The city is full of tofu fragrance
Li Dongsheng
Tofu was invented in China. It is said that in 164 BC, Liu An, the grandson of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was the king of Huainan, and occasionally put gypsum into the bean juice to form tofu during alchemy. Of course, at that time, the soy milk was not heated, and it was just the prototype of tofu. (Of course, gunpowder was also made during alchemy, so Chinese chemists appeared earlier, but they were revered as alchemists at that time.) Tofu was introduced to Korea during the Song Dynasty and to Europe, Africa, and North America in the 19th century.
Jiexiu also has tofu, and the more famous tofu in Jiexiu is the tofu of Luowangzhuang.
Luowang Zhuang Jiexiu is commonly known as: Lin Wo Jio (transliteration), close to the Fen River. In the early years, he was almost flooded by the Fen River several times. I remember when I first arrived in Longfeng in 03, I chatted with an old village cadre in Longfeng Village. He said that I have been to your village, and it has rained heavily for more than seven years, and the county has organized various villages to go to your village for flood control. I laughed in my heart, a group of people who often play by the Fen River, I have never seen any strong wind and waves!
As for the name of the dialect of Lin Wo Jio, I thought about it for a long time, and guessed that the pronunciation of the three words Luo Wangzhuang a long time ago may be the pronunciation of Lin Wo Jio for the residents of Jiexiu. Including, the Wang River in Qinyuan, the local dialect is wohi. Therefore, it can be considered that Lin Wo Jio is the ancient name of Luo Wangzhuang. Including Xiacheng South, we call it Ha Shei South and so on. Let's carefully analyze and analyze whether this is the reason! Moreover, this ancient language pronunciation can only be continued in the names of villages and things, or in some fixed words of praise that have not been inherited: such as banban {grandmother's meaning}, big (sister) and so on (but it is estimated that it will slowly disappear in the future). Relying on the name of the person to continue this relatively ancient name, mainly focusing on the immortals: for example, Yan Woyi, who is called by Jiexiu, refers to the Lord of Yama. It also turned the king into a nest! Personal blind guessing, there is no academic value!
Keep talking about tofu! So when was tofu introduced to Luowangzhuang? I estimate that the "Jiexiu County Chronicles" has very few records of industry and commerce since the Qing Dynasty, and it is estimated that Luowangzhuang tofu has been developed in the form of small workshops in history and has not yet become large-scale, which has little impact on the economy at that time, resulting in no strong record. However, according to the information of the royal compound, the ancestor of the Wang family had already started to operate the tofu business during the Yuan Emperor's reign (1312-1313). Luowangzhuang is close to the Fen River, seven or eight miles away from the county seat, and I speculate that Luowangzhuang will start making tofu no later than this time.
Speaking of which, I think Luo Wangzhuang also has strange aspects. I haven't seen a stone tablet with words for so many years, whether it is a record of the temple or something else, could it be that during the Cultural Revolution, in addition to demolishing the temple and the like, the relevant words were destroyed and destroyed? Throw all those stone tablets and the like into the Fen River? Now the only thing that can see the relatively old historical traces is a two-story building in front of the supply and marketing cooperative, which has a 260-year-old Qing Dynasty Jiaqing period. Other than that, it's hard to find anything that confirms history.
According to my old man (now 87 years old), when he was a child, there were many families in the village that made tofu, but there were not many of them. A pound of tofu earns a dime or two, the cost is large, and the sales are not as good as they are now, so it is not easy to make money. So, there was no large-scale development at that time. However, in that special era, tofu was a luxury, and it was normal for it to not develop.
The tofu of Luowangzhuang has always been widely accepted by Jiexiu people for its white appearance, fine and soft taste, fried and fragrant. Especially within the urban area, it is the first choice of the general public for home-cooked bean products. The stir-fried blinking tofu invented by Luo Wangzhuang is also quite distinctive, and the staggering shrimp paste tofu is basically a dish that everyone often orders. Luowangzhuang's tofu, Hongshan's incense and Guan filling candy are the only local specialties that have been continued.
For the people of Luowangzhuang, tofu is the craft of gatekeeping, although it is not recorded in the book, but it has been engraved in the hearts and blood of every villager. Whether it is Zhang Sanjia or Li Sijia, even if they have not made tofu in these years, but going back in time, almost every family has made tofu experience!
As far back as I can remember, my family has never made tofu. Once in a small talk, I asked my old man, have you ever sold tofu? As a result, my old man said, sold, at the age of sixteen, just in time for Piwa to stand up to the noisy time, one day the tofu was sent to the yarn factory, just the cat bent down to drink porridge, ready to drink porridge home, as a result of a bullet "whoosh" flew over the head, scared my old man home and said that he would not sell tofu at all, and went directly to catch the carriage! It was all 70 years ago! Of course, I also made a period of tofu in the later period, and I often heard my mother talk about the hard work of making tofu - getting up early in the morning, greedy for darkness, black smoke and miasma, and freezing hands and feet in winter! Of course, I remember that my sister's family also made tofu for many years. Because I remember to eat it in the big pot of soy milk that she boiled at home!
For the people of Luowangzhuang, making tofu is an easy task. First of all, the technology is open, and there are no technical barriers: if you can't learn it at your aunt's house, you can go to your uncle's house to make up for it, and the neighbor's second small family will also let you see it on the spot. The general process will not be bad, but there are differences in the method. If you encounter a really poor jingle and can't even pay for it, but you also want to make a living by making tofu, don't worry, as long as you open your mouth: the east family borrows a tank, the west family borrows a cauldron to cook soy milk, the front yard receives a wooden barrel, the backyard borrows a rod scale, and the village supports you with thirty catties of beans. There is never a need to worry about the taboo of competition between peers, everyone you sell yours, I sell mine, the business is not big, and there is no problem in supporting the family. Moreover, in the past, everyone used to raise one or two pigs, and use the by-products of processed tofu, such as swill, okara, etc., to feed, and unconsciously increased another income in a year. Of course, the meat of the pigs raised in this way must be more fragrant!
In the most difficult days, the business of making tofu has supported many families in Luowangzhuang to tide over the difficulties. What I remember most is to listen to my mother say that in the 60s, I was reluctant to eat tofu, so I added a little salt to the bean dregs, kneaded it into a ball and put it in a back pocket under the stove and roasted it. After I joined the work, I talked to the old people in other villages, and they all said that it was delicious at that time.
Some people may ask, Luowangzhuang's method of making tofu is only open to the people of the village, and the people of Luowangzhuang do not feel open-minded! I sue you, wrong, the method of making tofu in our village has always been shareable. I haven't heard anyone complain that whoever has passed on the art of making tofu, so we should criticize him! You can see and learn the craft of making tofu casually!
But after so many years of trying, I haven't seen a few people from other villages who can make such good tofu! Why? The secret is in the water! Luowangzhuang is blessed with unique water quality advantages!
As the saying goes, where there is good water, there is good wine, and where there is good water, there are beautiful women. Similarly, whether tofu is good or not, water is the soul. The quality of tofu is directly related to the hardness of the water. The tofu skills have been inherited for so many years, why is it carried forward in Luowangzhuang, and I personally think that this is a very key factor. Therefore, it can be said that the tofu chose Luowangzhuang. Of course, this also has a certain relationship with the proximity of Luowangzhuang to the city, and ensuring sales is also the main factor for the continuation of the product.
According to my old man's recollection, there was a well to the west of the current village committee, and people used the water from that well to make tofu. Later, the well was filled, and a pond was dug in a village public area in the middle of the village, and the water from that pond was used to make tofu (the water level in the village was high in the early years), and then tap water was used. According to the people in the village, some villages make tofu, and after grinding the beans, they have to bring a bucket of water back by the way, in order to ensure the quality of the tofu.
There is no fixed recipe and strict standardized technology for tofu production in our village. Everyone relies on word of mouth and self-perception to process it. In particular, the technique of marinating is to observe the changes of bean curd and personal feelings. Therefore, when outsiders talk about Luowangzhuang's tofu, they will generally say that it is good and good. But only the people of the village can discern those subtle differences. Until now, everyone will discuss on the street, whose tofu is coarse, whose tofu is fine, and which tofu is old (point marinated); Who made tofu ten years ago was delicious, and who makes tofu is delicious now. To give a very simple example, ordinary people dare not sell tofu on Luowangzhuang Street, unless the person is particularly bold, or he absolutely dares to show his skills in front of the people in the village. To be honest, there are so many people making tofu on the street, depending on whether you are a class maker or a long-sleeved dancer. And Uncle Zhang, who I thought was the most delicious and dared to set up a stall on Luowangzhuang Street to sell tofu, has passed away.
In the early years, people sold tofu on a bicycle with a wooden stick or iron rod stuck in the back seat of the car, carrying a tofu around the village and alleys to sell it. In my memory, I said that Luowangzhuang tofu is not good, for a year or two, soybeans were too expensive, and some families switched to soybean cakes to make tofu. As a result, the reputation of Luowangzhuang tofu was greatly affected for a time, and later people put an end to this practice. But other than that, there is almost no irresponsible remark about the tofu in our village. Especially in Quan Jiexiu, Luo Wangzhuang people sell tofu, and there has never been a shortage of catties! The people of Luowangzhuang rode bicycles to every village in Jiexiu, and their good reputation spread to all directions. There was once a big boss who chatted with me, and he implemented tens of millions of projects in my village, hired several people in my village, and didn't even lose a nail by the end of the project. I used to go to the countryside and went to other villages to chat with the people in the village, and when I asked and learned that I was from Luo Wangzhuang, I immediately asked, do you know each other? I often come to my village to sell tofu! We were good friends, and he told me to go to his house for a drink! I hurriedly nodded and said: Know, know, and my family is a neighbor! Actually, I also kindly echo it, because there are more than a dozen second elementary schools in my village that have sold tofu: Zhang Erxiao, Sun Erxiao, etc., I really can't be sure which second elementary school they are referring to? Isn't people saying that our village is good, and I'm not happy in my heart!
In recent years, there are almost no people in my village who sell tofu in the alleys of the village, and there are not many people who make tofu, but everyone who makes tofu makes a dozen to thirty or forty a day. Most of the tofu eaten and sold in the big restaurants and vegetable shops in Jiexiu City is our village. Now that the conditions are better, people are driving cars or tricycles to deliver tofu. In the early years, it was much more difficult to sell tofu by bicycle than now, everyone knows that the slope of Longfeng on Yuzi, even if the road is covered with snow in winter, riding a car, there is a tofu obliquely next to the car, and the people in my village sell tofu on Longfeng every day, and ordinary people dare not think about it! In '03, when it was snowing in the winter, another deputy mayor drove his van down that slope and almost slipped out of the ditch. Therefore, selling tofu and making friends has also trained a body of courage. Another classic of selling tofu is shouting. There used to be a person named Zhang Sandan who sold tofu in the streets and alleys of Jiexiu City, and the selling voice was loud and artistic: Cut - tofu comes! The first word has a long sound, and the last three words are tightly adhered to, and the tone is undulating, which is quite distinctive. At that time, as soon as the people in the east, west, south and north cities of Jiexiu City heard this shout, they knew that the tofu from Luowangzhuang was coming, and some housewives were not caring about each other, and shouted to the children: "The tofu seller is here, go and sue him for two catties of tofu on credit!" The children at home immediately responded, "Okay! ”
There was a joke about selling tofu in Luowangzhuang: one day, a man went to a village to set up a stall to sell tofu, but a person came up to him and accosted him: "Brother cut a piece of tofu? The man immediately said, "Cut ...... Cut ......". When the tofu seller heard it, he directly cut two or three catties with a knife. As a result, this person came over, and he was so anxious that he shouted three words: "I can't afford to cut it!" Angry tofu seller: "Oops! Kill me! What to do with this! ”
Luowangzhuang's tofu is famous, but there are two other soy products that taste excellent. One is tofu skin, which is similar to the kind of oil bean skin that is sold, which is a layer of oily skin formed on the surface of soybean milk after it is boiled and cooled in the pot. Pick it up and eat it when it's warm and soft, it's the most fragrant, and the bean flavor is also strong. Generally, this layer of oily skin is dried, in addition to being reluctant to eat, it is also easy to store. The tofu skin in our village, a tofu is basically revealed. Therefore, the skin is thick, the taste is fragrant, and it is a good product for cold dishes. If you think about it, thirty catties of beans come out of a skin, which is the essence of the essence, and some people specially buy it and give it away. However, you are reminded to make an appointment in advance, otherwise you will not be able to make up the amount you want. The second is the bean juice and rice soup. In the process of boiling soy milk, some soy milk is reserved for boiling millet soup. The rice soup boiled out in this way takes into account the flavor of beans and millet, and takes a sip of the complex aroma that is slowly and rich. This porridge is served on a plate of old pickles mixed with sesame oil, a refreshing cold dish mixed with white silk fennel and soft bean skin, and a burnt pot helmet baked on both sides on the tweezers. Until now, this has been used by our village to entertain distinguished guests.
Mother-in-law and mother said a lot, telling yesterday's story and showing today's picture!
Now the employment in the village is much better, and the employment channels of the villagers are not so single, some are in the coal mine, some are in the service industry, some are engaged in construction, and so on! Therefore, making tofu is no longer the leading industry in the village. But as a traditional industry, it is still growing strongly. Including village collectives and individuals have begun to study and try tofu deep processing technology, and increase the proportion of income by extending the industrial chain!
In short, Luowangzhuang's tofu is not only an industrial brand, but also a brand that reflects the style and appearance of the village - a brand worthy of continuation.
About the Author
Li Dongsheng, male, born in 1976, 44 years old, graduated from Shanxi Agricultural University.