Chapter 1926 Zhizi Barbecue
"How about we have this dish tonight? Donkey meatballs and cabbage stew."
Yang Cheng's proposal was unanimously approved by everyone, but the accompanying chef didn't know how to cook it, and he had never even tasted it. How could anyone make it taste like that?
In the end, it was Yang Yuanshan who took the lead. As the saying goes, "A veteran is worth two." Yang Yuanshan cooked again after many years, and still got everyone's expectations.
When they arrived at the kitchen, they discovered that Yang Yuanshan was only responsible for speaking, and the chef was the one who really did the cooking.
"I remember watching my father make this dish at that time. When making it, the cabbage was cut into pieces and put in an iron pot. But it is best to cook it in a casserole. The meatballs were either whole or cut into quarters and boiled together with the cabbage. The meaty aroma of the oven-roasted meatballs is mixed with the fragrance of cabbage, and when paired with steamed rice, it’s a perfect match in winter.”
"Old man, are you doing this?" he asked while listening to Yang Yuanshan. The chef had not been so nervous for a long time. After all, it was a dish he was not familiar with. Even if he was confident in his skills, he would not dare to make it for sure. Come authentic.
"Just make it with confidence and boldness. No one has tasted it anyway. What you make will be the taste in their minds."
The chef almost cried. As he said, young people are easy to fool. Are you old people like you who have eaten it so easy to fool?
Yang Cheng leaned against the door frame and said, "We can't just eat this dish. Grandpa, what else can you think of?"
"That must be Zhizi BBQ. Oops, I haven't eaten authentic Zhizi BBQ in decades~"
This Yang Cheng knew that according to the custom of the old Beijing people, he had to eat several good mutton meals in autumn and winter.
As for the way to eat mutton, the most famous way to eat mutton is definitely the copper pot shabu-shabu, but in fact, for old Beijingers, Zhizi barbecue is also one of the classic ways to eat mutton. A piece of iron plate, a plate of mutton, and a few friends gather together Barbecuing and chatting about life together is definitely the warmest scene in Sijiu City.
As for the history of this dish, just like the shabu-shabu, many ways of eating meat originated from nomadic peoples, and Zhizi barbecue, a favorite among old Beijing residents, is no exception.
Although it is now known as an authentic way to eat in the capital, Zhizi barbecue actually originated from the nomadic people outside the Great Wall.
Because the cooking conditions were very limited at that time, the way the people outside the Great Wall used to process meat was very simple. They used the hunting knife they carried with them to cut the meat into large pieces, marinate it with onions, ginger, and sauce for a period of time, and then use lighted horse dung to cook it. Bake until half-cooked and ready to eat.
The former Zhizi BBQ,
Zhizi is a round iron plate nailed with iron bars, and then a fire is made with fruit wood or pine wood under the iron plate. The beef or mutton is cut into thin slices, and then marinated with green onions and seasonings to make it delicious.
The meat is also very particular. Generally, the mutton and beef used are carefully selected, and only the most tender parts of the sheep are selected. The marinated meat is then placed on the broiler and grilled with long chopsticks, and then grilled for a while. The aroma of meat will spread.
As the chefs continued to research, Zhizi Barbecue gradually became its current form.
In fact, the seemingly simple iron plate has a lot of particularities. If the iron plate is thin, the meat will be easily burnt because it will be heated too fast and too hard. But if the iron plate is thick, the heat will not be enough, and the meat will cook too slowly.
Yang Yuanshan seemed to remember something and swallowed unconsciously. It seemed that the Yang family's foodie attributes were passed down from generation to generation!
"In the past, the way to eat barbecue was divided into Wen eating and Wu eating. Wen eating meant that the chef cooked it and then the waiter brought it to the table. It looked more polite; while Wu eating meant everyone stood around the iron table. In front of the plate, the marinated meat is grilled and eaten by oneself, which makes it very lively.
But no matter how you eat it, it must be served with sesame sauce biscuits. "
Yang Cheng couldn't help but imagine the scene. In the barbecue restaurants in the old capital, diners stood or sat around the fire, eating barbecue and drinking wine, with cucumber sticks and beef tongue pancakes as supplements, and sometimes ordered A plate of fried steamed bun slices dipped in stinky tofu, and the constant stream of Beijing accents and Beijing movies in the restaurant, just like a picture of the lively life in the Forty-Nine Cities.
He also licked his lips subconsciously, "Just eat this, I'll ask someone to buy a stove~"
Just like Korean BBQ, it’s better to say pan-fried meat instead of grilled.
When modern Z people talk about "barbeque", they usually think of meat grilled over open fires in places like the frontier, Turkey and Brazil, and they naively think that Zhizi barbecue should be food such as mutton kebabs or roasted whole lamb.
But everyone who has eaten it knows that a large iron plate with thin slices of meat scattered on top, plus green onions and coriander, is filled with a strong smell of mutton fat. The diners use chopsticks to stir-fry and eat. This so-called "barbecue" is It should be called fried pork.
But in fact, there is no word for "roast" in ancient Chinese. In ancient Chinese, the barbecue method involving contact with open flames is called "roasting", which corresponds to the English word "roast".
Cantonese retains this term, such as roast goose, roast pork, barbecued pork, etc. Nowadays, Beijing roast duck is famous all over the world. In fact, the old Beijing would call roast duck "roast duck" or "roast duck".
The famous Barbecue Wan once asked Qi Baishi to inscribe a plaque. Mr. Qi Baishi once wrote a textual research on the word "roast" and believed that "Shuowen" does not have the word "roast", and the word "roast" should be "zhi".
Just like Beijing BBQ, the method of heating ingredients through hot media such as stone slabs and iron plates should be called "grilling", or grill in English.
But this is a title, everyone who knows knows it, and those who don’t don’t need to know it.
Yang Cheng happily asked people to go out to buy ingredients and iron plates. He never lacked enthusiasm for such fresh things.
Nowadays, Zhizi barbecue seems to be very high-end, but in the Peking period, this was street food. There were many barbecue wheelbarrows on the street, with green onions and coriander hanging on the front of the cart, and various fresh muttons, including waist and hind legs. Children, upper brains, kidneys, liver, etc., there is a barbecue on the back of the car.
Everyone knows the "Nanwanbei season" of barbecue in Beijing. During the barbecue season, roasted lamb is good, while Wanwan roasted beef is good at it. Each has its own way of establishing itself.
In the past, the fuel used for barbecue was fruit wood or pine branches and pine cones, just like roast duck, but now the firewood is mostly charcoal.
The barbecue grills are all specially made, not iron plates but "iron bars". They were originally designed to facilitate disassembly and transportation, but they have an unexpected effect: the seams are very dense and the fire will not directly grill the food, which is very healthy; at the same time, the fruit wood The smoke passes through the cracks in the iron bars and has a smoking effect, giving it a unique taste.
There is a flame under the broiler, and you can hear the squeaking of the meat on the broiler, and the aroma of meat is assailed your nostrils.
Maybe this is how Korean barbecue was passed down. This is based on facts and is not a bullshit historian of Korea just talking nonsense!
txt download address:
phone-reading: