Flavor Jianghu

Author: Hu Yuanjun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: This is a food essay, more than that, it guides fashion food trends through the process and feelings of eating, including the preparation of some dishes. But it is absolutely not a recipe book, so please don’t treat it as one. If you accidentally glimpse some cooking secrets in the book, please keep them confidential, because finding these secrets is not difficult, but the psychological process after discovering them is complex. It’s better to stay low-key. The text is humorous and interesting, with a punchline at the end of almost every piece, like a one-person show by Ma Sanli, keeping you smiling while savoring the food. A good mood leads to a good stomach—perhaps this is the author’s preferred writing style. It’s a blessing to fill your belly, but to fill it beautifully is luxurious. This luxury means letting food delight your body. Good food not only gives you a healthy body but also a good mood. Physical and mental well-being is something no external luxury can replace.
This is a food essay, more than that, it guides fashion food trends through the process and feelings of eating, including the preparation of some dishes. The Big Escape is a movie I never tire of watching. The first time I watched it, I was still in school. A classmate transferred from Xi’an and sat next to me. He loved mantou, especially lamb-filled mantou, which led the few foodies in the class to unconsciously adopt his eating habits. So I gave him the nickname "Hospital Director Mantou." This is the only nickname I’ve ever given someone that they were happy to accept.
When it comes to lamb-filled mantou, many people think it’s just a play on words. Clearly, it’s mantou filled with meat. But that’s not the case. According to research, lamb-filled mantou has a history of over a thousand years, and its name dates back to ancient times. Back then, it was called "meat stuffed in mantou," which was shortened to "meat in mantou" in spoken language. There are many such linguistic quirks in Xi’an. The mantou used for lamb-filled mantou is called Baiji Mantou. After baking, the skin is loosely attached, often referred to as "two skins." It’s thin, crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside, and can be eaten alone. But if you stuff it with bright red, tender, and richly aromatic braised lamb, well, you’ll have a feast for your stomach.
Making Baiji Mantou requires a special oven, which isn’t practical at home, but you can buy them from specialty mantou shops. Braised lamb, however, can be DIY at home. Wash the pork (use the rump end), add an appropriate amount of cool water, salt, cooking wine, sugar, and a spice bag (stitched with cloth) containing over ten spices (cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, cloves, etc.). Boil the pork in cool water, skim off the foam, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 2 hours, keeping the pot slightly open. Then switch to a very low flame and simmer for another 3–4 hours until the meat is completely tender. At this point, you’ll have braised lamb described as "rich meat that doesn’t clog your throat, lean meat full of oil," and "no need for teeth to chew—the meat falls apart on its own, with a lingering aroma after eating." Want to try?
Eating lamb-filled mantou is also an art: the freshly baked two-skin mantou, stuffed with fragrant braised lamb, the aroma of the mantou mingling with the rich flavor of the long-simmered meat, plus coriander. If you like spice, add some chili peppers. Each part is distinct yet complementary. At this moment, you’ll inhale deeply, staring at the fragrant lamb-filled mantou before biting into it. You’ll regret your small lung capacity and how unwilling you are to take a breath.
Pick up the mantou—don’t bite in the middle, bite slightly off-center, take small bites, as if gently testing (it feels like kissing). The crispy mantou and a little braised lamb will first entice you. For the second bite, still take small bites, but on the other side of the mantou, leaving a large gap between the two bites! You’ll be so craving by then, and the third bite will arrive just in time, bringing a sense of fulfillment from the inside out! But if you insist on taking big bites—ha! You’ll squeeze some meat out of the mantou, making a mess of your hands. Of course, seasoned eaters will use their hands to turn the mantou while eating quickly, achieving the miraculous of taking two small bites but feeling like one big, satisfying one.
One day, at a class reunion, "Hospital Director Mantou" went with a beautiful girl, making the rest of us singletons feel quite envious. I walked over with a glass of wine, "What’s up? Not the Hospital Director anymore?" He looked deeply at the girl, acting high and mighty, speaking in a bureaucratic tone, "I won’t be the Hospital Director anymore, but the mantou is a must-keep. And I need to add a suffix!" "What?" "Double F." P100-101