo."
"Huang Tingjian collected one. The fossil of the Chinese Sinian corner stone is processed into the shape of a brick. There is a white 'stalagmite' in the middle of the stone, and on the left side of the stone there are four verses of handwriting engraved: South Cliff Bride Stone, the thunderbolt presses the bamboo shoots out. . Use a spoon of water to moisten its roots, and you will know when it will become a bamboo. It is signed with the word "Ting Jian" and a seal below. "Is this fossil still there?"
"He is, now at the National Palace Museum in Taipei."
"So..."
"So...this is the biggest one your kid has picked up so far. Leak!”
“This is truly priceless. Treasure!"
Zhou Zhi counted it with his fingers: "The material, the craftsmanship, the subject matter, the calligraphy, the inscriptions, the Dasu words, and the seals all indicate that this square seal stone is. It’s Huang Tingjian’s personal belongings, right?”
"Actually, there are more." The fourth cousin said: "There is also the track of Huang Tingjian's official career."
"Also, Tianhuang was not a precious stone at that time. Some people had just started to use it." The fourth cousin said: " As a scholar who likes to collect strange stones, Huang Tingjian's color matches his surname, so it is natural to use it to make a seal. It's a matter of course."
"Then you have to keep this in good storage." Zhou Zhi was also a person who had handled goods worth hundreds of millions. After the initial shock, his mind had calmed down. After all, this thing would starve to death. It is impossible to sell it for cash, so no matter how precious this thing is, it is actually just a toy for daily enjoyment.
The ones that are really willing to part with will only be worth tens of millions after more than ten years.
After packing up everything, Zhou Zhi dragged over two more boxes and said with a smile: "This counts as the appraisal fee, right?"
One box contained grapefruit, and the remaining box contained turnips, turnips, and bacon. The fourth cousin laughed and scolded: "In addition to the appraisal fee, I also have to consign it for you, right?"
"You are really unjust. "Me." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "I'm going to the provincial capital soon. I'll take some things to the provincial capital for storage. I know Manager Fei from Gongmei, so I won't bother you. .”
“Then take it away quickly and come over early tomorrow to help with the cooking.”
“You still need me when you’re here? Besides, you’re so particular about cooking. I can even write the recipe.” It's so scary..."
"Don't worry, those things that make you scared will not be on the table tomorrow."
"...Forget it, I'll send something to my godfather first."
"Old rule, keep good things here for appreciation for half a month."
"Old rule, after the appreciation is over Give me an appraisal certificate."
"Get out!"
Call a three-wheeler, Zhou Zhi left the fourth cousin's house and went to the cultural center.
Today's cultural center is not a small place, and the port is also good. It is just above the New Highway Pier and opposite Xinhua Bookstore.
The cultural center is similar to a small park, with a moon-shaped round door at the entrance, which is quite rare in various units in Jiachuan.
Entering the door is another stone staircase, which leads up to the auditorium, where the county sometimes holds performances.
Opposite are several large rooms with holes, similar to the main hall of a Buddhist temple. Inside are calligraphy and painting works by some famous people in the county. Sometimes exhibitions are held here, and now there is a group of children practicing calligraphy inside.
It was a calligraphy and painting class held by cultural people in the cultural center in order to find outside water. To the right is a newly built four-story brick-concrete building, where the cultural center's warehouse, reference room, and offices are located.
Theoretically, the godfather is the deputy director of the Bureau of Culture and Education, the cultural center is also in charge, and the county magistrate's office, to use a word from later generations to describe it, is to generate electricity with love.
Even if he generates electricity by himself, he also invites Zhou Zhi to generate electricity together.
However, Zhou Zhi did not indulge his godfather. Originally, he said that it would be easier to sort out the intangible cultural heritage. Now it is still called "traditional skills." However, Zhou Zhi started from the Jiudou Bowl, using the information of the cultural center, county annals, and dry With the information collected by my father and the guidance of my fourth cousin, I finally wrote a food essay called "Interesting Stories about Sichuan Flavors".
The 300,000-word manuscript for the first volume of this book is now on Wu Lingjun’s desk, and Wu Lingjun is flipping through it with interest.
"Here?" Seeing Zhou Zhi dragging two boxes in, Wu Lingjun put down the manuscript: "The writing is good, but is your theory of the origin of twice-cooked pork going too far?"
"Popular Science , just a little popular science.”
Zhou Zhi’s article made several speculations about the origin of twice-cooked pork.
The first is a Hakka home-cooked dish "smothered pork with green garlic". The green garlic sprouts used in it are also a must-have ingredient for twice-cooked pork.
The second is the records collected by the godfather. In the book "Zhuyu Shanfang Zabu" written in the Ming Dynasty, there is a Ming Dynasty dish called "fried pig":
"Take the cooked meat, finely chop the spinach, add it to hot oil and sauté until fragrant, add a little soy sauce and wine, add pepper and green onion, and fry it together with raw bamboo shoot shreds and wild rice shreds."
This kind of oil stir-fries pigs. The cooking method is quite similar to the twice-cooked pork in later generations. It's just that the ingredients are missing some bean paste, and the garnishes are changed from green garlic to shredded bamboo shoots and wild rice.
In fact, twice-cooked pork with green garlic is the standard dish in restaurants in central Sichuan, but there are all kinds of side dishes for stir-fried twice-cooked pork at home. Theoretically, as long as vegetables are not watery, they can be used as twice-cooked pork. Side dishes: dried sesame, bamboo shoot slices, fern cake, dried salted vegetables, young ginger, lotus root, green pepper, celery, garlic sprouts, bear paw tofu, cold potatoes...
You can also mix and match several side dishes to make it more delicious. Various and colorful.
For example, Zhou Zhi likes to add pickled ginger slices and pickled pepper segments.
As a representative work of Sichuan cuisine, the status of twice-cooked pork in Sichuan cuisine is quite clear, but its origin is quite unclear.
Zhou Zhi added another guess - meat sacrifice.
When ancient people worshiped their ancestors and gods, they would place cooked pork as a sacrifice. This kind of sacrificial pork was generally fat and cut into large pieces. It was cooked purely in water without any seasoning.
To this day, Jiachuan still retains this custom. The piece of meat used to sacrifice the ancestors is the tip of the hip or the meat from the second knife. It is cooked in a square piece and then served.
The procedure after the sacrifice is completed is to spread the blessings, that is, people share the sacrifices. This kind of large piece of fat pork boiled in white water, plus it took a long time to complete the ceremony, and it was already cold by the time the meat was divided, so you can imagine the feeling of eating it.
The palace sacrifices of the Qing Dynasty are a typical example. In the end, according to the procedure, the emperor and queen got the pig spleens, and the ministers got the pork shoulders, pork kidneys, etc. According to the procedure, after the sharing, they had to be eaten at the sacrifice site.
Thinking about the fishy smell of pig spleen, Zhou Zhi couldn't help but sigh. At least in this matter, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty "led by example."
Anyway, after a few times, some ministers became interested and hid the "fabric".
The fabric is just a handkerchief, but other handkerchiefs are only afraid of being unclean, but this one is only afraid of being clean.
The top is soaked in salt, soy sauce, and seasoning marinade. When the sacrificial meat is distributed, this piece of paper is used as a cushion to eat, and secretly wiped on it while eating, which is actually adding seasoning to the meat. .
Folk rules are not so big, so they are not so particular. Therefore, in ancient times when meat was relatively expensive, the most likely way to use large pieces of pork for sacrifices is to process it twice after changing the knife, and then "return" it to the pot. , paired with rich condiments and side dishes, it becomes a gourmet meal.
(End of this chapter)