Chapter 438 Fish Head and Tofu Soup, Ginger from Shu
After a while, Bai Lingjun took the cooked tofu out of the pot and put it into the lacquer plate as carefully as possible.
Then he wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned to Sun Luban, who was preparing the ingredients for the fish breasts, and said with a smile: "Sister, the tofu is ready, you can make fish head and tofu soup."
Sun Luban put down a plate of ingredients and pointed to a few fish heads in a lacquer bowl aside and said, "Here, just leave it here. Sister, come and use it yourself. My ingredients are not completely ready yet."
Bai Lingjun walked over and brought the fish heads in front of him, and then washed his hands in a basin on the side. He placed several fish heads on the cutting board one by one. He picked up the kitchen knife and used a little force to cut the fish heads in a few cuts.
The head was split into two halves, washed carefully with water in a wooden bucket and put away.
Then slice the washed and prepared ginger, cut the green onion into chopped green onion, then cut the tofu into cubes, marinate the fish head with salt, clean the copper cauldron, heat the oil in the pot,
Slowly put a few pieces of fish head from the edge of the copper cauldron, fry it for a while, then turn it over and fry it for a while, then pour the onions and ginger in, stir-fry, and then add water.
At this time, the aroma of the stir-fried fish and onion and ginger will be fully stimulated. Then cover the lid of the copper cauldron and cook on high heat for a quarter of an hour. When the soup turns white, add the cut tofu cubes and cook for a while.
out of the pot,
The story of ginger in China can be traced back to ancient times when there is still a lack of physical historical data. The first Chinese ancestor who tasted ginger was probably Shennong who tasted herbs to save the people.
Legend has it that after eating a poisonous mushroom, Shen Nong's belly felt like a knife and he even fell into a coma.
In the haze, he vaguely smelled a fragrance. The experience of tasting herbs made him realize that there must be something wonderful behind this fragrance.
So after cheering up a little, Shennong followed the scent and finally found a plant with slender leaves.
Shennong pulled out this "herb" and tasted it bit by bit.
When you enter the mouth, it tastes spicy and sweet. Soon after eating it, the abdominal pain caused by the poisonous mushrooms disappeared little by little, and Shennong's body miraculously improved.
And because Shennong was the leader of the tribe named Jiang, the newly discovered "vanilla" saved his life, so he named it "Ginger".
We obviously don’t know how true or false the story of Shennong tasting ginger was.
But ginger has long appeared in the lives of the ancients, and there are many historical data to prove this: "Mozi Tianxia Zhi" records that melons and ginger can be seen in the vegetable gardens of ordinary people in the pre-Qin Dynasty;
"Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" records that "the beauty of harmony is the ginger of Yangpu, the osmanthus of swagger, and the mushroom of Yueluo"... "Ode to the Capital of Shu" also emphasizes: "The land of Shu has produced pungent ginger since ancient times."
It is confirmed that ginger has entered people's lives a long time ago, so how do people use ginger? Generally speaking, ginger has two major uses-eating and burning.
"Book of Rites" records that Zhou people "beat it, remove its peeling skin, braid it, cloth it with beef, add cinnamon and ginger, add wine to it, salt it, and eat it. The same goes for sheep." This shows that since
Since the pre-Qin Dynasty, the Chinese have been using ginger as a seasoning to remove the fishy smell of meat.
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, adding green onion and ginger to soup is also a common way of eating, and it can also be used to make tea.
Another use of ginger—as incense—is less common today.
But in the Han Dynasty, galangal from the Zingiberaceae family was a very common spice.
In addition to seasoning and incense, ginger has also long shouldered its original "responsibility" - to cure diseases and save people.
In the medical book "Fifty-two Prescriptions for Diseases" at this time, the "Health Prescription" mentioned: "Take Asarum, dried ginger, fungus cinnamon, Wuyuan, and four other ingredients to treat it.
Take four pieces of Asarum, two pieces of dried ginger, two pieces of Cinnamon cinnamon, and two pieces of Wu Yuan. Combine them with three fingers to make a meal. It will nourish Qi and make you look good."
Also at this time, in the medical book "Treatise on Febrile Diseases", ginger as a medicinal material was even subdivided into fresh ginger and dried ginger by the famous doctor Zhang Zhongjing.
The book "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" collects 113 prescriptions, of which 63 prescriptions use ginger. Among the 63 prescriptions, Zhang Zhongjing believes that 39 prescriptions should use ginger and 24 prescriptions should use dried ginger.
Judging from the total number and detail of the prescriptions, it can be seen that Zhang Zhongjing himself may not be less fond of ginger than Shen Nong.
In ancient times, there were no separate families for onions, garlic, and scallions. For scallions, there was one for shallots and one for picking garlic. The Classic of Mountains and Seas says:
"The mountains in Bianchun are rich in onions, sunflowers and leeks... The mountains in Beidan have no vegetation and are rich in onions and leeks."
But there are far more references to scallions in ancient poetry than to onions.
Tian Heng of the Western Han Dynasty did not want to surrender to Liu Bang and committed suicide. Five hundred of his men sang in front of his grave, "The dew on the leaves is how beautiful it is."
The word "elegy" comes from "Dew". Because the surface of the sage is covered with wax powder, it is difficult for dew to adhere to it, so it means that life is perishable.
"A basket full of dew can bear the dew without waiting for a letter to ask for it." When Du Fu was living in Qinzhou, his friend Ruan Fang sent thirty bunches of dew-covered weeds. Only by knowing that the dew is hard to keep can we appreciate Ruan Fang's deep affection.
Since the pre-Qin period, green onions have dominated the kitchens of ancient people.
"Book of Rites" records: "Onions are used in spring and mustard in autumn; leek is used in spring and polygonum are used in autumn; green onions are used for fat and scallion is used for ointment."
"Shuowen Jiezi" says, "Those who wear horns are fat, those who have no horns are ointment." When roasting beef and mutton, green onions are used, and when roasting pork, scallions are used.
Wine, and leave the sage leaves for spring vegetables.”
After Qingmei cooked wine and talked about heroes, after Liu Bei escaped with some excuses, Cao Cao also felt that he had made a mistake during the banquet. After thinking about it, he felt uneasy and sent a spy to see what Liu Bei was doing when he returned home.
The spies reported back, "Seeing that it was covered with green onions, the servants struck him with their sticks because they were not upright."
Liu Bei was so angry that he beat the servants because the green onions were not neat and tidy.
Cao Cao said: "The big-eared old man is not aware of it yet."
Cao Cao saw that Liu Bei was still busy planting onions, so he thought he would not run away, but he did not expect that Liu Bei "hurried eastward at night" and "the envoys chasing him failed to catch up".
In ancient times, onions were a meat dish (that is, a spicy and flavorful dish) and were a common dish.
People in the Three Kingdoms era did not eat meat under several circumstances: First, Buddhism (after Emperor Wu of Liang) and Taoism did not use meat dishes;
They believe that spicy vegetables such as onions, garlic, leeks, and ginger are too pungent and will be bad for people's minds, so they don't eat them. Secondly, they don't eat meat during sacrifices and fasting.
"Zhuangzi: Human World": "Yan Hui said: Hui's family is poor, but he does not drink alcohol or eat meat for several months. If this is the case, can he be fasting?"
This is a clear proof of the ancient fasting of not eating onions, garlic and other smelly vegetables. "The Analects of Confucius? Xiangdang" records that fasting requires "changing the food" and prohibiting meat. The only exception is ginger.
Because in meat dishes, onions, garlic, and leeks all have turbid odors, but ginger has clear odors. From this point of view, onions are not the best in ancient meat dishes, but sometimes they are also an indispensable seasoning.
After cooking the fish head and tofu soup, Bai Lingjun poured it into a lacquer basin and asked Xiao Ruan to carry it to the dining table, then divide it into several portions and put them away.
Cao Shuang looked at the appetizing fish head and tofu soup in front of him and said with a smile: "Although it doesn't have the flavor of the ginger from Shu, it is still very good. My husband thought that even if there is ginger from Shu in the future, it won't be as good."
The cooking skills of the ladies are also slightly inferior."