"Master Tang, what's wrong with you?" Lao Guo was startled when he saw that Tang Chen's face was suddenly not right, "Are you not used to eating?" or are you not feeling well?"

Zeng Lao was also anxious: "Master Tang, are you okay?"

Tang Chen raised his head in a daze, and said with a confused expression: "I'm fine, it's just ...... I remembered a little bit of the past. I came to Fujian Province a few years ago, but I was shy and didn't taste the 'Buddha jumping over the wall', so I felt a little that life is impermanent and the world is unpredictable. I thought I would never have the opportunity to eat the authentic 'Buddha jumping over the wall' in my life, but I didn't expect ......"

Zeng Lao said with a smile: "How can you not afford to eat something that is only a few thousand yuan, ten thousand yuan? Although in Guangdong Province, it is difficult to find authentic 'Buddha jumping over the wall', but there are still some of them." Isn't there even a 'mini version of Buddha jumping over the wall', just a few hundred yuan a cup of soup, anyone can afford to eat it......"

Tang Chen smiled bitterly and said, "Old Zeng, you are a rich man, how can ordinary people compare? Especially since I was a poor student a few years ago, and my living expenses were only a thousand yuan a month. Not to mention spending a few hundred yuan to drink a cup of soup, even spending ten yuan to buy a cup of pork rib soup, I have to think about it for a long time......"

Zeng Lao was a little embarrassed, he didn't know much about Tang Chen's past, but it was conceivable that Tang Chen's previous family was not wealthy. However, Zeng Lao is also an expert in changing the topic, and hurriedly said: "Since this is the case, then Master Tang, you have to eat a little more, come on, come, I'll fill it for you......"

Zeng Lao stood up and served soup for Tang Chen, and said as he served, "Master Tang, you have a good mouth." The 'Buddha jumping over the wall' of this restaurant is one of the few most authentic in Fujian Province. In the selection of materials, "Buddha jumping over the wall" selects shark fin, sea cucumber, abalone, fish maw, dried scallops, fish skin, deer tendon, pork belly, pigeon eggs, ham, shiitake mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, white radish and other 18 main raw materials, accompanied by more than a dozen kinds of auxiliary materials such as ice cream, cinnamon, longan meat, Shao wine, ginseng, Gou wolfberry, pepper, salt, green onion, ginger and so on. The blending and cooking process is rigorous and complex, and some materials are limited to products from specific regions, and the meat is limited to specific parts, and the knife technique is exquisite, and the shape, size, thickness, and length have strict requirements. After the ingredients are processed by a variety of cooking methods such as steaming, frying, and soaking, they are put into the jar of Shaojiu in a certain order, poured with the soup boiled with fresh goose, fresh duck, old hen, pig's elbow, etc., and finally covered with lotus leaves, sealed, boiled with a strong fire, and then simmered slowly for six hours.

The simmer of this 'Buddha jumping over the wall' has been using the Shaoxing wine jar for many years, and there is a mixture of Shaoxing famous wine and materials in the jar. Simmering 'Buddha jumping over the wall' pays attention to the storage of fragrance and taste, and after the material is loaded into the altar, the mouth of the altar is sealed with lotus leaves, and then covered. The fire of simmering 'Buddha jumping over the wall' is a strictly pure and smokeless charcoal fire, which is made by simmering for five or six hours with a slight fire after boiling over a strong fire. Nowadays, some hotels advertise how fragrant their dishes are, which is indeed a little less subtle than 'Buddha jumping over the wall'. The real 'Buddha jumping over the wall', in the process of simmering, almost no fragrance comes out, but when the simmering into the altar, only need to slightly lift the lotus leaves, and the room is full of aroma.

Because the 'Buddha jumps over the wall' is simmering dozens of raw materials in one jar, it not only has a common meat taste, but also maintains its own characteristics. It tastes soft and tender, rich and fragrant, and meat but not greasy; This kind of 'Buddha jumping over the wall' is the most authentic 'Buddha jumping over the wall'!"

Tang Chen smacked his tongue when he heard this: "So much exquisiteness?"

"Of course, how can you sell it for thousands of yuan, tens of thousands of yuan a jar?" Zeng Lao said with a smile.

Lao Guo suddenly interjected: "Master Tang, do you know the origin of this 'Buddha jumping over the wall'?"

Tang Chen was stunned for a moment, thought for a while and said: "I heard that there was a well-known monk in ancient times, on the way to Shaolin Temple in Fujian Province, passing through Mindu, staying overnight in a hotel, just across the wall of the noble official's family banquet guests, the monk smelled and salivated, abandoned Buddhism for many years of practice, jumped over the wall and entered, just to taste this dish, 'Buddha jumping over the wall' is therefore named. ”

Lao Guo smiled: "This is just one of the rumors, in fact, there are different opinions about the origin of 'Buddha jumping over the wall', and the most historical basis is the legend of the late Qing Dynasty." 'Buddha jumping over the wall' was originally supposed to be called 'Fu Shouquan'.

Legend has it that in the last years of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Lian, the political secretary of Fujian Province, once went to the house of an official in Yangqiao Lane, Fuzhou Prefecture to attend a banquet. The method is to put chicken, duck, pork and several kinds of plum blossoms together in the jar that once held Shao sake and simmer for more than two hours. When this dish was served, the fragrance filled the room, Zhou Lian was secretly surprised after eating, and after returning home, she asked the chef Zheng Chunfa to concoct it in the same way. But after doing it many times, it is not as good as the taste of eating it in Guanqian Village. Helpless, Zheng Chunfa had no choice but to go to Guanqian Village to teach and seek the true meaning. After coming back, he tried to improve the materials repeatedly, using more seafood and less meat, and added 18 kinds of main materials and 16 kinds of auxiliary materials such as abalone, hoof tendons, sea cucumbers, shark fins, etc. With this improvement, the taste becomes more and more delicious.

Later, Zheng Chunfa founded the 'Juchunyuan' restaurant, which took this dish as a special dish. As soon as it opened, several local talents met in his restaurant to party, and after eating a few dishes, they didn't feel fresh, and asked for a trick, Zheng Chunfa brought out 'Fu Shouquan' for everyone to taste. Who knew that as soon as the altar lid was opened, the strange fragrance overflowed, so that several Xiucai screamed continuously, both eye-opening and feasting, just at this time, a few monks came in, and they came to the table to eat with the Xiucai. It turned out that these monks secretly jumped over the wall from the neighboring temple, and the strange fragrance actually made them throw down the scriptures and forget the temple rules. Seeing this, the talents chanted poems to praise this situation, among which there is a sentence: 'The altar opens the meat incense and floats around the neighbors, and the Buddha hears the abandonment of Zen and jumps over the wall'.

And in the Fu (fu) state dialect, "Fu Shouquan" and "Buddha jumping over the wall" pronunciation is similar, since then, quoting the meaning of the poem: "Buddha jumping over the wall" has become the correct name of this dish, has a history of more than 100 years. ”

Zeng Lao glanced at him: "How did I hear another version?"

"It's the version of marrying a daughter, right?" Lao Guo said with a smile, "This is indeed a bit of a basis." In fact, this is also the custom of our Fujian Province, the third day after the new daughter-in-law gets married, she must personally cook and show her tea and rice skills, serve her in-laws, and win appreciation. Legend has it that a rich girl, pampered, not accustomed to cooking, was sad on the eve of her marriage. Her mother took out all the delicacies from the mountains and seas at home and made all kinds of dishes, wrapped them in lotus leaves one by one, and told her how to cook them. Who knew that this young lady had forgotten the firing method, and in a hurry, she poured all the dishes into a Shaojiu jar, covered them with lotus leaves, and put them on the stove. The next day, the fragrance wafted out, and the family praised the good dishes, which was the origin of the "Buddha jumping over the wall" of "eighteen dishes boiled in one pot".

First of all, Shaojiu mostly refers to daughter red, also known as Huadiao. Shao (shao) Xingren family gave birth to a daughter, when the child is full of moon, will choose several jars of wine, mud seal the mouth of the altar, bury it in the ground or hide it in the cellar, and wait until the daughter gets married to take it out to entertain relatives and friends, hence the name 'daughter red'. If the daughter unfortunately dies, this wine can not be called 'daughter red', but should be called Huadiao.

Why does 'Buddha jump over the wall' use the jar of Shaojiu to simmer? I think it comes out of this allusion, because of marrying a daughter, so 'daughter red' is used. ”

(End of chapter)