Potstickers are similar to "fried steamed buns", but no one is called "fried dumplings". Potstickers are thin and slender raw dumplings in the shape of moon buds and fried in a pan to be burnt fragrant, the bottom is golden and crispy, the skin is slightly yellow and smooth, and the filling is delicate and slag. I have eaten a kind of "fishing net pot stickers" in Jiaxing, which is a dish on the middle of the banquet, fried pot stickers, I don't know what method to use to add a layer of golden yellow nets, just like a girl wearing a beautiful gauze skirt, with endless delicacy.

In fact, in addition to the burnt aroma of potstickers, the real attraction is in the filling. The filling of pot stickers, just like dumpling filling and bun filling, can be meat or vegetarian, can be pork, beef and mutton, shrimp and seafood tofu, showing the local customs. Of course, dumplings can also be fried, but the dumplings are smaller, such as beautiful ears, the filling is also exquisite, delicate inside and outside, delicious and overflowing, which is the best pursuit of Jiangnan people to perfect the content and external form of food.

Put on the pan, smear a layer of oil, put the potstickers up neatly, line up to the front line, the ranks are like the right, the front chest is attached to the back one by one, and they will be greeted by the test of light oil and heat. Then, I saw the "old man" pick up a small pot and sprinkle it with water that seemed to be mixed with oil. When the lid is up, the heat is rising, so I grab two rags in my hand, wrap the pot along the edge of the open arms and rotate, hear the crackling sound, open the lid of the pot, and sprinkle "oil and water" again, sometimes directly along the edge of the pot to pour salad oil.

The steam spread quickly, and when the lid was closed, the pot was pulled diagonally up and rotated on the fire, crackling again and full of fragrance, and the lid was removed completely, and the potstickers were loosened with an old-fashioned chrome-iron flat-tipped shovel, and the door was closed underneath. After absorbing the remaining oil in the pot, you can see that there is already a hard shell, and the potstickers are cooked. The bottom of this potsticker is charred and fragrant, but the top is boiled with oil and soft. With a spatula, five or six, more than a dozen are connected together, steaming.

If the frying time is not enough, there are so rows or several, the bottom is almost no trace of frying, the skin is soft, and the mouth is a little waterlogged. So I sometimes buy the old man's potstickers, to avoid the peak of the crowd, and focus on his rest of the purchase, when the pot has been on the kang for a long time, the base is particularly crispy, the filling is also rotten and crispy, the aroma is tangy, and the aftertaste is endless.

The stalls selling braised duck also sell duck blood soup by the way, and the taste is very good. The taste is delicious, but I don't know that there is such a background, no wonder there seems to be a faint medicinal fragrance in the soup. I don't know if the soup made by the "old man" is also made of pork bones and duck broth, anyway, the soup contains many seasonings such as pickled vegetables, chopped green onions, coriander and pepper, just to remove the fishy smell of the duck. The duck blood is tender and smooth, the finely chopped duck intestines are tough and chewy, the soup is clear and not greasy, and it is fresh, refreshing and refreshing.

People in Zhongjiang and Xiajiang love to eat duck, not only duck meat, but also duck tongue and duck offal. For example, the duck foot bun made with duck feet, duck intestines and a small piece of liver sticking to the liver is a very regional flavor of cured meat. And a small bowl of duck blood soup can also bring together the many delicacies of duck...... Take a sip of fresh soup, sip a piece of duck blood, and chew a few pieces of curly duck intestines, and people can't help but sigh that these inconspicuous things can make such a delicious taste in the world!

Eating potstickers and drinking duck blood soup, if it is on a winter night, it is really a lot of enjoyment!

"Winter Solstice Dumplings and Summer Solstice Noodles", the shortest and longest two days of the year, eating dumplings and noodles respectively, is our folklore here. But outsiders don't know that what is called "dumplings" in many places in the south is actually small wontons. In the past, there were only burdens and no shops under the "dumplings", and in many of our charming towns, "dumplings" can be regarded as the most common scenery on the streets.

In the countryside, singing big operas, showing movies, playing with lights, and catching temple fairs, as long as there are people gathering, there must be the burden of "dumplings" under the rice balls. Under the open air, the thin skin floating in the soup bowl like cicada wings, and the bright red meat filling inside, the green onion sprinkled on it, the brown oil residue, and the simple local accent are all so kind......

On the most memorable late night street, under the dim street lamp, there is always an old man with gray hair, a thin body, and an apron bowed down to take care of it. The firewood was red at one end, and the pot was steaming hot, and on the other end was a tiny board with oil bottles, stuffing bowls, skins, and finished products wrapped up to be laid out. There are small tables and small stools next to it, someone comes over, and after a few minutes, a big bowl of steaming "dumplings" is served. Because the skin is thin and small, you don't have to chew it in a big bite, just suck it and melt in your mouth. At that time, whenever I walked on the street at night, I would always have a bowl of these "dumplings" with thin and transparent skin, sprinkled with green onions, and floating lard flowers.

Compared with the big wontons with thick skin and flesh in the north, the small wontons with thin skin and few fillings, crystal clear, and clear soup are undoubtedly the most suitable for the Jiangnan with soft water and light wind. Small wontons are not like dumplings and noodles, they are not used to support the stomach, and eating this kind of small wontons is purely for the mood, in order to enjoy the steaming bowl of fresh soup - not to be full, just to have a spiritual affair. The small wonton wants a thin and smooth skin, and the meat filling can't be too much. A large bowl of small wontons with rippling soup was brought up, stirred slightly with a spoon, but I saw pieces of feather clothes ethereal, wrapped in a ball of light red, up and down and floating, a little green onion like a willow eye at the beginning of the relaxation...... Take a sip of the soup, it's really fragrant and delicious.

The stuffing should be used to slaughter the pig's front leg on the same day, eight points of thinness and two points of fat with tendons and tripping (if it is pure hind leg meat, it is not good), each hand holds a knife and flies up and down, chopping into minced meat. Then hit with a cylindrical mallet stick, the longer the meat is beaten, the more cooked it is, and the more it is beaten, the more it swells. At the end, the minced meat will be shredded, and it will be very "stained" with the bamboo picks wrapped in wontons.

To make wonton dough, you need to put alkali, and if you don't grasp the amount well, you will run the alkali, and if you boil it in the boiling soup, the wonton will break the skin. Add eggs when rolling out. The best effect of rolling out must be "thin as paper, soft as silk, elastic as pulling, and tough to eat". Roll up the rolled skin, cut it out obliquely with a knife, and it is two inches square and the size of a dried tea.

Generally, twelve skins are weighed on the scale, and then wrapped in one or two fillings, which is a small ravioli. The ravioli-making technique is extremely fast. Look at the skin of their left hand, and the small bamboo in their right hand pick a little minced meat, stick it to the wonton skin, wrap it in the filling, and a few fingers are in a nest, gently pinch it and close it, and throw it aside. The little wontons are all beautiful and rich in color...... They all sprinkled a little flour with each other, and basically didn't match each other. After the wontons are put into the pot, the water boils, the wontons float up, and the skirts flutter, like dancers on the flames. After dancing a few times, you can see the side of the pink filling face up, and it will be ripe.

The soup is very important, usually put salt, monosodium glutamate, soy sauce and lard in a bowl first, and mix it with boiling water to avoid the soup being cloudy and affecting the taste. Then use the fence to scoop in the small wontons. More than a dozen small wontons dressed in soft cicada clothes swirled gently in the bowl, and a few stars of tender green shallots were sprinkled on it, which was very eye-catching. Scoop one and blow it, take a bite gently, the juice is full of delicious, and suddenly there is a feeling that you enjoy it very much, very heartwarming, very warm.

Some traditional towns and traditional crafts are gone, and the meat fillings are now wrenched out of the meat grinder, and they are getting bigger and bigger, and they can no longer eat the delicate and delicate little wontons with the smell of fireworks. Over the years, whenever there are guests from other places, I always receive Geng Fuxing, a century-old brand on Phoenix Food Street, for breakfast, a few drawers of xiaolong soup dumplings, a crispy baked cake, and a bowl of small wontons for one person, soft crispy soup and water, all of which are ready. Geng Fuxing's small wontons, pepper or bright red chili oil, are usually served with bone broth, which is not very delicious.

I like the taste of wine, and I like the mellow and pure country sound of calling wine brewing "sweet wine" or "sweet wine brewing" in my hometown.

I always feel that wine brewing belongs to Jiangnan more in terms of temperament. Although I have also eaten wine in the north, I can't brew a different feeling from the horse's head wall, the carved window, and the Wushan and the water. In my consciousness, there is always a slight sweet and sour breath floating in the humid air of Jiangnan, and a little bit of wine wafts through the old streets and alleys, which is the artistic conception of the slightly drunk and occasional delay of life in the market, just like the moss marks under the old well and the old wall.