"Please use it, Liu Mangjun, this is the second dish of the day, 'Fugu Tempura'. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

In front of Liu Mang is a black stone slab, ancient and natural. The rock slab is decorated with pine branches, and on the pine branches are placed two pieces of deep-fried puffer fish that have been fried to a golden brown.

Tempura Liu Mang is known as a deep-fried food in Japanese cuisine, where fresh fish, shrimp and seasonal vegetables are coated in flour, eggs, water and pulp and fried in a pan until golden brown.

When eating, the juice made by dipping it in soy sauce and radish puree is tender and delicious, fragrant but not greasy. In Toei, it is not the name of a specific dish, but a general term for fried food.

The puffer fish in front of you doesn't seem to be anything special, except for the golden color, which is just like ordinary tempura.

Liu Mang picked up the chopsticks and picked up a piece of fish and prepared to put it in his mouth.

"Wait, Liu Mangjun, my 'puffer fish tempura' must be dipped in this 'monkey puffer' to taste the true taste. Ida pointed to the small dish next to him.

"Monkey?" Liu Mang was stunned, he didn't seem to have heard the name mention it, but he couldn't remember it for a while.

In the white bone dish, a small half dish of crimson soy sauce is poured. If you look closely, you won't see anything unique about it, except that it is thicker than ordinary soy sauce.

Liu Mang nodded, took the fried puffer fish pieces with chopsticks, dipped them in the sauce in the bone plate, and then brought them to his mouth and bit them gently.

"Click!" The thin shell shattered in Liu Mang's mouth, and the tender puffer fish meat inside suddenly melted lightly in his mouth.

Liu Mang originally thought that this puffer fish meat would be more or less greasy after being coated in batter and fried.

But what I didn't expect was that Ida Huaishu didn't know what method to use, so that the skin of the fish pieces was crispy without letting the oil remain, and with the sauce dipped in it, it gave people a very refreshing feeling.

Ida is right, the dish shines not on the puffer fish pieces, but on the sauce it dips in.

This slightly viscous, syrup-like soy sauce is far sweeter and more delicious than ordinary soy sauce. It has a strange fragrance like a cream puff, which is very pleasant.

Liu Mang smacked his lips and carefully reminisced about the taste in his mouth, but he couldn't figure out what this soy sauce was made of.

He simply used chopsticks to dip a little into the bone dish, and put it directly into his mouth.

"Monkey... Monkey poof..."Liu Mang's mouth muttered.

Directly tasting the soy sauce from the tip of the chopsticks, combined with the name said by Ida Huaishu, Liu Mang finally understood and blurted out: "This soy sauce is brewed by monkeys, right?"

"That's right! Ida said with a smile.

Liu Mang remembered that when he was about to set off to find 'monkey wine', Buyu once mentioned it to him, saying that the monkeys in Shaogong Mountain not only make wine, but also make soy sauce. And this soy sauce is even more precious than 'monkey wine'.

The reason why the monkeys in the mountains know how to make sake is actually an instinct. When food is plentiful, they store excess berries and plant tubers for next consumption.

If it happens to be hot, a large number of berries accumulate together and rot and ferment, and then it is natural that the process of human sake brewing is similar to that of human beings, and the strange 'monkey wine' is brewed.

However, if the food they store is kudzu vines, which are extremely starchy, they will not be able to make wine.

The wild monkeys in the mountains don't know that kudzu vine is a plant that is originally used to relieve hangover in traditional Chinese medicine. Once fermented and hairy, the sake cannot be produced, but it naturally becomes a soy sauce with a special taste.

This special method of making soy sauce by wild monkeys has been explored by Chinese chefs, but for unknown reasons, it has been lost for many years.

I never expected that in Kyoto today, there is still a spread.

"Liu Mangjun, the biggest difference between our Dongying's tempura and Chinese hanging pulp and fried is the method of adjusting the paste, just to highlight the original taste of the raw materials. ”

"Well, that's right. Liu Mang picked up the remaining piece of puffer fish on the stone slab and brought it to his eyes to take a closer look: "When Chinese food is hung in paste, it is generally required to wrap all the raw materials in the paste. Now this 'fugu tempura' has a thin batter on top, and it's made with low-gluten flour, right?"

"Yes, but it is undeniable that without this 'monkey's head' to match, this dish would have lost a lot of color. ”

Speaking of this, Ida Huaishu changed his words: "The production methods of many of Toei's dishes come from China, and this 'monkey's head soy sauce' is also something I learned from China. ”

"It's really from my country!" Liu Mang sighed: "It's a pity that it has been lost in our country for a long time." ”

"What? lost?" asked Ida in surprise.

"It's lost, this soy sauce brewing method, even my master doesn't know, and I've never seen it. ”

"Hey, it's a pity, it seems that the master who taught me didn't pass on this method. Ida sighed.

"Master, when did you go to China?" asked Liu Mang.

"When I was 70 years old, I was one of the first people to visit China with Prime Minister Tanaka, and I studied Chinese cuisine with a master in the imperial capital for a period of time, and he also taught me how to brew this 'lion's head'. ”

"Boss, China and Dongying also have honeymoon periods?" Wuyan, who had already finished eating the dishes in front of him, asked curiously.

"Yes, I remember that your chairman gave up the war reparations and let us get through the most difficult days, and in the 70s, China and Dongying resumed diplomatic relations, both economically and culturally, and the two countries resumed exchanges. However, it is a pity that with the instigation of some new politicians in Dongying, Dongying revised the textbook and wrongly denied the history of aggression, which led to the re-breakdown of relations between the two countries, so that they are still hostile to each other. Speaking of this, Ida Huaishu showed a regretful expression on his face.

"Yes, young people nowadays may not know it, but if you think about it, many of the TV series and cartoons we watched when we were children were imported from Dongying. ”

"Oh, I remember, like "Clever Ikyu", "Saint Seiya", and "Tokyo Love Story"!"

"I don't understand that China and Dongying are originally neighbors separated by a strip of water, and many things such as Dongying's writing, tea ceremony, and cuisine have been passed down from China, so why can't some people face up to history and hate each other?"

"Time will tell, Master Huaishu. No matter where you are, there will be good people and bad people, and there will be barriers. ”

After speaking, Liu Mang thought for a moment and added: "But fortunately, in the world of food, there are no boundaries." ”

"That's right, food knows no boundaries. After listening to Liu Mang's words, Ida Huaishuruo pondered.

After waiting for a while, he took out a small yellowed notebook from the bar, tore off a page from it, held it up with both hands, and solemnly sent it to Liu Mang.

"Liu Mangjun, I learned 'Monkey Man's Head' from China, and now I ask you to carry it forward again in your homeland!" )