First choose "red soup" and "white soup", and then choose your favorite from more than 20 kinds of toppings; first smell the aroma, then blow open the oil flowers, drink soup, pick noodles; from more than 100 yuan of "bald butter", to more than 30 yuan of stewed meat... Songhe Lou Noodle Restaurant with a history of more than 260 years has finally entered Beijing. So the question is: where is the most expensive topping in Songhe Tower? What is "extraordinary" about the most pro-people toppings? What are the exquisite and doorways of eating Su-style noodles... The Beijing News reporter exclusive shop interview for you to answer one by one.
◆ The most expensive "bald butter"
The single set of 128 yuan, the four-person package of 388 yuan ... On the menu, the most "noble" is the seasonal "bald butter". Why is "bald butter" expensive? Ge Hao, director of operations at the Songhe Lou Noodle Restaurant Division, said that "bald butter" is a dialect of Suzhou, and bald means "only" or "unique". If you understand the practice of "bald butter", you know the reason for its preciousness: after the crab is out, take out the crab paste crab yellow, add the fried fat minced, and then stir-fry with green onion and ginger, and then simmer it thoroughly with yellow wine, season the broth... In the single set with bald butter, it contains 50 grams of crab yellow, 30 grams of crab paste, with ginger shreds, vinegar and ginger tea, which can be said to be the "top" noodles of this season.
"Songhe Lou Noodle Restaurant pays attention to real materials, for example, bald butter does not have crab paste will reduce points, and the crab paste we use is from Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs." Ge Hao told the Beijing News that according to statistics, the turnover of Songhe Lou Noodle Restaurant in Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing yesterday increased by about 10% compared with last week, which should be the contribution of crab powder crab paste toppings. "A lot of people say bald butter as 'too beautiful.' Beijingers should love it too. ”
In Suzhou dialect, the sound of "bald" is similar to "縣", and when you order "bald butter" at the Songhe Lou Noodle Restaurant, you can try the pronunciation of Suzhou dialect, so that eating noodles is also more immersive.
◆ The most pro-people "stewed meat"
On the menu, "Xianguan Jiangnan Si Dengke" is very eye-catching, which is the "four signs" of Songhe Lou Noodle Restaurant. Among them is the most affordable braised meat toppings, which are more than 30 yuan plus noodles. Ge Hao said that although the wide variety of toppings of Su-style noodles can be applied for the Guinness World Records, in the final analysis, shrimp, eel paste, stewed meat three are the most representative.
The stewed meat of Songhe Tower should be selected from layers of pork belly, which is boiled, stewed and pressed. The recipe of roasted meat is only known to the teacher, although there are many spices in it, but the spices must not be "over", "over" will wash away the meat flavor. After the stew is cooked, it is necessary to spend the night at a natural temperature, and then fish out the meat and cut it into pieces of meat about one centimeter. Most of the juice is left for the next stew, and a small part is taken out to make a unique "juice" for the red soup noodles.
The time to eat the braised meat noodles is also exquisite, be sure to put the stew under the noodles and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. When the fat meat changes from pure white to transparent, the stewed meat at this time is the best state to taste, and the entrance is crisp.
◆ The most characteristic "Gusu brine duck"
Songhe Tower began in 1757, but before it was recorded, Songhe Tower was famous as the "Songhe Tower Brine Duck Noodle Restaurant". The characteristics of the marinated duck are "first sweet and then salty, and the meat is fresh and clean". "Fresh" means "bright", while "bright" depends on the red yeast rice used. The brine duck of Songhe Tower uses the top of the seven grades of Red Yeast Rice.
The "clean" font is now an interesting process for making brine ducks. Ge Hao said that the duck that makes a brine duck must weigh four pounds. "The ducks are fed at dawn, transported all the way from Kunshan to Suzhou, and then from the docks to the Songhe Tower in the city. Once the duck is full of exercise, impurities such as sweat will be discharged. When I arrived at the store, I slaughtered quickly and rinsed the well water for half an hour. Then heat for half an hour, low heat for one hour, let it cool and then put it on the basin, take the old brine, rock sugar hook 'glass owe' and pour it on. ”
The "Gusu Brine Duck" topping can be said to be the biggest feature of Songhe Lou Noodle Restaurant, and this bowl of brine duck noodles is also on the list of "Suzhou Top Ten Gold Medal Noodles".
◆ The most ritualistic "small things"
Eating noodles is a small thing in daily life, but eating noodles at Songhe Lou Noodle Restaurant is an extremely important thing. Ge Hao said that when Suzhou people eat noodles, they must first put the bowl up, smell it, gently blow open the oil flower, and drink a mouthful of soup. Then loosen the noodles and eat them formally with toppings.
Suzhou's noodles are thin, white and long, and they are not rotten, stalked, or slippery to eat. Pay attention to the three hot: bowl hot, soup hot, noodle hot. In order to prevent the lump, the appearance of Su-style noodles in the bowl is called "crucian carp back": the two ends are pointed in the middle of the large. This is a necessary skill for a Su-style noodle master: after fishing the noodles, you should shake the noodles, drain the water completely, and do not bring the water from the pot into the soup. If you bring water into the soup, Suzhou people will feel that "there is noodles, not delicious.". "The noodles are tight, they can't suck the soup, it's not easy to lump." When eating, pick the loose and let the noodles absorb the soup. ”
In terms of large classification, the Su-style noodles of Songhe Tower are divided into soup noodles and mixed noodles, and the soup noodles are divided into red soup and white soup. If you strictly follow the suzhou way of eating, it is "autumn and winter red soup, spring and summer white soup". Su-style noodles pay attention to "crossing the bridge", that is, the toppings and noodles are separated, and they are placed in front of a plate, and a topping can be tasted by several people. "For example, braised meat noodles, you can ask the waiter to help divide into two or three portions."
Ge Hao said that because songhe lou noodle restaurant has just gone north, there is no guarantee that all waiters can explain the origin, characteristics and methods of eating su-style noodles very clearly. If a customer wants to know, they can find the staff in the store wearing black suits, they "can say it."
Beijing News reporter Wang Ping Image source Courtesy of the enterprise
Edited by Wang Lin Proofreader Li Shihui
Source: Beijing News