Needless to say, the liveliness of the reopening of the Huangjia shop is not to mention, but at the same time at the port of the water market outside the city, a medium-sized passenger boat with a bow and a length of five zhang is ready to go, but a fourteen or five-year-old lady at the head of the boat is looking forward to the head of the city, and after a while, I saw a donkey cart carrying people running over, and when I saw a gray-haired old man, I complained in a crisp voice: "How did Grandpa Kang come, the old ancestors are impatient." ”

The old man was dressed as a servant, and he was carrying a food box in his hand, and after seeing him send the car money, he quickly got on the passenger boat, and said to the little lady: "Twenty Niang is very anxious, this is not coming." ”

After the old man said to start the boat, he carried the food box and entered the cabin with Twenty Niang, and after entering, he could see that this was a private passenger ship, and there were several small rooms in the cabin, and in the front cabin of the living room, a thin old man with white eyebrows and long beard was looking at the scenery of the river through the window of the boat, and his mouth seemed to have words.

"Master, I'm back!" The old man bowed to the old man, then handed the food box to the twenty Niang on the side, and touched something from his arms, while saying: "Master, your pair let the Huang family make a plaque and hang it on the door of Shihui Street, the words are all five inches of big characters, but the old man's signature is one inch of small characters." ”

"Hmmm! It's a good thing! The lean old man nodded, turned his head to see that the old man took out a roll of paper from his arms, and said, "Comber, what are you holding in your hand?" ”

The old man hurriedly presented the paper scroll and said: "This is a pair of pairs that Lord Cao of Huangzhou Zhizhou entrusted the old servant to transfer to the master, saying that it was an absolute made today at the apprenticeship banquet of Zhang Sizhi and Zhang Fuzi of the Hongwen Museum to collect the closed disciples. ”

The lean old man originally stretched out his hand to take the paper scroll, and after listening to the old man's words, he simply put it on the table and said with a smile: "Absolutely? Interesting! What's in the food box, how is the aroma sultry, is it pig (pig) meat? ”

The old man hurriedly asked Twenty Niang to open the food box, took out two big bowls and said: "But it is pig meat, but it is also called Dongpo meat, it is said that it was the food that the old man taught to the ancestors of the Huang family, and it is what is the special opening of the Huang family store today, the shopkeeper also recognized the old servant, so he took two copies and asked the old servant to send them to the old man to taste, and the young owner of the store joked with the old servant, saying that these two Dongpo meat are what the original flavor and secret system are, and it is also called the mouth to understand and the heart to understand, and the beauty of it can be known when you taste it." ”

"Oh! The old man wants to take a look, what does he understand in his mouth, what does he understand in his heart, Dongpo meat? Hum! The lean old man asked Twenty Niang to bring two bowls of Dongpo meat to the front to see, the bowl is a three-inch six-opening earthen bowl, the bottom of the bowl is covered with green vegetable leaves and ginger slices, and there are nine pieces of pork with skin in the center, but a bowl is black skin and white meat, and a bowl is red skin and black meat, especially the bowl of red skin and black meat is full of aroma.

At this time, there is no white-skinned pig breeding in the Great Song Dynasty, so it is also the world's pigs as black as black, the lean old man does not need to think about it with his knees to know what the original taste of the black-skinned and white-fleshed Dongpo meat must be, so he took the chopsticks handed over by Twenty Niang and clamped a piece up, first felt that the feel was very elastic, but not hard or soft, put it in the mouth and chewed, suddenly the nose was sour, and a pair of old eyes moistened: "This...... This is indeed what the big brother does,"

After chewing a few bites and swallowing the meat, the lean old man suddenly said, "Not bad! ”

When Comber heard this, there was a curious look in his eyes, and the thin old man gave him the chopsticks when he saw it, and immediately Comber first clipped a piece to Twenty Niang, and then sandwiched a piece to taste it himself, and said: "Sure enough, it's the old man's practice, it's just ......."

But Twenty Niang ate it and said: "It's just much more delicious than what Grandpa Kang makes on weekdays, and there are enough spices in this meat that Grandpa Kang is reluctant to put in the meat." ”

"Yes! This spice is indeed sufficient. Comber also admitted, and handed the chopsticks to the lean old man, after the old man took the chopsticks, he pointed to the original Dongpo meat he had just tasted with the chopsticks and smiled: "This is the original taste that you understand in your mouth, right?" Old man, come and taste this, and know in your heart that it is like that! ”

After speaking, he picked up a piece of secret Dongpo meat with red skin and black meat, and felt that the feel was no different from the original flavor, but after putting it in his mouth and chewing it, his expression was suddenly stunned, and he swallowed it after more than ten breaths, and suddenly reached out and patted the table with old tears in his eyes and said: "Okay!" I know it in my heart! ”

Kang Bo and Twenty Niang were stunned, and they didn't wait for the old man to give them chopsticks, Twenty Niang simply went to get two pairs of chopsticks, and tasted them with Comber alone, but what made her strange was that she felt that the taste was more delicious than the original flavor just now, but Kang Bo was also crying like an old ancestor, and she was curious: "Old ancestor, how do you understand it in your heart?" Twenty Niang just thinks that this red-skinned pig meat is better than the black-skinned one! ”

The thin old man sighed and said, "Alas! What does it mean to know in your heart? This Dongpo meat should be done like this! ”

Twenty Niang shook her head puzzled, and the thin old man smiled and recited a poem: "Clean the washing bell, less water, and the firewood (through the cover) can not be smoked." Don't rush him when he is familiar with himself, and he is beautiful when he is full. Huangzhou is a good pork, and the price is as cheap as dirt. The noble refuse to eat, the poor do not understand how to cook, get up early in the morning and play two bowls, so that they are full of their own kings. ”

Twenty Niang was immediately surprised: "Ah! This is Zizhan Ancestor's "Ode to Pork", could it be that this original secret Dongpo meat is really taught by Zizhan Ancestor to the ancestor of the Huang family? But why didn't you teach it to Grandpa Kang? ”

The lean old man shook his head and said nothing, the mystery of which is that it is not easy to explain to a child like Twenty Niang, he can only smile bitterly, the Great Song Dynasty and even the past dynasties, are beef and mutton are expensive and pork is cheap, one of them is that the meat of the black-skinned pig is tight and firm and not very tasty, neither as soft as mutton, but also not as scarce as beef, because the slaughter of cultivated cattle has been forbidden in all dynasties, and beef is naturally scarce. The second is that there was no gelding technology at that time, and the smell of pork was very great, and people did not like it.

Or, at that time, people did not realize that castration of pigs could improve the breeding efficiency of black-skinned pigs and solve the problem of smell.

Therefore, when the lean old man tasted the original Dongpo meat that he understood in his mouth and the secret Dongpo meat that he understood in his heart, he finally understood why these two portions of Dongpo meat were called clear in the mouth and understood in the heart...... Forehead! To put it simply, if the practice of this secret Dongpo meat can be spread and promoted, I am afraid that the price of pork will not continue to be so cheap in the future!

The thin old man sighed again, then put aside his chopsticks and was silent, but Comber suddenly said: "Master, let the old servant remember, the main owner of today's apprenticeship banquet is the young owner of this Huangjia shop, it is said that the uncle of this young owner is the master of Huangzhou, and gave him a picture that can be called an absolute upper link, but this young owner answered a lot of pairs in one go, which is also called an absolute lower link, why don't you take a look?" ”

The lean old man hurriedly took the paper roll and looked at it, and when he looked at it, he heard him hissing and snorting in his mouth, and then saw him slap his palm on the table again, and the power was so great that he slapped the dishes and chopsticks on the table and jumped up, so he shouted: "Quick! Tell the boatman to turn around and go back to Huangzhou! ”