In February, Ashin posted a message on Moments, asking everyone what they want to eat most after the ban is lifted? Almost all the replies received by
are hot pot and milk tea. Among them, hot pot won by a slight advantage.
How long have you missed hot pot? This kind of "cloud satisfaction" method of painting hot pot actually appeared.
I heard that some hot pot shops failed to open their doors to pick up customers for 3 months during the epidemic, but they could receive customer appointment calls every day, and the calls were blown up.
When Haidilao announced its resumption of work, the price increase could not stop the majority of diners. Even though the normal price has returned to the normal price, many people are still willing to take the risk of queuing up at the door and enjoy the "first hot pot" after the epidemic.
A queue appeared at the door after Haidilao opened its doors. Picture: Huxiu.com
So, the question is - Why are people from all over the country so obsessed with hot pot?
The deliciousness in boiling hot is the prosperous life
Lao She once said that eating is a valuable window to examine Chinese society. In China, no diet can better reflect the temperament of people on this land than hot pot.
hot pot is not only a way of cooking, but also a way of dining; it is not only a way of eating, but also a cultural model. Among all foods, only hot pot is a food that continues to develop new forms of food with culture.
Before the epidemic, the most unlikely hot pot home delivery attracted a large number of users. The atomization of life, especially during the epidemic, self-heating hot pot became popular.
"Only the hot pot smell remains here, the white clouds are empty for thousands of years." The strong vitality of hot pot makes other foods beyond the reach. No wonder some people say, "Hot pot can eat exciting food no matter one person or a group of people."
It is hard to adjust everyone on a table, and hot pot is the most inclusive choice. Everyone sat around the table, chatted and laughed in front of the steaming pot, and they could put their favorite ingredients into the pot and get what they needed.
This harmony and difference fully reflects the social philosophy of Eastern people. Therefore, looking at the entire land of China, almost no one doesn’t like hot pot.
Whether it is the pork sauerkraut pot from the three northeastern provinces, mutton sauerkraut pot from Beijing, spicy hot pot from Sichuan and Chongqing, fungus hot pot from Yunnan, sour soup hot pot from Guizhou or Chaoshan beef pot... In China's various food cultures, "hot pot" is not a must-have dish for home, but it is a universal food element.
It is the best explanation. When people celebrate, they should eat lively hot pot to make fun of it; when they are sad, they should also eat a warm hot pot to cure it.
When you are out, local delicacies may not be acceptable, but hot pot is not too bad. After a meal, the whole person will be well-smoothed from the inside out.
Ashin has an international student friend who takes half of the hot pot base every time he brings it to his suitcase abroad. According to him, one of the favorite social activities for international students is to eat hot pot together. From the time they are not cooked to friends, it may be just one or two hot pot meals.
In recent years, with the development of technology, natural food technology has also entered the public eye, and major brands have successively launched "Self-Hot Hot Pot" to allow everyone to have hot pot anytime and anywhere. On Double Eleven a few years ago, Haidilao's self-heating hotpot sold an astonishing 520,000 orders.
In the smoke, what emerges is the human touch of redness, arrangement, and gathering and the various aspects of life.
Many people think that high-temperature hot pot kills everything, so you can eat it openly. However, although hot pot is high, the transmission of various viruses caused by people's dinners cannot be solved by high temperature. Public chopsticks are still the most appropriate way
Of course, this obsession with hot pot is not the exclusive complex of contemporary people. Since ancient times, many celebrities, literary and emperors have been obsessed with hot pot.
Every hot pot meal is a story. It not only satisfies people's desires, but also witnesses the ups and downs of history.
Hotpot is not complete brief history
The earliest hotpot can be traced back to the Neolithic Age. Although the pottery "hotpot" was simple at that time, people already had the understanding of "fire" and "eat with the same fire".
The form of "eating together" brings security and comfort to people who work for a day.
And the first person in China to improve a single pot into a "double pot" is not the ordinary people, but the Western Han Dynasty Jiangdu King Liu Fei.
A "dividing mattress" was unearthed in the western Han tomb of Dayun Mountain, Jiangsu Province. Divide a bite into several spaces to separate the different flavors.
This invention by Jiangdu King Liu Fei can be said to be the predecessor of the "double pot" and the "nine-grid grid".
Coincidentally, Emperor Wen of Wei When Cao Pi was still the crown prince, someone asked someone to customize a pot for him. This cauldron is called "Five Cooks" and was designed by him personally.
is similar to Liu Fei's split-grid tripod. Both are embedded in the partition in the pot to form their own independent areas, and different soup ingredients are added to each grid.
Cao Pi was quite proud of his invention and once said:
"There were Huang Sandings, and the nine treasures of Zhou, which were all made of one flavor in one form. How could this be the fragrance of the five flavors in the pot?"
translated as Huangdi had three flavors and nine flavors in the Zhou Dynasty, but they were all the same flavor. How could I compare to my five flavors. The origin of
and hot pot, and another person that must be mentioned is Kublai Khan. It is said that he invented the way to eat mutton hotpot.
According to legend, Kublai Khan was in the battle of the Mongolian army, in order to boost morale, he originally ordered the chef to make a mutton meal, but the enemy suddenly attacked and needed to gather to fight immediately. The chefs dared not let Kublai Khan go on an empty stomach, but they would not allow it if they waited for the mutton to be stewed.
So he started to make a quick idea, cut the large piece of mutton into thin slices and put it in boiling water, and the mutton was cooked immediately. After sprinkling fine salt to Kublai Khan, Kublai Khan praised him very much. After winning the battle, Kublai Khan remembered this delicacy again and named it "Shabuyao Mutton". From then on, the way to eat mutton hotpot has spread among the Mongolian army.
And the popular "Chrysanthemum Warm Pot" in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is said to be the first of its kind to be founded by Tao Yuanming.
Every autumn, Tao Yuanming "picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence". One year, he had a sudden idea - picking these chrysanthemum petals and washing them, and sprinkling them into the pot. The taste must be good. After trying
, it was really amazing, so the way to make the chrysanthemum pot was passed down. In the Qing Dynasty, the chrysanthemum pot was included in the winter imperial meal by Empress Dowager Cixi and was sautified with thinly sliced fish or chicken.
Historically, Qing people who liked and knew how to eat hot pot must be counted. Hot pot was called "hot pot" in the Qing Palace. Qianlong was an absolute hot pot fan, and almost never fell into hot pot.
According to Qianlong's imperial meal records, a total of 23 types of hot pots were recorded in one month, including chicken and duck pots, whole lamb, yellow lamb, venison, tofu, vegetables and other types of hot pots.
Even when Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, local officials knew his hobbies and put them in their favor to prepare all kinds of food.
The first dish at the "Qiansou Banquet" in the first year of Jiaqing was hot pot. 1,550 steaming pots were served on the table, which was the largest hot pot banquet in history.
Old Beijing Shabu Shabu: Copper pot with mutton
Although mutton flask has a long history, it was already the Qing Dynasty that it really flourished. In the early Qing Dynasty, mutton hotpot was still a special dish for the palace and ordinary people could not eat it.
It was not until the late Qing Dynasty that the royal family gradually declined and mutton was poured into the people. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, mutton sautum had become a very popular food for people. Every winter, most people would go to a restaurant to eat mutton sautum to warm up their body.
Scholar Xu Lingxiao, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, wrote in "Hundred Talks of the Old Capital":
"The mutton pot is the most ordinary delicacy in the cold year. It must be eaten in the mutton restaurant."
There are also many mutton hotpot restaurants run by Hui people on the market. In autumn and winter every year, hotpot is added to major halal restaurants. At that time, mutton hotpot was already a popular winter delicacy for everyone.
In the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854), the first mutton hotpot restaurant "Zhengyanglou" run by Han people appeared outside Qianmen in Beijing. It is famous for the cut mutton "sliced as thin as paper, all incomplete".
In the 29th year of the Guangxu period (1903), Ding Deshan founded " Donglaishun ".The mutton from Donglaishun is quite particular. Sheep from Inner Mongolia is selected. The slices of meat are cut so thin that you can see the pattern of the bottom of the dish when spread on the plate.
is delicious and not odorful, and the saying "Where is the tender place for shabu-shabu meat? Beijing will come to the east" has also spread among the people.
Until today, many old Beijing must eat steaming hot pork in winter: the pot should be made of copper pot, and the meat should be made of mutton.
mutton is warm in nature, has the effects of detoxification and moisturizing, anti-cold and anti-freeze, and is especially suitable for eating in autumn and winter. When Beijingers eat mutton hotpot, they pay attention to large copper pots and charcoal fire. Add daylily, wolfberry, dried lilies, green onions, and ginger to the bottom of the clear soup pot that can improve freshness and have no odor, and will not conceal the umami flavor of mutton.
The clean soup pot bottom mentioned by Beijingers is really boiling water. Compared with other secret recipes, the clear soup pot made of broth with big bones is extremely simple and crude.
But "a cup of clear water, two or three green onions and ginger", the simplest soup base also tests the quality of mutton the most. When squeezing meat and vegetables in clear soup, you can tell whether the ingredients are fresh or not. If you can’t cut meat until you are at home, you can tell at a glance.
Old Beijing shabu shabu is called shabu shabu shabu, and the technique of "shabu" is also of particular importance. Use chopsticks to lightly pick up the meat slices, put them in the soup and shake them three or four times. Once the meat changes color, pick them up and fall into the soup, dip them in the soul dipping sauce of mutton, sesame sauce, and eat them quickly.
In addition to mutton, swelling is also essential. After shaving the meat, cook some cabbage, vermicelli and frozen tofu, and then pair it with the freshly cooked sesame cake. This shabu shabu is perfect.
The urban atmosphere in Sichuan and Chongqing hot pot
Speaking of hot pot, it is inevitable that Sichuan and Chongqing can’t avoid it. The formation of Sichuan-Chongqing hotpot is closely related to the geographical environment.
Chengdu Plain, known as "Sichuanxi Bazi", the locals have developed water system. At that time, cargo transportation was mainly relied on ships. In order to satisfy hunger and drive away the cold, several people would gather a clay pot, and put soup into it, add chili and pepper to remove dampness. After boiling, put vegetables and water to eat.
"Gewels are three-part grains, and peppers are clothes" is the state of the origin of Sichuan and Chongqing hot pot. The way of eating that boatmen discovered is convenient and delicious. Hotpot, as the food of the lower class of the Sichuan and Chongqing people, has slowly spread and is well-known to everyone.
Strictly speaking, there are still some differences between Chongqing hotpot and Sichuan activities. The biggest difference is the oil-water ratio of the base material. The proportion of oil in Chongqing hot pot is relatively high, and butter is mostly used.
Moreover, the earliest and most authentic Chongqing hot pot did not add spices, and emphasized the aroma of butter and the spicy aroma of chili and pepper. Therefore, Chongqing hot pot is spicy and has a thicker taste.
Chengdu hot pot uses more oil, and other spices will also be added to increase the flavor. In terms of dipping sauce, Chengdu hot pot has a rich dipping sauce, which will add coriander, chopped green onion and oil-consuming, while Chongqing hot pot is basically sesame oil and minced garlic, commonly known as oil dish.
The well-known Chongqing hot pot four-cluster and nine-cluster were actually invented in the first place, which was convenient for everyone to share the table, eat their own grid, and pay their own money.
A authentic spicy hot pot must have yellow throat, tripe, duck intestines, spicy beef and crispy meat. After the meal, a bowl of sweet tofu, brown sugar glutinous rice cake, and ice noodles are the most "bashi".
Steam a pot with hot steam, which can fully exert the freshness of the raw materials and the flavor of the soup. The refreshing and refreshing temperament when eating hot pot seems to have also been integrated into the bones and blood of Sichuan people.
hot pot, two words, simple, but exudes fireworks. Clear things are engraved in the streets and corners of the city, bricks and tiles of the building, and are also recorded in a small hot pot.
In addition to mutton shabu and spicy hot pot, local shabu shabu can be found in almost every place in China. The kung fu and elaborate of Chaoshan beef hot pot "cutting the beef", Cantonese side stove to make simple ingredients to the extreme, the sweet taste of Hainan coconut chicken hot pot, the mellow and deliciousness of Guizhou sour soup fish pot...
Everyone has their own exclusive memory of hot pot. It is a special diet, a cooking technique, and an excellent way to get along with others and yourself.
