【Taste of China|Food】Pickled tuk fresh: Taste of spring after eating

Shanghai, 5 May (ZXS) -- Topic: Pickled tuk fresh: Eating the taste of spring in Fang Zhi

China News Agency reporter Xu Jing

In late spring and early summer, many Shanghainese will use a pot of authentic Shanghai-style soup - pickled tuk fresh to retain the fresh taste of spring.

In the food culture map of Shanghainese, bamboo shoots are an important part. A small bamboo shoot can change thousands of cooking methods and eating methods, the most delicious is "pickled tuk xian".

Zeng Taiyuan, a Taiwanese teacher at Shanghai Shanda College, is a Shanghainese son-in-law who likes all kinds of mainland food. Among the dishes he often eats, his favorite is pickled tuk fresh, "simple and delicious".

Pickled tuk fresh is a seasonal dish in the Jiangnan area, and it is also one of the most representative dishes in Shanghai's local cuisine. According to the "Shanghai Cultural Origin Dictionary", bamboo shoot pickled fresh, also known as pickled tuk fresh, originally spread in the rural areas of Jiangnan, and after the opening of Shanghai, it also became a delicacy that citizens like to eat.

Pickled tuk xian, Shanghainese pronounced "Yiduxi", the three characters have their own meanings. "Pickled" refers to salted meat or ham, which Shanghainese will marinate in winter for the next spring; "Du" is an onomatopoeic word in Shanghainese, which itself has the meaning of thickening and thickening, here it means "slow simmering over low heat", which is similar to "boiling" in Shanghainese; "Fresh" means fresh meat (pork belly, ribs, chicken, hooves, etc.) and fresh bamboo shoots.

Jin Nong, a calligrapher and painter of the Qing Dynasty and the head of the Eight Monsters of Yangzhou, has a poem "The first sound of spring thunder at night, the mountains are full of new shoots and jade edges; Buy it with boiled pork, don't ask the cook lady to ask the old monk", the method and taste of pickling tuk fresh jumped on the paper.

In Shanghai, every household will cook this pot of pickled tuk fresh, "fresh eyebrows will fall off". Shanghai girl Cheng Xueer still remembers, "Ala Xiaochenguang, in spring, grandmother will always simmer a pot of pickled tuk fresh, walk to the entrance of the alley, you can smell the aroma, as if you see fresh bamboo shoots on the stove, very fresh, it is the taste of spring." ”

Now, like her grandmother, she uses salted meat from last winter, carefully selects some small steaks, and slowly simmers them in a soup pot with spring bamboo shoots. "The taste is as delicious as my grandmother's cooking, and the soup pot reminds me of my grandmother's back and the carefree afternoons of my childhood."

"There is no 'mystery recipe' for pickled tuk xian, but to be delicious, you still have to pay attention to 'eating according to the times' and eat it in spring." According to Luo Yulin, the fifth-generation inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage "Shanghai Benbang Cuisine Traditional Cooking Skills", the premise of "fresh" is fresh bamboo shoots and fresh meat, and the key to deliciousness lies in the equal importance of heat and seasoning. To put it simply, the salted meat should be crispy, the fresh meat should be rotten, the bamboo shoots should be tender, the soup should be thick, although no additional seasoning is added, but because the original flavor of the ingredients is completely released after a long time of stewing, the taste is mellow and smooth, and it is delicious.

Luo Yulin said that the same ingredients, different fire power and duration will make the dishes show different tastes, which is also the charm of this dish. For example, the "tuk" that pickles fresh is practical for medium heat, because if you use low heat, you will lose a breath regardless of the concentration of the soup or the thickness of the taste. For example, if salted meat and fresh meat are put into the pot at the same time, the two will be "south-north" in taste, so the order of ingredients is also particular. The taste of pickled tuk zuk is good because it conforms to the "mutual reflection of aged and fresh" in the cuisine, and the aged ingredients and fresh products are "beautiful in their own" and "beautiful in common", and the taste is naturally full.

"From time to time, I go to the places where the guests eat and find that not only old Shanghai likes pickled tuk fresh, but also young people in Shanghai and foreign tourists, and even foreign tourists, many people order." Luo Yulin has improved the production technique of pickled tuk fresh, shortening the serving time on the basis of ensuring the taste. Today's summer pale and winter lettuce can replace spring shoots to make that pot of soup, but to remember the deliciousness of spring in the Jiangnan area, you still have to eat pickled tuk kuk made from spring shoots. (End)