Tying a basket and walking around Shanghai is an old habit of the old Wuxi people.
In the past, when Wuxi people went to Shanghai to visit relatives and friends, they always had to tie two baskets of souvenirs: a basket of Wuxi small cages and a basket of oil gluten. The basket is woven with fine bamboo wire and the portions are lightweight. The difference between the two baskets is that the bamboo basket containing the small dumpling is lined with an extra lotus leaf. Now all the oil gluten is wrapped in plastic bags, and the small cage has also changed to elegant carton packaging, but the bamboo basket is still retained, and some nostalgic guests still like the old packaging.
Xiaolongbao is on the world food list. A few years ago, there was a survey of foreign websites, selecting the most popular snacks in various countries, Americans love to eat doughnuts, Italians love fried rice meatballs, Dutch people love muffins, Australians love meat pies, Chinese favorite is small dumplings.
Small dumplings under different place names
As the name suggests, a small steamed bun is a small bun steamed in a small steamer. Generally, large steamers are used in large steamers, and small steamed buns are naturally more delicate and delicate. In the era of planned economy, 4 small cages received one or two food stamps, and one cage was two halves. The big bags are one or two. The small cage dough skin in the north is fermented, such as tianjin's dog do not pay attention to the bun, Beijing's Qingfeng bun, Xuzhou's two wind buns; the south is with a tight thin skin, not fermented, such as Shanghai's Nanxiang xiaolong, Jiangsu's Wuxi xiaolong, the bun dough skin is not only full of filling, and there is soup brine, Wuxi has a small steamed bun advertising slogan said: "A small cage a spoon of brine, sweet but not greasy just right." ”
Whether in the north or the south, xiaolongbao is not only a kind of dim sum, but also often used as a staple food, in the north a bowl of porridge or spicy soup, with two or two small dumplings, is a delicious meal; in the southern small dumpling shop at the same time sell ravioli and sour and spicy soup, two times together is a common choice for diners; if not in the rice point, step into a small shop on the street, call a bowl of small wontons plus two small cages, that is dim sum. Xiaolongbao is so closely related to the lives of the Chinese people that it deserves the title of "favorite".
The source of the small dumplings of the southern school can be found from the soup buns of the Northern Song Dynasty (present-day Kaifeng), and the small dumplings of Guangdong, Shanghai, Suzhou and Zhejiang are all similar. Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang small cages are exquisite, generally named after fillings, such as fresh meat cages, shrimp cages, crab powder cages, etc. There are only two kinds of place names that have the significance of gastronomic brands: Shanghai Nanxiang Xiaolong and Jiangsu Wuxi Xiaolong. Both old Shanghai and old Wuxi are called by a very local name: Xiaolong Steamed Buns. In the eyes of northerners, all steamed buns have no filling, and all fillings are called buns, while Shanghainese and Wuxi people always confuse the two.
Hangzhou small cage is not a strict category, because there are two kinds of small cages of fermentation and tight noodles and thin skin, and the noodle cage comes from Shengzhou, and after entering Hangzhou, it is renamed Hangzhou small cage. There are nearly 2,000 small dumpling shops in Beijing, of which more than 500 are Hangzhou small dumplings, and 89 out of 10 are the hair noodle small dumplings that northerners like.
Jiaxing and Huzhou have many names such as Shanghai Xiaolong, Hangzhou Xiaolong, Su-style Xiaolong, Wuxi Xiaolong, and Soup Bun. Nanjing and Wuhu call xiaolongbao xiaolongbao ,小笼bao ,和 Yangzhou's name is close to the name of The Tangbao in Yangzhou, and the soup buns in Yangzhou and Taizhou are very famous, but there are many large buns, so they will not be confused with Xiaolongbao. The name of the soup bun is closer to the source of the small dumpling, and a careful review of the map of the small dumpling in the Yangtze River Delta can be found that the spread of this bun is almost along the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River waterway. Jiangnan's developed waterway transportation and close economic interaction make the circulation of goods, including food, very fast and convenient, and the spread and evolution of small dumplings throughout the Yangtze River Delta is the history of the table.
Both Nanxiang Xiaolong and Wuxi Xiaolong use tight noodles and thin skin, but there are obvious differences in size and taste.
Nanxiang small cage is smaller, about two is worth a Wuxi small cage; the same fresh meat filling, with soup brine, but the filling does not add soy sauce, no sugar, the taste is salty and fresh, the taste is biased towards the soup bun;
The wuxi small cage filling is salty and sweet, more firm.
The traditional partners of Nanxiang Xiaolong are Small Wontons, Kaiyang Wontons, or Tofu Flowers, Egg Skin Soup, Sour and Spicy Soup, which is rumored to have been created in 1871 by the Huang family in Nanxiang Ancient Town, which started from Nanxiang Large Meat Bun and gradually improved to form Nanxiang Xiaolong, catering to the needs of Shanghainese people's wealthy and refined life.
In ancient times, Wuxi was a county and belonged to Changzhou. According to local records, Changzhou Wanhua Tea House began to sell crab steamed buns during the Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, beginning the history of Jiangnan small dumplings. Su Xi is often a small dumpling wangdi, Changzhou has more than 500 small dumpling shops, Wuxi has more than 1,000, Suzhou about 1,100. In contrast, there are only more than 200 small steamed bun shops in Jiaxing, and more than 300 soup bun shops. There are more than 100 small steamed bun shops and nearly 300 soup bun shops in Huzhou. Zhenjiang has more than 100 small dumpling shops and more than 300 soup bun shops. There are more than 1,100 small dumpling shops in Nanjing, but Nanjing's small dumplings are mixed with soup buns, and the representative of Nanjing Xiaolong is Jinling soup buns.
Win a world in innovation
In the summer of 2017, a TV series "The First Half of My Life" was broadcast, set in Shanghai, and the two heroines, Luo Zijun, played by Ma Yili, and Tang Jing, played by Yuan Quan, were about to talk at a small cage wonton shop, and each asked for a bowl of three fresh wontons and a cage of Wuxi small cages. The store, which was filmed on location, is located on Beihaining Road in Shanghai's Yangpu District and is named "Tin Edge Wuxi XiaolongGuan".
There are about 170 stores in Shanghai with Wuxi Xiaolong as its signboard, and in Nanjing, Wuxi Xiaolong is surrounded by Jinling soup buns, but there are also dozens of stores. Wuxi's century-old brand "Wang Xingji" once opened a small cage and wonton shop in the United States and Japan. In recent years, "Tin Cage" has also opened stores in Kunshan, Changshu, Taicang and other cities and counties in Suzhou, and the business has been booming.
Shanghai is the highland of Xiaolongbao in the Yangtze River Delta, with more than 3,000 shops related to Xiaolongbao, distributed in the streets and alleys, and Nanxiang Xiaolong will not let occupy the dominant position. In the summer of 2020, two long-established Nanxiang restaurants in Shanghai, Jiading Nanxiang Food Company and Shanghai Old Town God Temple Catering Company, once went to court for the trademark rights of the brand name. Nanxiang Food now has about 100 cross-regional chain stores directly operated and franchised, and there are more than a dozen Nanxiang mantou stores under the Old City God Temple Restaurant. In recent years, there is another "old Shengchang soup bun" rising rapidly, the main Suzhou soup bun sign, is a modern fast food restaurant with a Su-style soup bun as the signboard. Wuxi Xiaolong's share in Shanghai is still eye-catching.
Wuxi Xiaolong can be called a small dumpling that developed from the soup bun, but went the farthest. All soup buns are almost characterized by large-capacity soups, delicious in the soup, the filling is almost negligible, even if it is changed from a large soup bun to a small soup bun, and then transformed into a Nanjing soup bun, it is mainly soup, and the meat filling taste is very loose. But Wuxi xiaolong is different, while retaining the soup bun gene, strengthening the taste of the filling, whether it is fresh meat cage, crab powder cage, shrimp cage, its filling is quite tight and elastic, not only let guests feel the delicious marinade, but also enjoy the delicious meat (including crab powder, fresh shrimp), innovation has won a new world. Wuxi small cage is being further refined, and many stores have abandoned 10 one-cage steamers and replaced them with 4 one-cages, making the products more exquisite.
In modern times, Wuxi is known as "Little Shanghai" because of the prosperity of industry and commerce, and has a close relationship with Greater Shanghai, and a large number of Wuxi people have entered Shanghai to make a living and start a business. The flow of Wuxi xiaolong into Shanghai is the result of the circulation of merchants. According to tourist travelogues in the 1940s, Shanghainese took a train to Wuxi to visit, after playing taihu Yuantouzhu, took a boat back to the city, before returning to Shanghai by car, they would always taste the meat bones of Sanfengqiao and Wang Xingji and Gongbeilou Xiaolong steamed buns, and they had to take some back to share with their families; and Wuxi people who went to Shanghai to visit relatives and do things would not forget to bring something to their relatives and friends. Over time, it becomes a habit to tie a small basket as a souvenir.
From the industrial age to the digital age, the way of transportation and commodity trading has changed dramatically, and people can buy all kinds of delicacies online through the Internet. However, there is something special about the small dumplings, either eating in the store, or going to the store to tie a basket and enjoy it on the same day, and the ice is too inferior. Therefore, the habit of tying a basket of small cages will continue, no matter how the times develop, "delicious" is an eternal and unchangeable hard truth.
Liberation Daily, Shangguan News original manuscript, reprint please indicate the source
Author: Wu Ge
Source: Liberation Daily