China News Agency, Taiyuan, February 3rd, title: Cover with a bowl of brain wine to avoid the cold wind
China News Agency reporter Hu Jian
"Then Li Xiaoer, Lei Heng was left out of the crowd, and he went out to catch a bowl of brains." The "brain" mentioned by Shi Naian in "Water Margin" may be the earliest known "brain" in Taiyuan. prototype.
And the word "catch" refers to people like Liu Shousheng.
At 5:30 in the morning, the winter air was filled with the pre-dawn chill. 70-year-old Liu Shousheng rode from Heitu Alley for more than 20 minutes to the time-honored Qingheyuan Restaurant, in order to catch up with a bowl of "brain" just out of the pot. ".
For more than 40 years, Liu Shousheng's breakfast has always been accompanied by "mind".
In his words, "When I wake up every day, my stomach starts to crave that taste."
Liu Shousheng's standard breakfast is "single bowl of mind + one or two siu mai", which costs 40 yuan.
Compared with fifty cents more than 40 years ago, the price is rising and the quantity is also changing.
"In the past, the gram weight of mutton was one tael, two cents and five cents, but now we have increased it to one tael five." Wang Hemao, the fifth-generation inheritor of Taiyuan Qingheyuan's "brain" production skills, said that the mahjong-sized mutton pieces have made many diners feast on them.
At five o'clock every day, 61-year-old Wang Hemao and his apprentices start preparing ingredients for "mind".
Start the pot, and after the water boils, add mutton soup, rice wine, distiller's grains, and simmered noodles in turn, and keep stirring the bottom of the pot until it is thick and fine.
For many years, this was something Wang and Mao had to do themselves.
The apprentices cut the lotus root and yam and blanch them in water, then cut the mutton stewed with ginger and astragalus for 4 hours the day before, and a bowl of "mind" ingredients was complete.
At 6:30, the elderly "Old Taiyuan" held their number plates and waited for the first pot of steaming "brains" to come out.
A plate of pickled leeks was used as a primer, and I took a sip from the side of the bowl, supplemented by two taels of rice wine, and a warm current poured into my body from my mouth.
Then take a spoon to scoop up a piece of cooked mutton, sandwich a piece of greasy mutton siu mai, dip in a little Shanxi old mature vinegar, the meat is fragrant and has a long aftertaste.
In addition to the "catch the bowl mind" described in "Water Margin", Zhu Guozhen of the Ming Dynasty also mentioned in "Yongzhuang Xiaopin": "Whenever a guest arrives in the winter moon, put meat and miscellaneous flavors in a large bowl, pour hot wine and pass it to the guest. Brain wine, to protect against the cold wind."
In the "Zhonghua Fushan Garden" in Taiyuan, there is a record about Fu Shan, one of the "Six Great Masters in the Early Qing Dynasty", and "Bazhen Soup": After Fu Shan lived in seclusion in his hometown Taiyuan, Shanxi, his mother was once weak and sick.
In order to treat his mother's illness, Fu Shan selected eight ingredients including mutton, long yam, lotus root, stewed noodles, rice wine, astragalus, ginger, and leek, and developed "Bazhen Soup" for his mother to eat.
His mother has been eating this medicinal diet for many years, not only cured the disease, but also getting stronger and stronger.
Later, Fu Shan passed on "Bazhen Soup" to a Muslim restaurant, and changed its name to "Mind", and the name "Qingheyuan" also came from that time.
From Bailu in the first year to Lichun in the second year, it is the season to drink "mind", and it is also the busiest day for 78-year-old Li Chunsheng.
He is the inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage "Health Preservation of Traditional Chinese Medicine · Bazhen Soup of Medicinal Diet". He started working in Qingheyuan Hotel in 1962. Since 2005, he has been engaged in "Health Preservation of Traditional Chinese Medicine · Bazhen Soup of Medicinal Diet" Make work.
"When I first started working, there was a long queue at Qingheyuan to drink 'Mind'. One was for buying tickets, and the other was for picking up food. No matter it was windy or snowy, people were enthusiastic." Li Chunsheng said.
Li Chunsheng, who has been making "Bazhen Soup" all his life, now has seventy or eighty apprentices, who are scattered in restaurants large and small in Shanxi, passing on this skill.
In Wang Hemao's memory, during the heyday of the Qing and Yuan Dynasties, 1,000 bowls of "mind" could be sold in one morning.
Today, Wang Hemao is planning to set up a master studio of "mind" production skills.
"Mr. Fu Shan's skill cannot be left in the hands of our generation. In the future, I will recruit more apprentices to pass it on." (End)