Shiping people use a handful of soybeans and a ladle of well water to make the famous Yunnan Shiping tofu. Simple operation, hidden mystery. This is due to well water. Soybeans can be bought everywhere, but the well water that can produce Shiping tofu is a gift from heaven that favors Shiping. Shiping people have been making tofu for more than 600 generations in the spring and Autumn period. Tofu-making families have explored nearly a dozen technological processes such as bean selection and grinding to make the most pure Shiping tofu. The production of Shiping tofu delicacies has created hundreds of amazing delicacies.
Shiping tofu subverts the saying of making tofu with brine. It is made directly from the natural well water of Shiping City (locally known as "sour water") as a coagulant. The tofu produced in this way has no gypsum smell, bitterness and gypsum residue. Slag, and well-processed, unique craftsmanship, its fresh texture, rich nutrition, well received. However, this kind of "sour water" seems to be exclusive to Shiping. If you leave Shiping, you can't order tofu anyway. Someone once used this water to order tofu in a place other than Shiping, but they couldn't make the taste of Shiping. Therefore, some people joked that Shiping tofu is a patent of Shiping that cannot be taken away. There are two interesting legends about Shiping tofu.
One of the Legends of Shiping Tofu——A Story about "Dou Fu"
According to legend, more than 600 years ago, there was a family in Shiping County. There lived a couple and a mother. Unfortunately, the mother-in-law did not treat her daughter-in-law well. One day, the mother-in-law was going on a long trip for two or three days. As soon as the mother-in-law left, the daughter-in-law began to grind the beans and cook the soy milk on the back. Voice. The daughter-in-law was afraid that her mother-in-law would be scolded when her mother-in-law came back, so she hurriedly picked up the boiled soybean milk and poured it into the pot on the stove.
When she went out to see, the person who came in was not her mother-in-law, but her husband had returned. So, she happily took her husband into the house to drink soybean milk. Unexpectedly, when the lid of the pottery was lifted, the soy milk was all congealed into lumps. It turned out that the crock pot contained some well water that she had just brought in. In desperation, the couple reluctantly tasted it, but were surprised to find that, unlike the tofu made with gypsum brine in the past, the solidified tofu tasted so tender and delicious. Since she had never seen such a miraculous tofu, at that time, the daughter-in-law humorously named it "Doufu".
The addition of well water not only did not destroy the solidification of soy milk, but turned it into a more tender tofu than gypsum tofu made with brine. This discovery made Shiping tofu with its unique production method and unique taste. , became famous all over the world for a while, and has been passed down for a hundred years. In the Qing Dynasty, "Shiping Tofu" was used as a tribute and became a delicacy on the royal table.
The second legend of Shiping tofu - "sour water" tofu
There are many interesting legends about Shiping tofu, and everyone should listen to it while eating delicious tofu, as a pastime.
Legend has it that in the 16th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1383), Zhu Yuanzhang sent troops to conquer the southwest, stationed troops along the way, and implemented a military organization, that is, five people formed one army, and five troops formed one battalion. The Wanjiaying, Weijiaying, Fujiaying, Zhengying and other villages that are still in use today are all places where troops were stationed in Shiping back then. The production of tofu came from the soldiers of Wanjiaying, and the local natural "sour water" was used as a coagulant.
According to another legend, a long time ago, the ancestors living in Shiping County dug four stone wells at the foot of the city gates in the east, west, north, south, and north. Residents have to pick up water two kilometers outside the city. Tofu is made with picked fresh water, which has a strong sour taste and a bad taste. In the Ming Dynasty, the old man Pan Beixing in Beimen ran a tofu workshop. He had to make tofu twice a day and needed 12 tons of water. According to the customs at that time, the burden of carrying water fell on the grandson's daughter-in-law.
One day, while the family was out for a visit, Old Man Pan's granddaughter-in-law brought enough water for making tofu the next day in a nearby stone well. The next day, the soy milk quickly turned into a brain, and it was shaped into strips. The taste was particularly good, and the sour taste was eliminated. The old man Pan asked his grandson in amazement, and he knew that the "sour water" in the stone well was used for the two squeezed tofu. . Instead of blaming his grandson-in-law, the old man praised him even more, and named the dried strips Shiping Tofu. Since then, the natural "sour water" from the four stone wells in the county has become an ideal coagulant for ordering tofu. This is the origin of Shiping Tofu.
People in Yunnan are used to calling roasted tofu as roasted tofu, and roasted Shiping stinky tofu is the most delicious. It can be seen in Shiping streets and alleys. People in Shiping are very particular about roasted tofu. First of all, fresh tofu needs to be fermented for 2-3 days, and the environment is well controlled so that it will naturally "grow hair" and become "stinky" (the fermented tofu contains fungi that are beneficial to the human body), and then slowly roast it with charcoal. The skin of this kind of roasted tofu is yellow but not burnt, it swells like a ball, and the pores are like numbness after being cooked through. It smells stinky and tastes delicious, and the taste is delicate, which makes people want to stop. If you are on the streets of Shiping, Yunnan, it is not difficult to see small stalls of "burning tofu". Tourists hold chopsticks, and they can tell which piece of tofu is overcooked and which piece is not cooked through. After eating a piece of tofu, they throw a corn kernel or red bean into their small plate. After eating, the boss will It is very interesting to calculate the meal price according to the number of grains in the dish.
In the ancient city of Dali, in order to let tourists in Dali also taste this delicacy, and to make the Shiping tofu in his small shop worthy of its name, Zhu Ge always chooses to buy authentic tofu from the local tofu workshop in Shiping. Ship back to Dali. It can be said that he moved Shiping Tofu, which he could not take away, to Dali. At the same time, the traditional way of eating Shiping tofu was changed, taking into account the traditional and improved pan-fried Shiping tofu, and the small fried Shiping tofu came into being. Two simple dishes, the cumbersome procedures contained in it make Shiping tofu Dali can also bloom its own splendor.
If you come to Dali, you might as well try this unique Shiping tofu.