A piece of blood cake tofu, hiding the Miao township Dong village fireworks and homesickness

in the autumn of Jingzhou, Huaihua, the fog in the mountains is getting thicker. Under the eaves of every household in the stockade, a string of blood tofu cakes with dark red color and pyrotechnic gas are hung. When the wind blows, they are mixed with the fragrance of rice and the mellow aroma after smoking, drifting all over the Dong stockade of Miao Township. Blood tofu is never a common bean product on the market, but it is a local delicacy passed down from generation to generation. It is the most ceremonial and homely taste in the stockade after the autumn harvest and before the winter comes. It is the mellow intertwined of bean fragrance, blood fragrance and incense, which is full of smoke and warmth in the village in the mountains.

I am Long Siyao, 29 years old this year. I am a native of the Miao nationality in Jingzhou, Huaihua. I have been sharing Miao-Dong local food in howcooks for nearly four years. I have a bright and enthusiastic temperament. I grew up in the stilted building in the stockade. I learned to cook all kinds of local food with my mother and the elders in the stockade. I have a deep love for Miao-Dong traditional food. I don't like to write about those exquisite red vegetables. I only focus on digging out the old folk flavor hidden in the mountains and about to be forgotten. Blood cake tofu is the hometown flavor that I can't give up most. It is not a big dish on the banquet, but it is an essential delicacy for the daily dining table of Miao and Dong people and festivals. It is the homesickness taste that I care about most after I leave home to study and work.

In Dong Village of Miao Township, making blood cake tofu is the top priority after the autumn harvest. Almost every family can do it. This skill is passed on from mother to daughter and grandmother to granddaughter, and has been inherited from generation to generation. My memory of blood cake tofu is full of excitement and fireworks in autumn: every year when new rice is harvested and pigs are killed at home, my mother will soak soybeans early, grind them into delicate soybean milk, order them into tender white tofu, stir fresh pig blood evenly, knead them with tofu in proportion, knead them into square blocks, finally put them on a firewood stove, and slowly smoke them with rice husks and tea seed shells. When I was a child, I always circled around the hearth, watching my mother carefully knead the bean curd embryo, and her fingertips were covered with bean fragrance and blood fragrance. When smoking, I had to keep the temperature, not too strong or too weak. After smoking for a day or two, the originally tender white bean curd embryo turned into dark red and tight blood bean curd, hanging under the eaves to air dry, and the more fragrant it became.

At that time, the days were poor and there were not too many meat dishes. A piece of blood cake tofu was the best meal. The mother will cut the dried blood cake tofu into thin slices, stir-fry, steam or stew with bacon, which is especially tasty when cooking. The stir-fried blood cake tofu is tough on the outside and tender on the inside, with a light incense and no fishy smell. The more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes. Stewed with bacon, it is full of the fat of bacon. It is fresh and fragrant. It can be eaten with rice to fill a large bowl. Every time the family makes blood tofu, my mother will send a few pieces to the lonely old people in the stockade and the neighbors. A small piece of tofu hides the simplicity and enthusiasm of the Miao people. When I grew up, I left Jingzhou, went to many cities and ate all kinds of bean products, but I never found the unique taste of blood cake tofu in my hometown. The imitation products on the market either have loose taste or no authentic incense and blood fragrance. Every time I miss home, I think most of it is the blood cake tofu made by my mother, which is a homely taste that cannot be replaced by any rare mountain and sea flavor.

Blood cake tofu is a unique traditional local cuisine of the Miao and Dong ethnic groups in southwest Hunan. It is a unique regional delicacy. Its origin has been ininvestigated. It is the crystallization of the wisdom of the Miao and Dong ancestors who have adapted to the mountain climate and preserved food for thousands of years. Jingzhou is located on the eastern edge of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Miao-Dong villages are inhabited and the climate is humid. In order to prolong the preservation time of tofu and supplement nutrition, the ancestors combined fresh pig blood with tofu and kneaded, smoked and dried to make blood tofu. It can be cooked separately and with various food materials. It is rich in nutrition and resistant to storage. It is the main non-staple food in the past winter and busy farming season. It is different from ordinary tofu and blood tofu. It has both the texture of soy products and the nutrition of pig blood. The smoking process gives it a unique fireworks aroma. It is a typical representative of the Miao-Dong food culture and the embodiment of the folk food wisdom of ethnic minorities. It is only spread in the Miao-Dong village at the junction of southwest Hunan and southeast Guizhou. It has extremely distinctive regional characteristics and is a rare local delicacy for outsiders.

I sincerely recommend you to try the authentic Miaoxiang blood cake tofu. First, it is a minority cuisine with very minority characteristics. It carries the food culture and life wisdom of Miao and Dong for thousands of years. It is rare in the market. If you can taste an authentic taste, it is a rare taste experience. It eats the local flavor and tastes the folk customs of ethnic minorities. Second, it has a unique taste, mellow flavor, tight outside and tender inside, bean fragrance and blood fragrance are perfectly integrated, with no fishy smell, no greasy smell, and the more you chew, the more fragrant they become. Whether it is stir-fried, steamed, stewed or decocted, it has its own flavor and is suitable for various cooking methods. Third, it is nutritious and practical. Tofu is rich in plant protein, pig blood supplements iron nutrition, and is resistant to storage after smoking. It is a healthy local food suitable for all. It has no extra additives, it is the daily home-cooked taste of Miao and Dong people, without gorgeous plates and complex techniques, but it has the most healing home-cooked taste, and you can feel the simplicity and warmth of the deep mountain villages in one bite; fifth, it has a profound cultural heritage. it is a folk delicacy of the intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities, witnessing the life changes of the ancestors of Miao and Dong, and is an excellent window to understand the diet of ethnic minorities in southwest Hunan.

Authentic blood cake tofu is made by hand. There is no standardized process. It depends on the experience of elders: soybean should be made from the new soybean of the local year. The finer the soybean milk, the better. Pig blood must be fresh and impurity-free soil pig blood. The proportion should be accurately kneaded. When kneading, bean curd should be kneaded repeatedly to completely merge with pig blood. When smoking, chaff and tea seed shell should be smoked slowly, open flame should not be used, air drying should also choose a ventilated and cool place, and every step is full of heart. Nowadays, most of the young people in the stockade go out, and fewer and fewer people are willing to calm down and learn to make blood cake tofu, but my mother still insists on making some after the autumn harvest every year, hanging under the eaves, and when I go home to eat, I will also give the neighbors and villagers a share to keep this old craft. I am sharing blood cake tofu howcooks, just to let more people know about this small local delicacy, so that the traditional cuisine of Miao and Dong can be seen by more people, so that this old craft can be passed on forever.

As far as I am concerned, blood cake tofu is not only a food or a dish, it is the autumn fireworks of Dong village in Miao township, the ingenuity of my mother, the warmth between neighbors, and the homesickness that can lead me home no matter how far I go. If you have the opportunity to come to Dong Village, Miao Township, Jingzhou, Huaihua, you must try hand-made blood cake tofu, stir-fried, or stewed bacon, and savor the mellow taste of this unique mountain. Have you ever heard of or eaten blood tofu? What is the most memorable niche local cuisine in your heart? Please leave a message in the comment area to share and talk about the delicious fireworks hidden in the folk, or you can come to me howcooks, I will take you to unlock more stories and eating methods of Miao and Dong local cuisine.