China News Agency, Chengdu, January 26th, title: Chengdu hot pot: the same spicy around the world

　　China News Agency reporter He Shaoqing Yue Yitong

　　At the end of the 16th century, when peppers originating in the Americas arrived on the southeast coast of China on a "Manila galleon", the merchants who had been struggling for several months may never have imagined that hundreds of years later, these spicy vegetables would become an indispensable table in southwestern China. Things, and accompanied by the boiling Chengdu hot pot, booming to the world.

　　People eat and drink, but seldom know its taste.

The taste of food is produced by cooking food with fire. The Chinese nation has been well versed in the way of using fire since ancient times. A pottery kettle unearthed at the Yuchanyan site in Hunan Province was not later than 12,000 BC. It can be called the earliest pot in the history of human food. The encounter between chili and hot oil in China laid the groundwork.

　　According to Yang Xiaocheng, vice president of the second council of the China Cuisine Association, during the Republic of China, most of the hot pots served at the banquets of dignitaries in Chengdu were light chrysanthemum clear soup pots, but there have been many tripe hot pots on the street that are famous for their spicy taste.

In the 1960s, he and his master went to Chongqing Qiaotou hot pot to exchange base ingredients for frying. The people sitting around the pot picked up their chopsticks for a while, and their faces were flushed by the spicy smell that shot straight to the sky. When they walked out of the hot pot restaurant Still sweating profusely and tongue sticking through the wood.

　　Li Jieren, a well-known modern Chinese writer, expressed his respect for tripe hot pot diners with the words "you need to be brave" in "Speaking of Chengdu".

According to his research, tripe hot pot first originated in Jiangbei, Chongqing. After it was introduced to Chengdu during the Republic of China, it was gradually "developed extremely refined" and "enhanced things": the mother of soybeans was changed to aged soybeans, sweet fermented glutinous rice was added, and the lettuce also had more pea tips. , Lettuce...

　　As time goes by, ingredients from around the world are stirring and merging in Chengdu hot pot like peppers, and all kinds of flavors are used to cook everything.

After tripe, rabbits, frogs, fish, chickens, etc. have been gradually accepted by Sichuan people as the main characters in the pot. Fresh rabbit hot pot has even become popular in Singapore and Seattle; Korean rice cakes, American beef, Thai seafood and other dishes from all over the world can also be served in spicy oil. "Renewal" in...

　　Although there are many types of hot pot in Chengdu, among them, discerning gourmets will recommend the clear oil hot pot made with pure vegetable oil.

Compared with the "dominant" Chongqing butter hot pot, Chengdu clear oil hot pot is more spicy, thick and thick, with distinct layers and hidden needles, just like the leisure, beauty, warmth and poetic flavor of this city.

　　The authentic clear oil hot pot restaurant does not need a shop sign, and the diners who are ten meters away can "smell the smell" and have the urge to "tick a chopstick" just by the strong spicy aroma.

When the red pot boils, put a slice of hairy tripe in it and cook until it reaches the high heat. Wrap it in the dipping sauce mixed with mashed garlic, coriander and sesame oil, and the tongue will be fragrant.

Beads of sweat ooze from the forehead, and the chili has opened up the internal organs all the way, and I feel that the pores of the whole body are all smooth.

　　"Mix and match Indian chili, Guizhou chili, Yunnan chili, Sichuan glutinous rice cake and sea pepper in proportion, and then serve it with Sichuan Hanyuan pepper and Jinyang green pepper." Talking about the "taste bud code" of clear oil hot pot, Chengdu clear oil hot pot making skills Liu Yong, the inheritor and founder of Damiao Hot Pot, told reporters that the chili in the hot pot has three functions: improving color, increasing flavor, and adding spiciness. According to the different needs of diners, the ratio of chili will also be adjusted.

In order to make the hot pot spicy but not dry, dozens of Chinese medicinal materials with the same origin as food and medicine are often added to the bottom of the pot.

　　Hot pot cooks have many friends who have explored the "exquisite taste". In Sichuan, where "it is delicious and spicy", there are many diners who are willing to queue up for that spicy and delicious taste in the severe winter.

"The hairy belly is the most crispy when it's up and down, the duck intestines are up and down three times, and the fat beef is scooped up when it changes color... Everyone is familiar with the formula for hot pot, but we have been eating hot pot for decades, and we don't need to count. I count them all, the more I eat, the more delicious I am, and the more I eat, the more I think about it." Luo Xiaohua, a citizen of Chengdu, said with a smile.

　　According to Yan Long, executive director of the Sichuan Hot Pot Association, Sichuan hot pot has now spread to more than 50 countries and regions around the world. Chefs will adapt to local conditions and combine Sichuan-style hot pot with local eating habits. For example, hot pot restaurants in the UK provide black pepper Sauce, Thai hot pot restaurants add elements of Tom Yum Kung.

Chengdu hot pot also absorbs overseas elements and continues to innovate. For example, during the World Cup in Qatar, a hot pot chef made the bottom material into a football shape, which can be described as "the same spicy around the world".

　　In the early morning of winter, there are still diners flying chopsticks in the hot pot restaurants on the streets of Chengdu, and beef rolls and duck intestines are undulating in the boiling red oil; on the other side of the world, hot pot restaurants in New York, USA welcome a new wave of diners, eager to eat ... The "firework gas" steamed from the Chengdu hot pot is refreshing.

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