Today is a new society, which has gone through the reform of marriage customs after the founding of the People's Republic of China and many years of hard times.
In the marriages of people in the capital, most families no longer pay attention to betrothal gifts and dowries, and are ashamed to discuss economic conditions.
Whoever wants to give a meeting gift must do so voluntarily. Even if it is a pen or a piece of clothing, the other party must not be picky.
As rumored today, the sayings "thirty-six legs" and "three turns and one sound" that were popular in the 1970s do exist, but in most cases, they are just people's perfect imagination and pursuit of a happy life.
Almost all of these things must be purchased by the couple themselves after the marriage.
Because firstly, not many families can afford it, so it’s useless to ask for it. In addition, in this era, people value reputation more than material things. They are all afraid of being known as “selling their daughters” or being “money obsessed”.
And a series of red tapes such as "making a wedding invitation", "getting married", "making a wedding ceremony", and "sending a dowry" before marriage have long since disappeared without a trace.
The newly simplified wedding customs, in addition to two young people getting to know each other and maybe relying on an introducer to "blind date", there are also steps where the man and woman bring gifts to each other's house so that each other's parents can "see each other". Basically, it is just two families.
The in-laws meet each other again and have a "promise meal".
In the current situation of the Hong family, "seeing each other" and "promising a meal" are combined into one. But precisely for this reason, this meal is particularly important.
That was not only the first step in the initial contact between the two families, but also a celebration banquet for the in-laws to be confirmed.
What is certain is that many things can be seen from this meal, such as the sincerity, courtesy, living standards of both parties, and even the quality, taste and living habits of both parties. They will directly affect each other's perception and recognition.
To put it bluntly, if something goes wrong with this meal, it will not only cast a shadow on the marriage of the children of both parties, but also cause the parents of both parties to have a long-term grudge. Even in extreme cases, even if the marriage has been agreed upon,
It's all yellow.
This is no exaggeration at all.
In today's society, aren't there examples of girls who go to their boyfriend's house as guests and are so frightened when they see the food in the basin that they want to break up?
There are also situations where a prospective son-in-law can't stand the hospitality of his prospective mother-in-law, who smacks his chopsticks while picking up food for himself, so he retreats.
Similarly, there are cases where one parent's father is an alcoholic and drinks too much, or one parent praises or criticizes the food or makes it difficult to swallow, resulting in an unhappy separation.
Anyway, there are all kinds of situations, and there are countless examples of how to test each other's tolerance.
But on the other hand, if this meal can really be comfortable and warm, making each other feel in tune, and even give rise to the feeling that "we should be a family", then it will really promote the relationship between the two parties than giving pearls and agate.
, whatever nice words you say are strong.
Once there is such a good start and foundation, even if there is a conflict between children in the future, both parents will easily understand each other's position and then take the initiative to resolve their children. This is of course a great benefit and guarantee for the marriage itself.
Therefore, Wang Yunlin really paid attention to the content and form of this meal.
Originally, she wanted to make the meal more pompous and save trouble, but she could have arranged the meal to be eaten at a large restaurant. It's not like the Hong family couldn't afford the money today.
But considering that the current place is noisy, noisy, smoky, and full of alcohol, plus "Auntie Bao" and "Tang Xin'er" are both women, it is obvious that this arrangement will only make them awkward, uncomfortable, and even
Unappetizing.
So what if we eat it at home?
"Aunt Bao" is from Shanghai and is a top pastry chef. Wang Yunlin is worried that the taste of the family banquet in Beijing will not be adaptable to her.
Moreover, if we really have to prepare a large table of dishes, stir-fry, fry, stew and boil, how long will we have to work on? There will be no time to talk.
In this way, after much thought, she finally made a wise decision to eat "spring pancakes".
When it comes to Beijing's food, even today, most friends from other places only have a simple understanding of "roast duck", "shabu-shabu mutton" and some famous Beijing snacks.
What about the family banquet? I’m afraid there’s nothing else to say except “braised noodles” and “fried soybean noodles”.
But in fact, there are many special foods in Beijing. And due to the influence of ethnic minorities such as Manchu, Mongolian, Tibetan and Hui Miao, not only the tastes are diverse, but the dining formats are also very interesting.
I'm not bragging at all. It can often be frugal and can be freely adjusted to taste. It is more advanced than the buffets introduced in the West today.
The most typical examples of this are "Desheng Bao" and "Spring Pancakes".
It is mentioned in the side story that at the apprenticeship banquet of Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan, Wang Yunlin used the "Victory Bag" to entertain "Master Yu".
This Banner flavored food is called "Fuke" in Manchu, which sounds a bit like a curse word when written.
Because of its characteristic of using vegetables as a bowl, it needs to be eaten with rice rolled with assorted contents in perilla leaves or cabbage leaves. The time to enjoy this seasonal food can only be after the fifth day of July.
For those who have never eaten it, just take a look at the "Korean lettuce and rice" favored by many white-collar workers and you will roughly understand that it is actually an extremely inferior imitation by those who "claim that all civilization comes from Korea."
Interestingly, "Spring Pancakes", which have something in common with the "Desheng Bao" eating method, are exactly the opposite of them in terms of season, but they occupy people's dining tables between the "beginning of spring" and summer.
Because in a practical sense, "spring pancakes" are made with flour pancakes baked as thin as rice paper, rolled with seasonal vegetables and stir-fried vegetables that are specialties in early spring, and are called "biting spring".
This is really a very vivid word. In the eyes of people in the capital, spring can be bitten with teeth.
When it comes to this custom, it should have been around since the Tang Dynasty. "The Treasure Mirror of the Four Seasons of the Tang Dynasty" records, "On the first day of spring, people eat spring cakes, spring cakes, and lettuce on a spring plate."
Yelu Chucai, a Khitan native of the early Yuan Dynasty, also wrote a poem that described in detail the feeling of eating spring pancakes.
"Yesterday, I accidentally forgot about the spring day. I tried to make a spring plate and tasted it. The wooden case was first opened and the silver lines were messy. The lotus roots were cooked in a sand vase and became long. The peas were mixed evenly with the green onions, and the wilted wormwood was finely cut with a sprinkling of chives. It was the same as when I was full,
Why wait for a mere meal?"
It can be seen that this kind of food has a long history. So as time goes by, the taste of eating it becomes more and more rich and refined, which is a matter of course.
When it comes to people in the capital rolling "spring pancakes", apart from the necessary sauces and shredded green onions, the most important thing is to pay attention to the cooked vegetables.
First there are a few things that are essential.
That is leeks, spinach, bean sprouts, vermicelli and "tan yellow vegetables".
(Note: "Spreading yellow vegetables" means spreading eggs. Because there were eunuchs in old Beijing, it was taboo to say "eggs". Commonly used pronouns include "yellow vegetables", "guoer", "chicken" and "osmanthus". In fact, "
To put it bluntly, the dish "Moujiu Meat" is "fried meat with eggs". In addition, "Mouji" also refers to "Osmanthus". So if you think about it carefully, the name of the dish "Mouji Meat" created by the predecessors can be said to be both physical and spiritual.
It is both comprehensive and extremely insightful, fully embodying the artistry of our language. It is a pity that many people today are ignorant, and many big restaurants openly write the words "mushu meat" on their menus. This is not only a white-letter fallacy, but also completely inconsistent with the content of the dishes.
There is no connection. It should be considered a cultural regression.)
Secondly, it also pursues two main principles.
One is that if you want to eat meat, you must use cooked meat dishes made by "smoking", "sauce" and "roasting". The other is that the seasonal vegetables selected are mainly fresh and crispy.
As long as you follow this principle, everything else is up to personal preference.
This gives the "spring pancake" a great deal of space and freedom, which can fully meet the special needs of different classes.
For example, a poor family can have the simplest "spring pancake" by frying shredded pork, bean sprouts, leeks, spinach and vermicelli together, then spreading an egg on top.
There is a name for this, it is called "Spring Pancake Stir-fried Vegetables Big Cap". When you hear it, it makes you feel majestic and heroic.
As for well-off families, the usual standard is a "fried egg with leeks", a "fried vermicelli with spinach and bean sprouts", plus a "pine nut belly" cut into strips and a sliced "sauce elbow" or "sauce elbow"
Sauce beef".
This is a relatively sumptuous "spring pancake" meal that meets the basic specifications.
As for today's Hong family, its level is much higher. It is undoubtedly the standard of a luxurious mansion.
Under Wang Yunlin's management, there are three types of light sauce: yellow sauce, sweet noodle sauce, and orange sauce.
She also peeled spring onions, radishes, and cucumbers and cut them into sections for serving.
Of course, cooking is suitable for both young and old.
There are "Stir-fried yellow vegetables", "Stir-fried garlic sprouts", "Stir-fried wild rice", "Stir-fried green and white snake" (stir-fried bean sprouts with leeks), "Stir-fried vermicelli with spinach", "Stir-fried fungus with golden needles".
Don’t look too far, the vegetables have already been washed, and they are stir-fried quickly with hot oil. There is no steaming or stewing process, so it’s actually not a hassle at all.
And there are even more cooked meats.
Wang Yunlin made a special trip to "Tianfu" yesterday and bought all the braised pork ribs, braised pork belly, smoked chicken, roasted duck, bacon and bacon.
In a short time, everything was cut into shreds and placed on the table, just like a delicatessen shop, everything was ready.
Although compared with the Wanyan family back then, there was still a lack of "Sura Sauce" from the palace and "Eight Treasures Roasted Pig" from "Jinhua House". Compared with the Hong family back then, there was also a lack of "Fushun Zhai".
Sauce Beef" and "Yue Sheng Zhai" roast mutton.
But this is already within Wang Yunlin's ability, and she can prepare the most comprehensive scale at the moment.
And don't forget, there are also "Puwufang" soy sauce pork and barbecued pork sent by "Auntie Bao".
I have to say that this is another extremely interesting coincidence. It was as if the two families wanted to go together. They cut some ready-made dishes and put them on the table, which added a lot of color to the table.
When it came to baking the lotus leaf cake at the end, "Tang Xin'er" rushed to show her hand. She made the cake unprecedentedly, hot the dough and added sesame oil to bake it into a double joint, which was neither hard nor loose.
The most amazing thing is that not only her posture is extremely graceful, but her hands are flying like butterflies. And the cake has almost no traces of paste. This is really something that Wang Yunlin can't help but praise. Xu Manli and Hong Yanru both sincerely admire her.
In fact, they still don't know. This is the first time "Tang Xin'er" has made hot noodles and lotus leaf cakes.
The reason why it was so successful for the first time was all due to "Aunt Bao's" daily training in pastries, and also because "Tang Xin'er" himself has a high level of stealing skills.
As the saying goes, she knows everything, but she has a pair of hands that can put soap in boiling water, rub a watch in front of others, and know how to cook pancakes.
All in all, the quality of this meal was almost perfect.
The dishes and cakes are good, and there is a dazzling array of items. Even the extra table is fully occupied.
In terms of taste, "Bao Yi" and "Tang Xin'er" are not uncomfortable at all.
They put in seasonal vegetables and meat according to their own preferences. After tasting it, they all said it was good, saying that this can be regarded as their favorite Beijing food. It is refreshing and fragrant. Even if it is rolled elbow, the pork head meat does not feel greasy.
In fact, it’s no wonder. Even the emperor couldn’t put it down.
"The First Half of My Life" records that the last emperor Puyi ate six spring pancakes in a row. The head eunuch found out and was afraid that he would hold on, so he asked two eunuchs to lift his arms on the left and right and smash them on the ground.
An interesting story about squatting with him to digest food.
Based on this, you can wonder whether this thing is delicious or not.
In addition, the dining atmosphere was quite casual and happy. It was harmonious and smooth.
Outside the house, the sun is shining brightly, clouds are passing over the ground, flowers and trees are flourishing, and bees and butterflies are flying.
The main hall of the Hong family, warm wine, warm feelings.
The guys sat in a circle around the table, passing the cakes to each other with smiles on their faces, showing humility to who could take off the chopsticks first, and competing with who could curl them up straightest and neatest. Their mouths were dripping with oil, their hands were dripping with oil...
This is really a picture of a family feast with laughter and uproar, and the sheng and chime sound the same. It can be called the spring of the whole family!
In fact, the meaning of "spring cake" is also inclusive, casual, joyful and harmonious, just like the life attitude of the old Beijing people.
Rather than saying that this is a rare delicacy, it is better to say that it can satisfy people's spiritual needs and emotional sustenance at the same time, allowing people to taste a kind of happiness that goes straight to their hearts from their appetites, and feel a taste of home.
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