Pingjiang Dried Sauce [Hunan Pingjiang Specialty]

What is Pingjiang dried sauce? Authentic Hunan Pingjiang specialty: Pingjiang dried sauce

Content summary:Do you want to know what Pingjiang dried sauce is? This article is a specialized article that provides a detailed introduction to the Pingjiang specialty of Hunan province - Pingjiang dried soy sauce. It was compiled and edited by the editorial team of China Specialty Network, who reviewed and collected relevant information on Pingjiang dried soy sauce. The full text takes about 9 minutes to read, mainly including the basic introduction of Pingjiang dried soy sauce and how its history originated? The production method of Pingjiang dried sauce, etc

Basic Introduction of Pingjiang Dried Sauce

Pingjiang Dried Sauce originated from Changshou Street, a key town on the Hunan Hubei Jiangxi border, also known as Changshou Dried Sauce. It was first created by He Weifeng (1847-1947), a centenarian during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty. By combining the traditional braising and baking techniques of Changshou Street, tofu jerky with square size, thick and thin copper coins, black and shiny color, and fragrant aroma is produced, named "Duozhen Sauce Dried". Every ten pieces are wrapped in cotton thread, which is called a tube. The taste is mellow and delicious, with a chewy and refreshing texture. By the time of the Republic of China, Changshou dried sauce had become a popular specialty in the Hunan Hubei Jiangxi border area and a major specialty of Pingjiang

How did the history of Pingjiang dried soy sauce come about

"Duozhen dried sauce" was renamed "Wuxiang dried sauce" and is a famous specialty of Pingjiang. Due to its strong sauce aroma and endless aftertaste, it has been a tribute throughout the dynasties

Origin

Pingjiang Changshou Sauce Dried, also known as Salt Skin Dried, before the Republic of China, it was a piece of copper with a slightly salty taste, golden skin, soft and delicious texture. In the 7th year of the Xianfeng reign of the Qing Dynasty, He Weifeng, the owner of the Cold Hotel in Changshou Town, accidentally discovered that dried salt skin (tofu skin) from leftover soup had a very unique taste when roasted and consumed, which inspired him. He marinated the tofu skin with brine and then dried it over charcoal fire, thus inventing soy sauce. Before the 1940s, Changshou Town developed into five dried soy sauce workshops, namely He Weifeng's "He Ji Duo Zhen", Wu Shangqing's "Duo Fu", Zeng Cixing's "Yi Duo Fu", Yu Shugao's "Henry", and Fang Yunshan's "Fang Shengyuan"

Legend

Of course, there are also various versions circulating among the people about the origin of dried soy sauce: there is a saying that after Qianlong's private visit to eat it, Longyan Dayue said it was a famous dish of Hunan flavor; During the palace examination, students from Hunan province in the Qing Dynasty went to Beijing to take exams. They talked about the specialties of the Three Xiang regions and specifically mentioned the dried five spice sauce. The emperor heard about it and ordered tribute. After tasting it, the emperor was delighted with the dragon's appearance and often rode fast for 800 miles on official missions, traveling day and night to deliver it; There is a saying that Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty, when passing by Changshou, selected it as a tribute. There is also a Pingjiang folk song that proves this saying: "On the south bank, worship the North Star, and Zhengde travels the world. Wear a melon spoon in your mind and step on the stove door."

The production method of Pingjiang dried sauce

Changshou dried sauce is a concentrated green food, and its ingredients are very exquisite. Processing requires the use of locally sourced high-quality August soybeans with plump seeds, soaked in deep well spring water from the water system, free from any pollution, clear and transparent, sweet and rich in minerals. After the stone mill produces slurry, the spoon slowly scoops the slurry into the tank. The slurry is pure white and smooth, with a suitable thickness and lightness. Tofu juice is pressed into a half thick cloth in a squeezing box, cut into one inch square tofu slices, and then put into a brine pot to make a cup of tea. The ingredients for the braised sauce are sourced from the mountains and forests, including Chinese medicinal herbs such as star anise, fennel, cinnamon, male and female dices, ziyuan, and bocao. They are supplemented with cinnamon and ginger powder, and a variety of 36 spices are boiled together. Of course, the most important thing in braised sauce is soy sauce. Soy sauce should be selected from the soy sauce juice that has been steamed and sun dried for 49 days, and then slowly seeped out with bamboo baskets and strainers. The various fragrances condense into a strange aroma, drifting for ten miles, with a fragrant aroma wafting through the nose, refreshing and invigorating the mind. After coloring, add the dried sesame seeds to a chicken broth pot and cook until fully cooked and flavorful. The selection of ingredients for chickens must be local chicken breeds that feed on insects, ants, and grains. The soup is delicious, the juice is thick, and the taste is strong. The final process is to fold the bamboo strips on top of the pot and bake them over charcoal fire. Charcoal also has its own requirements. The workshop owner personally went to the charcoal kiln in the mountains to purchase hard white carbon, which is not made from camphor trees and bamboo sticks. It is repeatedly baked over low heat, but it becomes burnt and lacks softness and toughness, let alone fragrance. The timing is just right. Upon emergence, it immediately infiltrates into sesame oil. Sesame oil is a rural small ground sesame oil extracted from the soil of oak trees, with a strong and fragrant aroma. In this way, the black, shiny, and fragrant "dried five spice sauce" was produced. Bean aroma, braised aroma, chicken aroma, roasted aroma, sesame aroma "are called" five fragrances ", but in fact, they are not just five fragrances

The production of dried five spice sauce is primarily based on the production of tofu pudding. During the period of the Republic of China, there was a saying that "Fang Shengyuan" dried soy sauce was better than "Duozhen", because of the fine production of tofu, that is, when soybean milk was solidified, it was not gypsum, but overnight secondary water. The method of uniform solidification is not mixing, scraping, or lifting the paste, but repeatedly swimming, which is a more primitive traditional production technique called "swimming tofu". Before adding the brine to the pot, it is necessary to remove the aftertaste with clean water. When adding sesame oil, before folding and baking the bamboo strips, use a cotton cloth dipped in sesame oil and apply it piece by piece. Gently rub the sesame oil in with your fingers, then turn it over and apply it with your fingers after baking for a while. Continue baking until the sesame oil fragrance penetrates into the dried sauce. According to experts, there is no other way to make dried sauce. To achieve the desired flavor, it is important to have the right amount of cooking time; There is no coincidence in fragrance, but it is important to use charcoal and the appropriate heat for baking. Take a bite of the dried sauce that has been baked until it's fully formed and see if it's black inside instead of white. Of course, cleanliness is even more important. Some people describe tofu workshop workers washing cloth by the river as an artistic enjoyment. They repeatedly swing the corner of the cloth in the river water to remove the bean dregs in the cloth's eyes, and then use a wooden pestle to remove the water on the bluestone slab. This process is repeated more than ten times, then wrung dry and placed in a wooden barrel, and the job is done