Return To 1977 Chapter 459: Heaven and Earth are a family in spring
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Today is a new society, which has gone through the reform of marriage customs after the founding of the People's Republic of China and many years of hard times.
In marriages among people in the capital, most families no longer pay attention to betrothal gifts and dowries, and are ashamed to discuss economic conditions.
Whoever wants to give a meeting gift must do so voluntarily. Even if it is a pen or a piece of clothing, the other party must not be picky.
As is rumored today, the sayings of "thirty-six legs" and "three turns and one sound" that were popular in the 1970s do exist, but in most cases, they are just people's perfect vision of a happy life. and pursuit. Almost all of these things must be purchased by the couple themselves after the marriage.
Because firstly, not many families can do it, so it’s useless to ask for it. In addition, in this era, people value reputation more than material things. They are all afraid of being known as "selling girls" or "money obsessed".
And the series of red tapes such as "posting," "matching," "making a wedding ceremony," and "sending dowry" before marriage have long since disappeared without a trace.
The newly simplified wedding customs, in addition to two young people getting to know each other and maybe relying on an introducer to "blind date", there are also steps where the man and woman bring gifts to each other's house for each other's parents to "look at each other", which is basically the same. It's time for the two in-laws to meet each other again and have a "promise meal".
The current situation of the Hong family is a combination of "seeing each other" and "promising a meal". But precisely for this reason, this meal is particularly important.
That was not only the first step in the initial contact between the two families, but also a celebration banquet for the in-laws to be confirmed.
What is certain is that a lot can be seen from this meal, such as the sincerity, courtesy, living standards of both parties, and even the quality, taste and living habits of both parties. It will directly affect each other's perception and recognition.
To put it bluntly, if something goes wrong with this meal, it will not only cast a shadow on the marriage of the children of both parties, but also cause the parents of both parties to have a long-term grudge. Even in extreme cases, even an agreed marriage can be ruined.
This is no exaggeration at all.
In today's society, aren't there examples of girls who go to their boyfriend's house as guests, and are so frightened when they see the food in the basin that they want to break up?
There are also situations where a prospective son-in-law can't stand the hospitality of his prospective mother-in-law, who picks up food for himself while sucking his chopsticks, so he retreats.
Similarly, there are cases where one parent is an alcoholic and drinks too much, or one parent praises or criticizes the dishes or makes them difficult to swallow, leading to unhappy separations.
Anyway, there are all kinds of situations, and there are countless examples to test each other's tolerance.
But on the other hand, if this meal can be truly comforting and warm, it can make each other feel in tune with each other, and even give rise to the feeling that "we should be a family". That's really better at promoting the relationship between the two parties than sending pearls and agate or saying nice words.
Once you have this good start and foundation. Even if there is a conflict between children in the future, it will be easier for both parents to understand each other's position and then take the initiative to resolve their children. This is of course a great benefit and security to the marriage itself.
So, Wang Yunlin really paid attention to the content and form of this meal.
Originally, she wanted to be pompous and save trouble. She could have arranged this meal to be eaten at the restaurant. It’s not like today’s Hong family can’t afford this money.
Considering that the current chatroom is noisy, noisy, smoky, and full of alcohol, and that "Auntie Bao" and "Tang Xin'er" are both women, it is obvious that this arrangement will only make them awkward and uncomfortable. Comfortable, even off-putting.
What if we eat it at home?
"Aunt Bao" is from Shanghai and is a top pastry chef. Wang Yunlin was worried that the other party would not be able to adapt to the taste of the Beijing family banquet.
Besides, if you really want to prepare a large table of dishes, stir-fry, fry, stew and boil, how long will it take? There was no time to talk.
In this way, after much thought, she finally made a wise decision to eat "spring pancakes".
When it comes to Beijing’s food, even today, most friends from other places only have a simple understanding of “roast duck”, “shabu-shabu mutton” and some well-known Beijing snacks.
What about the family dinner? I'm afraid there's nothing else to say other than "braised noodles" and "fried noodles with soy sauce".
But in fact, there are many special foods in Beijing. And due to the influence of ethnic minorities such as Manchu, Mongolian, Tibetan and Hui Miao, not only the tastes are diverse, but the dining format is also very interesting.
I’m not bragging at all. People can often be frugal and freely adjust the taste. It is more advanced than the buffets introduced in the West today.
The most typical examples of this are "Desheng Bao" and "Spring Pancakes".
It is mentioned in the side story that at the apprenticeship banquet of Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan, Wang Yunlin used the "Victory Package" to entertain "Master Yu".
This kind of flavored food of the Banner people is called "Fuke" in Manchu, which sounds a bit like a curse word when written.
Due to its characteristic of using vegetables as a bowl, it needs to be eaten with rice rolled with assorted contents in perilla leaves or cabbage leaves. The time to enjoy this seasonal food can only be after the fifth day of July.
For those who have never eaten it, you only need to look at the "Korean lettuce and rice" favored by many white-collar workers today to roughly understand that it is actually an extremely inferior imitation by the stickmen who "claim that all civilization comes from Korea."
What’s interesting is that “spring pancakes”, which have something in common with the eating method of “Desheng Bao”, are exactly the opposite of them in terms of season, but they occupy people’s dining tables between the “beginning of spring” and summer.
Because in a practical sense, "spring pancakes" are made with flour pancakes as thin as rice paper and rolled with stir-fried vegetables, a specialty of early spring. It is called "biting spring".
This is really a very vivid word. In the eyes of people in the capital, spring can actually be bitten with teeth.
When it comes to this custom, it should have existed since the Tang Dynasty. "The Treasure Mirror of the Four Seasons of the Tang Dynasty" records, "On the first day of spring, eat radish, spring pancakes, and lettuce, called the Spring Plate."
Yelü Chucai, a Khitan native of the early Yuan Dynasty, also wrote a poem that described in detail the feeling of eating spring pancakes.
"I accidentally forgot about the spring day yesterday, so I tried to make a spring plate to taste. The wooden case was first opened and the silver threads were messy, and the lotus roots cooked in the sand vase were long. Mix the peas evenly with the green onion, and cut the wilted wormwood finely with the chives yellow. It was also the same as He Zeng You are full, so why wait for the rice?”
It can be seen that this food has a long history. So as time goes by, the taste of eating it becomes more and more rich and refined, which is a matter of course.
When it comes to people in the capital rolling "spring pancakes", in addition to the necessary sauces and shredded green onions, the most important thing is to pay attention to the cooked vegetables.
First of all, there are a few things that are essential.
That is leeks, spinach, bean sprouts, vermicelli and "tan yellow vegetables".
(Note: "Spreading yellow vegetables" means spreading eggs. Because there were eunuchs in old Beijing, it was taboo to say "eggs". Commonly used pronouns include "yellow vegetables", "guoer", "chicken" and "osmanthus" . In fact, the dish "Meet Osmanthus Meat" is simply "fried meat with eggs", and "Mibiscus Osmanthus" also refers to "osmanthus". So if you think about it carefully, the name of the dish "Meet Osmanthus Meat" created by the predecessors can be said. It is both physical and spiritual, extremely incisive, and fully embodies the artistry of our language. It is a pity that many people today are ignorant, and many big restaurants actually write the words "mushu meat" on their menus. This is both a white-letter fallacy and a misunderstanding. There is absolutely no connection between the contents of the dishes. It should be considered a cultural regression)
Secondly, we also pursue two main principles.
One is that if you want to eat meat, you must use cooked meat dishes made by "smoking", "sauce" and "roasting". Another is the selection of seasonal vegetables, which are mainly tender and crispy in texture.
As long as you follow this principle, everything else can be determined by personal preference.
This gives "spring pancakes" a great deal of space and freedom, which can fully meet the special needs of different classes.
Like a poor family, you only need to stir-fry pork shreds, bean sprouts, leeks, spinach, and vermicelli together, and then spread an egg on top to have the simplest "spring pancake" meal.
This has a name, called "Spring Pancakes and Stir-fried Vegetables". When I hear it, I feel majestic and heroic.
As for well-off families, the usual standard is a "fried egg with chives", a "fried vermicelli with spinach and bean sprouts", plus a "pine nut belly" cut into strips and a "sauce elbow" cut into slices ” or “ Sauce Beef ”.
This is a relatively sumptuous and basic "spring pancake" meal.
As for today's Hong family, their level is much higher. It is undoubtedly the standard of a luxurious mansion.
Under Wang Yunlin's management, there are three types of light sauce. Yellow sauce, sweet sauce, orange sauce.
She also peeled spring onions, radishes, and cucumbers and cut them into sections for serving.
Of course, cooking is suitable for both young and old alike.
There are "stir-fried yellow vegetables", "fried garlic sprouts", "fried wild rice", "fried green and white snake" (fried bean sprouts with leeks), "fried vermicelli with spinach" and "fried fungus with golden needles".
Don’t look too far. The vegetables have been washed out already, and they are stir-fried quickly with hot oil. There is no steaming or stewing process, so it is actually not troublesome at all.
And there are even more cooked meats.
Wang Yunlin made a special trip to "Tianfu" yesterday and bought back all the braised pork ribs, braised pork belly, smoked chicken, roasted duck, bacon and bacon.
After a while, they were all cut into shreds and placed on the table, just like a delicatessen shop, with everything you need.
Although compared with the Wanyan family back then, there is still less "Sura Sauce" in the palace and "Eight Treasures Roast Pig" in "Jinhua House". Compared with the Hong family back then, there was also a shortage of "Fushunzhai" "sauce beef" and "Yueshengzhai" roast mutton.
But this is already within Wang Yunlin's ability, and she can prepare the most comprehensive scale at the moment.
And don't forget, there are also "Puwufang" sauced pork and barbecued pork sent by "Auntie Bao".
I have to say that this is another extremely interesting coincidence. It was as if the two families wanted to go together. They cut some ready-made dishes and put them on the table, which added a lot of color to the table.
As for the last moment when baking lotus leaf cakes, "Tang Xin'er" showed off her hand. She made the cake unprecedented, hot-scalding the noodles and adding sesame oil to make them double-bodied, neither hard nor loose.
The most amazing thing is that not only her posture is extremely graceful, but her hands are flying lightly like butterflies. And the cake has almost no traces of batter. This really deserves some praise from Wang Yunlin. Both Xu Manli and Hong Yanru admired her sincerely.
Actually, there is still something they don’t know. This is the first time that "Tang Xin'er" has made hot noodles and lotus leaf cakes.
The reason why it was so successful for the first time was all due to "Aunt Bao's" daily training in pastries, and also because "Tang Xin'er" himself has a clever stealing skill.
As the saying goes, "one knows everything," she has a pair of skillful hands that can put soap heads in boiling water, rub people's watches in front of others, and it doesn't matter if she can master the heat of pancakes.
In short, the quality of this meal is almost perfect.
The dishes are good, the cakes are good, there is a dazzling array of items, and even the extra table is full.
In terms of taste, "Bao Yi" and "Tang Xin'er" are not uncomfortable at all.
They put in seasonal vegetables and meat according to their own preferences. After tasting it, they all said it was good and said it could be regarded as their favorite diet in the capital. It's refreshing and fragrant, even if it's rolled elbow or pork head, it doesn't feel greasy.
In fact, it’s no wonder. Even the emperor couldn't put it down.
It is recorded in "The First Half of My Life" that the last emperor Puyi ate six spring pancakes in a row. The head **** found out and was afraid that he would hold on, so he asked two eunuchs to lift his arms, one on the left and the other on the right, as if they were pounding. There is an interesting story about squatting on the ground to eat.
Based on this, you can wonder whether this thing is delicious or not.
In addition, the atmosphere of the meal was quite casual and happy. It reveals harmony, beauty, and smoothness.
The main room of the Hong family, with warm wine and warm feelings.
The guys sat in a circle around the table, passing the cakes to each other with smiles on their faces, showing humility to who could take down the chopsticks first, and competing with who could curl the cakes neatly and neatly. My mouth is oily, my hands are oily...
This is really a picture of a family feast with laughter and uproar, and the sheng and chime sound the same.
Blended with the bright sunshine outside, flowing clouds sweeping over the ground, flourishing flowers and trees, and flying bees and butterflies, it is truly spring for the whole world!
In fact, the meaning of "spring cake" is also inclusive, casual, joyful and harmonious, just like the life attitude of the old Beijing people.
Rather than saying that this is a rare delicacy, it is better to say that it can satisfy people's spiritual needs and emotional sustenance at the same time, allowing people to taste a kind of happiness that goes directly to their hearts from their appetites, and feel a kind of happiness. The taste of home.