According to the Records of Fuzhou Prefecture, in the forty-second year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (AD 1563), Qi Jiguang, a national hero, led an army into Fujian to pursue the enemy. He doesn't want it to rain for days on end, so he can't build a stove in the army. Qi Jiguang ordered him to bake a simple biscuit and hang it on the soldiers with hemp rope as dry food, which greatly facilitated the battle to destroy the enemy. Later, this kind of cake flowed into the people, which was not only widely eaten, but also became a necessary offering to worship the ancestors of the gods. Later generations felt that Qigong was pitiful, so they called this biscuit "light cake". In Fuzhou, people usually call cakes without sesame seeds "light cakes" and cakes with sesame seeds "Fuqing cakes". But in Fuqing City, 60 kilometers away from Fuzhou, people call this kind of cake with sesame seeds on it "light cake". In terms of "relish", in comparison, the light cakes made by Fuqing people are slightly better. Fuzhou people used to bake cakes with charcoal. Nowadays, in order to save trouble, most of them are baked in an electric oven. Fuqing people still keep their own way of making light cakes, which is both fresh and interesting. To put it mildly, it can be called a labor art that combines music and dance. They are baking light cakes in a big barrel with a height of nearly two meters and a diameter of about one meter and covered with yellow mud. First, bundles of pine branches were used to ignite a raging fire in the cylinder, which made the cylinder wall "white" and only embers were left at the bottom of the cylinder. Then, two people cooperate to put their hands into the cylinder and stick them on the cylinder wall quickly and accurately. If they are slow, they are afraid of baking bubbles with bare arms. Because when baking light cakes, they are faced with a big cupping pot, so both of them are shirtless in winter and summer. One hand passes the embryo, and the other hand receives the embryo and puts it in the jar. They lean forward in tandem, are agile and cooperate tacitly. Coupled with the crackling sound of the paste cake, it seems to be accompanied by music, with a strong sense of rhythm. In less than ten minutes, hundreds of light cakes were all pasted, and then the cakes were slowly cooked with charcoal fire, which was really an eye-opener. The light cake baked in this vat is only golden yellow and very crisp. Small shops selling light cakes in Fuzhou are all mixed with shops and workshops. Fuqing's light cakes are made by workshops and distributed to vendors for sale. So in Fuqing, stalls selling light cakes can be seen everywhere along the street. The light cakes piled up on the stall became a street scene in Fuqing. Once upon a time, light cakes were eaten by ordinary people and were not allowed to be elegant. Maybe things have changed. Nowadays, hotels in Fuzhou also cut light cakes into clams, put them together with rotten meat, steamed meat, snow red and moss, and pour some vinegar and garlic juice as special snacks at the banquet. No one ever thought that light cakes still have such scenery as today.
Fuqing fish balls
The shell of Fuqing fish balls is delicate and elastic, and it is smooth and waxy, and the stuffing is more delicious. Legend has it that a businessman went out to do business by boat, because the typhoon hit a reef and waited for repairs before sailing. There are fish as food on the ship every day, and the businessmen are tired of eating it, and it smells disgusting. When the boatman saw it, he mixed the only potato powder on board with the fish cut into strips and put it in the pot to cook. This fish is much more delicious than before, but it is still difficult for businessmen to swallow. The boatman further boned the fish, chopped it into minced fish, added potato powder, stirred it evenly, and cooked it in a pot. It tastes good, smooth and unique. Later, the businessman failed in business and opened a shop selling fish balls. Fish balls have been handed down since then. Method: Chop (or grind) boneless fresh fish (especially eels and sharks) into mud, add water, refined salt and proper amount of monosodium glutamate, then pour into a dish and stir vigorously for about 15 minutes until the fish soup can float on the water surface, then add dry starch and stir vigorously into paste. Chop pork belly into paste, cut shrimp into rice, cut onion into fine powder, put it in a container, and add soy sauce. Stir into stuffing and knead into small round particles with uniform size for use. Then spread the fish soup paste on the palm of your hand with your left hand, put a small round spoon in the middle of the fish soup with your right hand, put the stuffing in the middle with your five fingers closed, then squeeze the fish soup out of the round hole held by your thumb and forefinger, and put it into a clear water basin with a small round spoon. Cook it in batches and then spoon it in a soup bowl. Although the fish ball is simple, it is also a bowl of dishes that Shuangqiang has won the top ten famous chefs.
Fuqing flat meat
The ancestor of flat meat is the familiar "wonton". Flat meat is divided into more than 20 varieties such as boiled flat meat, fried flat meat, roasted flat meat, three fresh flat meat, shrimp flat meat and flat meat noodles because of the different stuffing, soup, eating method and seasoning. Li Gang (1083~ 1 140), a famous politician, strategist and national hero in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, was once demoted to Shaxian County to be in charge of taxation. He likes the flat meat in Shaxian county very much, and once wrote a poem praising it with his brilliant flower pen: "In a bag of chaos and Kun, there is always a strong wind." The seven peaks are full of green for night entertainment, and the ten-mile advection is the west east. " It has been passed down as a much-told story to this day.
Practice: first beat the meat with a wooden stick, preferably a flat and thick wooden stick, or beat it into a paste with a rolling pin. Second, add a proper amount of salt, monosodium glutamate or chicken essence to the meat sauce and mix well. Third, stuffing like wonton. Fourth, the soup in the pot is best boiled with pig bones in advance. After the soup is boiled, add the flat meat. When the clear or slightly milky soup comes out, float the pan surface for a while and add a little onion oil to serve.