A mouthful of crispy fried meat, wrapped in half raw fireworks gentle

I am Clara Jane Miller, and my friends always call me Clara. I am 36 years old this year. I have been sharing home-cooked food for just five years. I have never been a food blogger who pursues exquisite dishes and professional techniques. Instead, I am more like a recorder who is persistent in salvaging fireworks in the market. I grew up in an old-fashioned family home in a small town in central Shandong. I grew up with my retired grandfather guarding a small kitchen. When I was young, my grandfather helped cook in a state-owned canteen. He was best at making home-cooked dishes that were grounded and warm my stomach. He especially preferred fried, stewed and steamed dishes with a sense of sureness. Crispy fried meat was my grandfather's specialty and was also my childhood, carved in the deepest taste buds, the most can not quit the taste and nostalgia. I always prefer to be casual in cooking and don't like to be bound by rigid recipes. I always feel that the most touching thing about food is not the precise matching, but the heart and time hidden in it. This is the case with crispy fried meat. It has no aura of high-end ingredients and complicated cooking routines. However, with the taste of crispy outside and tender inside, it has contracted the happiness of my whole childhood and has become no matter how far I go, can instantly pull me home taste.

My first memory of crispy fried meat is always tied to the heat of winter, Chinese New Year and the hearth. When I was a child, the conditions in my family were ordinary, and meat was not a daily meal. Only when I was on holidays, when I was a visitor from my family, or when I got a good result in the exam and got a certificate of merit, did my grandfather specially fry a large pot of crispy fried meat, which was my own "reward meal" and the most anticipated taste in the whole winter. The winter in central Shandong is dry and cold. The kitchen of the old-fashioned family home has no heating. It only warms up when the stove is lit. Every time grandpa wants to fry meat, I will move a small stool to stand by the stove and refuse to leave one step. My eyes are staring at the movement in the pot and I can't even watch cartoons. Grandpa always pays attention to meat selection. He doesn't need too fat pork belly or all-thin fillet. He only chooses fat and thin pork foreleg meat, which is cut into thin strips with uniform length. It is not coarse or fine, just one bite at a time. It is enjoyable and not greasy to eat.

At that time, I always thought that fried meat was a very complicated dish. Later, I learned that Grandpa's practice had never been a fancy technique. It was all a homely method handed down by the older generation. He will simply marinate the cut meat strips, add a little seasoning to knead them evenly into taste, and then add a bowl of thin batter. The batter cannot be too thick or too thin. Wrap the meat strips and just hang a thin layer of clothes. This is the key to fry crispy taste. The old-fashioned iron pan was poured with enough cooking oil and burned to a slight smoke. Grandpa used chopsticks to hold the meat strips one by one and put them into the pan. The hot oil rolled up instantly and made a sizzling sound. After the meat strips were put into the pan, they slowly became golden yellow and the aroma drifted out little by little. First, the flour was fried with scorched aroma, then the fresh aroma of the meat was slowly revealed, mixed with a little salty and filled in the small kitchen, even the cold wind outside the window seemed to be warmed by this fragrance. The meat strips that have just been put into the pan will sink to the bottom of the pan, slowly float up and turn golden yellow to be fished out. Grandpa will always take out the most crisp one first, blow it cool and pass it to my hand. I will hold the hot fried meat and bite it carefully. The outer skin is crisp to the dregs, and it will be broken in my mouth when chewed gently. The meat inside is tender to the juicy, fat and sweet but not greasy, even the bones are fragrant, and the hot crispy bite is more than any snack. I often stay by the hearth and eat while frying. Before the New Year reunion is served, I have already eaten less than half a basin.

Later, I gradually learned that crispy fried meat is not the exclusive famous dish of a certain faction, but a folk snack all over the country. There are different practices and names in the north and south. Some people call it fried crisp meat, while others call it fried meat directly. It seems ordinary, but it is the "versatile king" hidden in the folk diet. It can be used as a snack to relieve cravings and serve as a small dish for banquets, it can also be used to stew vegetables, cook soup and rinse hot pot, adapt to various scenes, and be grounded to the extreme. From the perspective of dietary folklore, fragrant crisp fried meat is the iconic delicacy of the northern Chinese New Year. Every family has to fry a large pot before the New Year and hoard it to eat slowly. It is both a new year's product and a hard dish for guests. In an age when materials are not abundant, a pot of golden and crisp fried meat is a symbol of prosperous days and rich life. It represents the family's expectation for the New Year and the treasure of reunion.

Speaking of the regional differences between the north and the south, the practice of fried meat with crispy meat also has its own characteristics, but they all keep the core of "crispy. The northern version of crispy fried meat tastes salty, mainly seasoned with pepper and salt, and the batter is thinly hung. It pursues the extreme crispness of the outer skin, and the meat is firm and tasty. It mostly uses fat and thin pork. It tastes full of meat, appetizing and full. It is the most practical warm stomach snack in winter. Fried small crisp meat in some areas of the south will be added to the batter with a little pepper and ginger, some Jiangnan versions will also add a little sugar to improve freshness, weaken salty fragrance and highlight the original taste of meat. The meat is softer and tender, suitable for the elderly and children to eat. The fried crisp meat in southwest China will be added with pepper, which is more fragrant and rich in taste. It is a perfect match for rinsing hot pot. However, no matter how the region changes and how the practice is fine-tuned, the core of crispy fried meat has never changed: using the simplest ingredients and the simplest cooking methods to make the most healing taste, not picking the occasion or the crowd, it is difficult for adults or children to refuse this hot and crisp delicacy.

In the fireworks logic of folk diet, crispy fried meat can be popular for so many years and can become the common memory of several generations, never because of how advanced it is, but because it is "close to the people". It does not need expensive ingredients, professional kitchen utensils, an ordinary iron pot, a piece of home-made pork, and a bowl of simple batter to make a delicious fragrance in the courtyard. For the older generation, fried meat is the wisdom of life. Hoarding a pot of fried meat can be eaten for a long time. It is crispy when it is cold, tender when it is hot, and delicious when it is eaten. For children, fried meat is a reward for childhood, a hope for the Spring Festival, and a little happiness hidden by the hearth. For those who wander outside, fried meat is the taste of home and the sustenance of homesickness, you can think of your family and the fireworks in your hometown. It does not pay attention to the show and show like the banquet dishes, nor does it pay attention to the beauty value like exquisite desserts. It is the most ordinary taste of the market and the most simple gentleness in the kitchen fireworks.

When I grew up, I left my hometown to work in other places and worked hard in big cities alone. I lived a busy and hurried life. I often worked late into the night. I ate too much takeout and always felt a little less temperature. whenever I was homesick and tired, I would think of grandpa's crispy fried meat and the crispy and warm taste. At the beginning of my own attempt to fry fried meat, I followed the online menu step by step, strictly controlling the proportion of food materials and the length of oil temperature. The fried meat that can be fried either has a hard skin and cannot be chewed, or the batter is too thick and greasy to eat, or the meat is made of wood, which is completely free of the crisp and tender taste made by my grandfather. I tried again and again and again, but failed. At that time, the fried meat made by Grandpa is not the formula, but his hand feeling for many years. It is the heart hidden in it and the pyrotechnic gas slowly boiled out.

Later, I specially called grandpa and asked him the details of the fried meat. grandpa smiled and said, "there is no fixed way. the oil temperature is enough, the meat is pickled thoroughly, and the batter is well mixed. it will be delicious when fried. cook carefully and don't knock on the menu. According to grandpa's words, I groped slowly, no longer struggling with the exact gram number, adjusted the batter by hand feeling, looked at the oil temperature by experience, waited patiently when frying the meat, did not rush or rashness, slowly, I finally fried the crisp fried meat similar to grandpa's taste. Every time I fry meat, I listen to the sound of sizzling in the pot and smell the aroma of the room. It seems that I have returned to the small kitchen in my hometown. Grandpa stands beside me and smiles to watch me eat secretly. The feeling of being wrapped in warmth can instantly heal all the tiredness and grievances. This is the power of homely taste. It can cross the distance and cure all the uneasiness.

I always feel that the most touching thing about crispy fried meat is never how amazing its taste is, but its own healing and warmth. It is the most anticipated New Year snack in childhood during the New Year. It is a snack that can instantly drive away tired cravings when you come home from school. It is the taste of hometown that can comfort homesickness when you are alone. It is the most heart-warming dish on the dinner table when the family is reunited. It has no sense of distance. Whether it is a person who is skilled in cooking or a novice who has just learned to cook, he can slowly find out his own way. Everyone makes crispy fried meat, which tastes different, but the heart and emotion hidden in it are the same warmth. When it is cold, eat a mouthful of hot fried meat, when it is lonely, eat a mouthful of fried meat from hometown, and when it is happy, share a plate of fried meat with your family. Ordinary days, because of this delicious crisp, become particularly tasty.

I also often record these homely tastes hidden with fireworks in my howcooks. I always feel that food sharing is never a cold tutorial, not a rigid ratio, but the story behind the food, the love of family members, and the gentleness of life. Pass it out, so that every ordinary snack can be seen and remembered. This is the case with crispy fried meat. It is so common that it can be seen everywhere. It cannot be used for high-end banquets. However, it can give people the most practical sense of happiness in every ordinary day. It is crispy, warm and homesick. It hides the love of family members, the happiness of childhood and the most precious fireworks and warmth in the world.

Now I still keep the habit of frying a basin of crispy fried meat every other time. Sometimes I eat it as snacks directly after frying, which is crisp and delicious. Sometimes I cook a bowl of soup with green vegetables, which is soft, tender and fresh. Sometimes I invite friends to my home and bring a plate of freshly fried fried meat, accompanied by a little wine, chat, talk about the recent situation, simple food, but it can make the atmosphere very warm. There is no exquisite plate, no expensive ingredients, only a real crispy, but it can make all the troubles disappear. This is the unique charm of home-cooked food, not public, not deliberate, but always quietly warm people's hearts.

In fact, in our life, we have tasted countless delicacies and seen all kinds of exquisite delicacies, but in the end, the most memorable thing is always the home-made flavors at home, the hot meal made by the family. For me, fragrant and crisp fried meat is not only a snack, it is the love of my grandfather, the flavor of childhood, the comfort of a foreign land, the homesickness engraved in my bones, and the taste that can hold people's hearts no matter how far I go. It taught me that the beauty of life is never in a vigorous moment, but in the ordinary of a meal, in the fireworks in the kitchen, in the company of family members, in every bite of carefully cooked food.

The days go slowly, fireworks day by day, a plate of crisp fried meat, wrapped in the gentleness of time, hiding the small fortune of life, accompanied me through my childhood, through a foreign land, through every ordinary day and night. It does not need to be more complicated, it does not need to be more amazing, as long as one bite, it can make people feel that the world is worth it, and the fireworks are amiable. I wonder if there is such an ordinary and healing home-cooked snack in your memory? Is there a taste that can instantly remind you of your hometown, your family, and those warm and beautiful old days? If you also have stories about crispy fried meat, or memories of your own home-cooked taste, you might as well share them with me, so that the tenderness hidden in the fireworks will continue.