Master descends to earth

Chapter 171

Geng Baochang looked at Su Yuan's obsessed expression and nodded secretly. The craftsman should be crazy.

As the old saying goes,
Not crazy, not live!

In the evening, the old man was very happy, and arranged: "A friend came from afar, today I will be the host, and I will eat something good!"

The three of them left the Forbidden City and drove to a private restaurant. When the boss saw Mr. Geng coming to the door, he quickly arranged a private room and cooked the food himself to entertain the distinguished guests.

The three chatted while drinking tea, and soon the first dish was served. Mr. Geng pointed to the small emerald-green Artemisia annua, and introduced: "Su Dongpo, the great gourmet, said that Artemisia annua is full of short reed buds, which is exactly what puffer fish want." When it’s on. Comparing Artemisia annua to puffer fish shows its delicacy.”

"The crunchy Artemisia annua in the mouth has a fresh and astringent astringency, which is endless, but it is the tantalizing smell of Artemisia, which always reminds people of the clumps of green swaying on the river beach."

"Naturally growing wild vegetables are scattered on the river beach and reed sandbanks. March in the south of the Yangtze River, when the grass grows and warblers fly, is the pure and juicy flower of Artemisia reeds in February, Artemisia in March, and Artemisia in April and May. Burning firewood. Ten days and a half months of negligence will make a late beauty unbearable."

The old man picked up a piece, put it in his mouth gently, and recalled: "I grew up by the river since I was a child, and outsiders may not be used to the smell of Artemisia annua, and they may not be able to eat it. But for the area along the river For those who live here, this authentic strong Artemisia aura is the fragrance of the pastoral homeland, and the nostalgia full of the taste of the rain in the south of the Yangtze River!"

"According to what Wang Zengqi said, it's like sitting by the river and smelling the freshly rising spring water. It's like the beautiful Qingwen in the Dream of Red Mansions who loves to eat Artemisia argyi. I guess there may be her hometown she misses by the Yangtze River. "

Su Yuan also picked up the reed wormwood, put it in his mouth and said, "The reed wormwood sold now includes wild and greenhouse ones, which are picked in the wild. The fragrance is clean and pleasant."

"Greenhouse vegetables look green and strong, with an appearance of overnutrition, and the taste is much milder in the mouth. One year, I went to a friend's hometown in the country and saw that many fields were growing Artemisia."

"They cut up the roots of Artemisia annua that grew to four or five inches long, and piled them together, or put them in the sand, covered them with straw, watered them every once in a while, and covered them with film to soften them. After two or three days, the meat quality changed. Tender and crisp, it looks juicy and the taste is more mellow."

The old man laughed loudly, put down his chopsticks, and said proudly: "I suggested this dish to the boss, and asked him to chop the Artemisia reeds into inch pieces, soak them in water to remove the astringency, and then marinate them with salt. It is both tasty and crisp.”

"Stir frying fully reflects the original taste of Artemisia annua. When eaten in the mouth, it is crispy and fragrant, slightly spicy and appetizing. The so-called mouth full of fragrance. What is more worth mentioning is Artemisia sautéed with stinky dried seeds. I once ate it several times when I was young. Second, with the aroma of oil and high fire, the fragrance of reed wormwood and the smell of stinky dried seeds are integrated into one, and because of the support of stinky dried seeds, the reed wormwood has a fresh and long-lasting fragrance in the mouth!"

After saying this, my face was full of memories: "That is really the touchable fragrance of "new spring water"!"

The three of them laughed loudly, Su Yuan liked this kind of atmosphere very much, it was relaxed and natural, an old family is like a treasure.Especially Geng Baochang, who has traveled all over the world, has a lot of knowledge, and can tell such a flavor of any dish, he deserves to be everyone!

The boss just opened the door and came in, said some polite words, and put down the second dish, scrambled eggs with ground vegetables.

Su Yuan looked at the so-called ground vegetable, which was similar to fungus, only the nail cap was bigger, but it was a bit exaggerated, wavy and flaky, with light yellow in the middle, olive color, and dark green in the periphery.

The difference is that the fungus grows symmetrically and attaches to the rotten wood, with large skin and thick flesh; the moss has no roots, and it can only grow in a specific environment.

"This is a real seasonal vegetable!" Geng Baochang commented: "Tsap is a real grass-root vegetable. In late spring and early summer, as long as there is a rain, it will be on the old and messy but never lacking in vitality on the embankment grass. , it will grow such dark things like blossoming pinches."

"And it only appears when the sun clears after the rain, so you have to pick it up quickly. If the sun shines for a while, the ground moss will dry out immediately and curl up into gray-black, which is inedible. It seems to be a passing visitor in the rainy season, as if suddenly Came from all directions, but walked all the roads in this world at once."

"Not bad, not bad!" Lu Chenglong continued: "In our hometown, as long as the ground moss grows, the soil is not too thin, the grass is thick and green and juicy, and wild garlic and cow dung mushrooms can often be seen. "

"I remember picking up this thing when I was a child. After the rain, the sun slanted down through the clouds, and there were still sporadic raindrops falling. Wearing a straw hat, I went to the field to pick it up. It was like an elf after the rain, scattered black and bright on the embankment. In the grass nest, there are grasshoppers and thumb-sized gray-black soil toads jumping constantly, and a large array of starlings are flying back and forth after the rain.”

"We kids all believed at that time that we couldn't eat ground moss bark that had been hit by thunder. If we ate it, we would get stomachaches and illnesses!"

Geng Baochang picked up a piece, put it in his mouth, and tasted it beautifully: "This thing is wet on the ground in the grass after the rain. It is scattered and finely divided. It is troublesome to pick it up. There will be dead grass leaves, moss, and sand on it."

"Usually sprinkle some water on the basket first to make it soft and swollen so that it does not break, and then pick it up a little bit by hand. You have to pick it with your hands, blow it with your mouth, and flick it with your fingers. Although it is not easy to pick up a basket, it is not easy to pick it up and wash it. Cleaning is even more difficult, so we must cherish it and not waste it."

Su Yuan was also reminded of his memories: "I once had braised tofu in chicken soup with ground moss skin in a unique local restaurant. At that time, four or five of us each ordered one or two of our favorite dishes, chatting and listening. A pastoral tune, looking at those familiar wild vegetables with a light bitterness and a hint of earthy aroma, I can't help but feel extra relaxed and comfortable."

"I still remember that bowl of tofu stewed in chicken soup with ground moss and skin. It was really soft and soft, black and white, and paired with bright red dried shrimps. It was very pleasing to the eye and had a unique flavor in the mouth."

"So every time I eat moss, I feel very good. I can think of the sky after the rain, the smell of grass and soil mixed with fragrance, and I feel moist and thoughtful... Perhaps, that is a part of my childhood life. A kind of remembrance and mourning."

Although the two dishes are very ordinary, real food is about blandness and magic in the middle, and the details show effort. Only the master can make home-cooked dishes unique.

Soon the third dish was served, and the lid was slowly lifted, and the aroma was overflowing. The white porcelain platter was filled with golden yellow fish, more than three inches long, with a big head and a fat belly, sprinkled with red oil sauce, It whets the appetite.

Geng Baochang pointed at the little fish with his chopsticks and asked, "Does anyone know what kind of fish this is?"

Su Yuan looked at it carefully, it looked a bit like a scavenger with a suction cup, but shorter and fatter than the scavenger, with a big round belly, black and full of stupidity, I have never seen this kind of fish.

Lu Chenglong also shook his head, he had never seen it before, and guessed: "It should be an idiot fish?"

Geng Baochang waved his hand and said, "The scientific name is Spitbuyu, but it also has a better name, Peach Maniac!"

Picking up one with chopsticks, he introduced: "Peach maniacs lay eggs on clam shells, broken tiles, and tree roots, especially like to lay a pool of sticky eggs on the stone slab at the bottom of the water jump, and then guard the nest until The small fish hatched. In spring, the peach blossoms bloom and the cauliflower blooms, and rural children like to go to the river pond to catch the peach blossoms with full stomachs, so they got another nickname, the cauliflower mad."

"Scientific name is pond snakehead fish. It is an ordinary fish in the Jiangnan water town. It usually stays at the bottom of deep water ponds. It specializes in eating small fish and shrimps that hit the mouth. Therefore, the meat is thick and delicious. It is soaked in salt and then rubbed with water. Pepper, steamed on the top of the rice pot, revealing a fragrance."

"Its scales are rough, a bit tongue-ticking, and must be scraped off. The ungrown thumb-sized peach crazier stewed egg is the best, and it is almost a home-cooked dish there before and after Qingming."

"Peachy, together with snail meat, river prawns, bamboo shoots, and artemisia, is known as the five famous spring vegetables in the south of the Yangtze River. It looks black and silly, but the meat is white and tender, with little fishy smell, especially the cheek meat with two pieces of watercress on the head. It’s smoother and more delicious.”

"At the beginning of the last century, King Sihanouk in exile traveled to the south of the Yangtze River and accidentally tasted a soup called pickled vegetables and watercress soup. He was very impressed."

"In fact, the so-called "salted vegetables" are actually water shields, and "douban" is the cheek meat of peach blossom idiots. It is also delicious with slices of Jinhua ham, spring bamboo shoots and chicken broth. It's just that this bowl of pickled vegetables and watercress soup, I don't know how many strips have to be wiped off The face of a peach nerd."

(End of this chapter)