Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is a dish from the Fujian cuisine. The cooking process is complicated and dozens of ingredients are needed. The most important ingredient is seafood. Most of the seafood is made from high-quality dried goods, such as dried abalone, dried sea cucumber, shark fin, dried scallops, fish maw, scallops, etc. In addition, fish lips, fish maw, turtle skirt, deer tendon, duck gizzard, pigeon eggs, pigeon, spare ribs, ham, pork tripe, lamb knuckle, etc. are also needed, as well as some other parts of chicken, duck and fish, plus mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots and other ingredients.
The process is so complicated that it takes two days to complete this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.
These ingredients need to be cooked by frying, stir-frying, deep-frying, boiling, etc. to bring out their flavor, and then the soup needs to be made. The soup depends on what the chef chooses. It takes almost a day to prepare these ingredients alone.
Next, layer these prepared ingredients in a large wine jar, add the previously prepared broth and Huadiao wine. Shaoxing wine is ideal, but if you don't have it here, Huadiao can be substituted. Seal the jar and simmer over low heat for two to three hours. Finally, open the jar, add the remaining ingredients that are easier to cook, seal it, and continue simmering for another two hours.
Even the charcoal used to simmer soup must be the best silver frost charcoal, which is as white as frost and has no black smoke.
There are some subtle differences in the preparation of authentic Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, with slight differences in the ingredients and broth, as well as some techniques for simmering the soup.
But basically it takes about six to ten hours to simmer.
These dried seafoods are rarely sold even in Raozhou City. Xu Qinyu asked Madam Lu and the Zhou family caravan, who had previously helped deliver the ham to her parents in the capital, to bring them back from the south. Naturally, seafood is only available on the coast.
Don’t even think about getting fresh seafood these days because the transportation conditions are not there.
The seafood that can be transported to other state capitals are all soaked, dried or cooked. It costs a lot of money to transport these dried goods back from the south.
Mrs. Lu was curious and asked Xu Qinyu what food she was making. Xu Qinyu did not hide it and said she was making Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. She also briefly explained the method to Mrs. Lu.
When Madam Lu heard that such a dish required dozens of ingredients and would take almost two days and two nights to make, she was a little surprised. After being surprised, she couldn't help but ask, "Mrs. Xu, are you planning to add a signature dish to Xu's?"
Xu Qinyu shook her head and smiled, "How could that be possible? The process is too complicated, and the cost is too high. The price would be very expensive. It's not cost-effective to make this. I just made it for my family to try during the New Year. If I could open a restaurant in Raozhou City in the future, I might add this as a sign. But you have to make a reservation in advance before you can cook it."
In later times, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall in many hotels is already a semi-finished product or a cooking package. In her opinion, the taste of such semi-finished products is not right at all, the taste is strange, and it is no longer the taste of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall itself.
The real Buddha Jumps Over the Wall tastes like the various ingredients and materials have penetrated each other, but when Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is being simmered, because it is absolutely sealed, no fragrance can penetrate out. After it is simmered, the moment it is opened, there is first a faint aroma of wine, followed by the rich aroma of various ingredients. The aroma alone is so rich that it makes people salivate.
The stewed seafood tastes plump but not greasy at all, and is full of fragrance. Other meats are soft and tender, not rotten, but fresh and fragrant. Various tastes are intertwined without stealing the flavor of other ingredients.
Xu Qinyu made Buddha Jumps Over the Wall many times in later generations. Diners wanted to eat it and made reservations with her in advance. The reservations had to be made half a month in advance, and she had to prepare the ingredients. It can be seen how difficult this dish is to make, and all the ingredients had to be prepared well.
If some ingredients are not handled properly, the final taste will be affected.
In fact, in later generations, not only Buddha Jumps Over the Wall had cooking packets, but many other dishes also used cooking packets as semi-finished products. Some hotels even used these cooking packets and heated them up when guests ate.
But in Xu Qinyu's eyes, this is no longer cooking, it's just doing it perfunctorily.
Her Xu Ji Restaurant does not allow the appearance of meal kits, and all ingredients must be the freshest.
Mrs. Lu was so greedy after hearing this, but she was too embarrassed to go to Xu's house to eat Buddha Jumps Over the Wall during the New Year. She just hoped that Xu Qinyu would open a restaurant in Raozhou City as soon as possible.
So after Xu Qinyu came back, she started to busy herself with preparing the ingredients for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.
After a busy whole day, she finally processed all the ingredients, frying, deep-frying, stewing, etc. After all the ingredients were processed, she put them layer by layer into the wine jar and added appropriate amount of broth and Huadiao wine.
Similarly, adding soup and wine also requires the most appropriate amount, and enough should be added at one time, just right, otherwise it will also affect the taste.
Xu Qinyu has a natural talent for these things.
After adding the broth and Huadiao wine, place it on the silver frost charcoal before going to bed at night and simmer it over the lowest heat.
Wait until tomorrow to open the package and add the remaining ingredients and simmer for two hours before eating.
It’s ready to eat by noon.
Next year will be the New Year.
Xu Qinyu planned to have the New Year's Eve dinner at noon and skip breakfast, waiting for noon to have the New Year's Eve dinner.
She has to prepare other dishes tomorrow morning.
However, with this pot of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, it is enough to prepare a few other home-cooked dishes.
She processed the ingredients for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and no one else could help at all. They could only do other chores, such as sweeping the house, clearing snow, and changing the bedding inside and outside.
It snowed a few days ago, but the snow was not heavy and it has stopped in the past two days.
Even though Lian Wen and her family had lived in the palace for most of their lives, they had no idea that there were dishes in the world with such complicated cooking processes that could only be cooked for two days and two nights. Not only were they shocked, they were also curious about what the soup tasted like. They were probably wondering if it was something that the gods in heaven ate.
After everyone had washed up, Pei Weixuan helped move the large wine jar to the fire. Xu Qinyu looked at the size of the charcoal fire and said to Pei Weixuan, "Fourth brother, this is it. Let's go back and rest."
After two busy days, Xu Qinyu was a little tired.
In fact, during the Chinese New Year before, she didn't have to do any chores at home, not even cooking. She was the one who prepared the New Year's Eve dinner, and the rest of the time she just rested.
This year, the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was too troublesome to prepare, so she spent two days preparing the ingredients.
"Yu Niang should also rest early."
Pei Weixuan glanced at Yu Niang. The light from the kitchen reflected on her cheek. The light was dim, but her smiling face never changed.
Go back to the house and rest.
Xu Qinyu lay on the soft bed, unable to fall asleep for a while. Now that her family was not short of money, the bedding in her room was replaced with one made of animal fur. Such a carved wooden bed with a soft mattress was the most comfortable to sleep on.
This is her third year in this time and space, and her life is getting better and better every year.
She remembered that in the first year after she came here, she and the Pei family were extremely poor. They didn't have much money left after buying the yard in Guihua Lane. They relied on her to sell roujiamo at the dock to make money. At that time, Ning Jie'er still had the temperament of a princess. She was unwilling to do any work and complained all day long.
Now Ning Jie'er has grown up. She comes back to help her with work on weekdays. Whenever she sees nice things outside, she will think of her and buy them for her.
Even the fine mattress she slept on was bought for her by Ning Jie'er with the money she earned herself.
She is unfortunate, but also lucky, as she can meet the Pei family when she comes to a strange time and space.
In fact, in later lives, although she was an orphan, she still had people who cared about her, some friends. Several friends who grew up with her in the orphanage became good friends when they grew up. In addition, her teachers in junior high and high school also took good care of her, especially her Chinese teacher in high school. The old lady was very good, very gentle and kind. She never used beatings or scolding to educate the children. The children in the class liked her.
After graduation, Xu Qinyu often visited the old lady.
She had been away for more than two years and didn't know how the old lady was doing. In the past, she would bring some homemade food to visit the old lady every year.
Xu Qinyu thought of her original self again.
She didn't know if the original body had gone into her body like her. She hoped that the original body was still alive.
As she thought about it, Xu Qinyu felt a little sleepy. Before going to bed, she vaguely thought of her fourth brother. Her fourth brother was already twenty-two years old this year and had reached the age to get married and have children.
In the Dasheng Dynasty, it was a bit late for a man to get married and have children at the age of 22. The earliest ones were usually 16 or 17, and the latest ones were 18 or 19. It was rare for a man to be unmarried in his twenties.
Xu Qinyu was confusedly thinking whether she should mention it to her fourth brother and Wen after the New Year. They had already written a divorce letter, and she couldn't delay her fourth brother.
She told Mrs. Wen that she didn't plan to get married before she was twenty, but in fact, she had no idea until she was twenty-five.
In the Great Sheng Dynasty, if a girl of 25 still didn't get married, she would be drowned in spit. But she didn't care. If she didn't meet the person she liked in this life, she could remain single for the rest of her life.
In her mind, she is still a little girl at the age of twenty. How could she endure the pain of childbirth?
As she was thinking, Xu Qinyu fell asleep.
…
The next morning, Xu Qinyu got up. The Buddha Jumps Over the Wall on the kitchen stove had been simmering for exactly three hours. She went over and opened the wine jar.
As soon as the sealed jar is opened, the aroma of wine mixed with the rich aroma of the ingredients instantly arouses the appetite.
Xu Qinyu was not hungry at first, but when she smelled the delicious food, she couldn't help swallowing and her stomach started to growl.
Pei Weixuan, who had gotten up around the same time as her, also entered the kitchen. He couldn't help but twitch his Adam's apple at the aroma. He wasn't usually a big fan of food, so he could only imagine how tempting the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall dish Yu Niang had made was.
He began to understand why this dish was called Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.
Xu Qinyu poured the ingredients into the wine jar and quickly sealed the jar, sealing the fragrance inside.
But the fragrance spread out in just a moment.
At about this time, the neighbors around had already gotten up and were getting ready for New Year's Day, and they could all smell this rich fragrance.
"What's that smell? It smells so good."
"It smells really good. Doesn't the owner of Xu's family live next door? Is the cook from Xu's family next door making breakfast?"
"It should be, but what kind of breakfast is this? The aroma is so tempting. I have never smelled such a fragrance before."
"Hey, the fragrance seems to have faded again. That's strange."
Not long after, Wen and Ning Jie'er also got up and started to help.
Pei Weixuan was busy writing couplets and the word "Fu" and posting the couplets.
Ning Jie'er and Wen Shi helped Xu Qinyu in the kitchen.
In addition to Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Xu Qinyu also plans to cook a few home-cooked dishes.
There were stir-fried winter bamboo shoots with ham, steamed osmanthus fish, fried duck, steamed spareribs with rice flour, a sweet soup, an eight-treasure rice pudding, two small stir-fries, the stir-fries were spicy and sour potato shreds, stir-fried lotus root slices, and fried sweet potato balls.
These potatoes and sweet potatoes were brought back by my fourth brother before the New Year. In addition to potatoes and sweet potatoes, my fourth brother also brought back some dried chilies, either dogwood or chili peppers.
These are the crops that Fourth Brother brought back from his voyage with the caravan last year. They have already been planted. The potatoes and sweet potatoes can be stored, so they are fresh to eat. However, the peppers need to be picked and dried into dried peppers after they are ripe in autumn, so Fourth Brother only brought back dried peppers.
This type of pepper is long and thin and has a medium spiciness.
Xu Qinyu also didn't know what specific variety of pepper this was.
After all, no one knows how many varieties of peppers there are in later generations.
The potatoes, sweet potatoes and peppers that Fourth Brother brought back were not many, only enough for one meal, because not many seeds were brought back from the sea. Now they have just started planting, and after the first wave is planted, the output will increase next year. It is usually not until the third year that there is enough to plant on a large scale, so Fourth Brother did not bring back much, just three potatoes, three sweet potatoes and a handful of peppers.
These are even eaten secretly for family members to taste, and no one else can know about it.
It is even more impossible to add it to the restaurant menu unless it is grown on a large scale and every household eats it.
Potatoes are naturally made into spicy and sour potato shreds, and sweet potatoes are fried with glutinous rice flour into sweet, sticky and soft sweet potato balls.
The spiciness in the hot and sour potato shreds comes from the added shredded dried chili peppers.
There is also a small fried duck dish, which also has chili peppers added.
Fried duck is also a common dish. Choose a tender duck, cut it into dices after slaughtering it, and then soak it in Huadiao wine and warm salt water to remove the fishy smell. After soaking for half a quarter of an hour, take it out and squeeze out the water. Add salt and pepper powder to marinate and then stir-fry it.
Heat oil in a wok, add marinated duck meat and stir-fry until crispy and fragrant.
Stir-fry the duck meat until it is crispy, then add the bean paste, diced garlic, ginger, and dried peppers and continue stir-frying. Finally, add soy sauce and some seasoning powder to enhance the flavor and continue stir-frying. No water should be added to this fried duck throughout the process, as it is fried until cooked. It is fresh, fragrant, spicy, and goes very well with rice.
In fact, I should have added some fresh green and red peppers at the end to enhance the flavor, but I didn’t, so I had to give up.
Xu Qinyu was busy all morning, and by the time these dishes were ready, the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall on the stove was also cooked.
It was exactly the middle of the Si hour, around ten in the morning, and almost time for breakfast.
After the food was ready, Governor Zhu and his men also came over in their carriages.
This year, Prefect Zhu and Mrs. Zhu still did not bring their sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and granddaughters to have the New Year's dinner. Although the sons and grandchildren felt strange that they had to have the New Year's dinner in Yuanbao Town for two consecutive years, they also knew that their grandmother was in poor health and that her health had improved because she had a comfortable meal in Yuanbao Town, but they did not ask too many questions.
Zhu Taishou first went to Guihua Lane to pick up his sister and mother.
I'm awake now, and I'm in good spirits, but I don't have much strength.
Governor Zhu carried my mother off the carriage and entered the Pei family's house.
The dining table in the main room was already filled with food. The jar of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was placed in the center of the round table. Thick bamboo strips were placed under the jar to prevent the table from being burned.
Seeing the prefect Zhu carrying old lady Zhu into the house, Pei Weixuan took his great-grandmother from his arms and placed her on a rattan chair covered with a mattress beside him.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Great-grandmother, come and try this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall that I made. It's specially made for you, old lady. It's also called Fu Shou Quan." She briefly explained how many ingredients were needed to make this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. When she heard this, both Governor Zhu and Mrs. Zhu widened their eyes.
As Xu Qinyu spoke, she opened the sealed wine jar. The aroma of the wine inside instantly mixed with the aroma of the ingredients and came out, filling the room with the rich aroma of meat.
"It smells so good." Zhu murmured.
She had never smelled such a strong meaty aroma in her life, and she couldn't tell what it was. She only knew that she kept swallowing her saliva.
Even Old Lady Zhu seemed to feel more refreshed when she smelled the fragrance.
Xu Qinyu began to serve soup to everyone, and she made sure that everyone had enough ingredients in their bowls.
The amount in her jar is quite large, and each person can get two bowls.
The first person to hand it over was naturally Old Lady Zhu.
Zhu was taking care of the old lady, helping to blow on the soup and feeding it to her.
When Zhu was blowing the soup, her saliva was so secreted that she was almost embarrassed.
The soup was given to Old Lady Zhu first, and she was stunned after tasting it. She thought it was a rare occasion to eat the dishes prepared by Yu Niang, which had the five flavors of life, "sweet, sour, bitter, spicy and salty". Now she knew what was truly worth it.
In fact, Old Lady Zhu also felt that her time was running out, and she was already very satisfied. She had lived for more than a year, accompanied her daughter, and eaten the food made by Yu Niang for more than a year. How could she be dissatisfied? However, she did not expect that when she was dying, Yu Niang would prepare such a longevity and blessing food for her.
She smiled and said, "Yuniang's craftsmanship is really amazing. It's worth it for me, an old woman." She really felt it was worth it, and she had no regrets at all.
Tears flashed in everyone's eyes.
After everyone tasted this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, they finally understood the meaning of its name.
"When the altar is opened, the aroma of meat spreads to the surrounding neighborhood. Upon hearing this, the Buddha abandons his meditation and jumps over the wall to come."
The neighbors around could indeed smell the rich aroma of meat, and it goes without saying how greedy they were. Even their own breakfast became tasteless.
"Hey, this fragrance must be from the owner of Xu's. What delicious food has the owner made so early in the morning? It smells so good that I can hardly handle it."
"Me too. What kind of food is this? I've eaten breakfast and dinner at Xu's before, but I've never smelled anything like this."
"This is just breakfast. I feel like I'll remember this taste until the New Year's Eve dinner. I'm afraid I won't be able to eat the dinner. What do you think? Why doesn't the owner of Xuji open a restaurant during the New Year? We can go to Xuji and order New Year's Eve dinner."
"Are you trying to tire Mr. Xu to death? It's New Year's Day, and everyone needs to rest for a few days."
"Too."
The neighbor's words came true. When they ate New Year's Eve dinner in the evening, they couldn't forget the rich aroma of meat from noon. The New Year's Eve dinner tasted bland.
Xu Qinyu and her family are still having the New Year’s Eve dinner.
In addition to Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, the other dishes also have their own flavors.
When eating the spicy and sour potato shreds, although it is just a simple stir-fry, it is also sour and spicy and appetizing. And the fried duck, everyone knows what real spicy and fragrant taste is, which is completely different from the spicy taste made by dogwood.
The fried sweet potato balls are also soft, sticky and sweet, and Fengger and Yanjieer like them very much.
Ning Jie'er also liked it very much and ate several of them in a row.
He also asked Xu Qinyu, "Fourth sister-in-law, what is this food?"
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Sweet potatoes, but you can't tell anyone about them. They can yield several thousand kilograms per mu. They're the crops your fourth brother brought back from the previous caravan. They're probably just the first crop now. It'll take two years to plant them in large quantities. In three or four years, basically everyone will be able to eat sweet potatoes. They're also easy to store, so they can easily be kept for more than half a year. Grinding them into sweet potato flour or making them into vermicelli can keep them even longer."
Ning Jie'er was a little shocked. Could it really be possible to produce thousands of kilograms of grain per mu? Wouldn't that mean even in a disaster year, no one would go hungry? Would everyone survive?
It would be great if people in the future could also eat this soft, sweet and delicious thing.
Prefect Zhu was not surprised either. It seemed that Pei Weixuan had told him this a long time ago.
Naturally, Pei Weixuan concealed the fact that he and his men had found these crops, just as he had told his family.
The time is not right yet, he cannot tell everything to Governor Zhu.
It requires a suitable timing.
This year's New Year's Eve dinner was eaten early. After the meal, Zhu and Wen went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, while Xu Qinyu stayed in the main room with Old Lady Zhu.
After a while, Old Madam Zhu felt a little sleepy and went to the guest room to rest. Zhu went over to accompany the old madam.
Prefect Zhu and Pei Weixuan went to the study to discuss something, and Xu Qinyu also went back to her room to rest for a while.
In the evening, Xu Qinyu prepared a table of simple home-cooked meals. After the family had eaten, they did not go out to the night market. Instead, they stayed in the main room, chatting and laughing around the charcoal brazier, and the room was full of laughter.
…
The Pei family had a warm and cozy New Year’s Eve dinner.
The Dong family spent this year in a cold and lonely manner.
Dong Qian already knew that his father had a mistress and had a child, so he hadn't smiled much in the past two days.
On the night of the New Year's Eve dinner, there were only a few people including Dong, her eldest son, second son, youngest daughter, eldest daughter-in-law and granddaughter, and the place was deserted.
The New Year’s Eve dinner was also prepared by the eldest and second sons.
Seeing that all the family members were present, Dong said, "Let's eat."
Yue Xi couldn't help but nag, "What's wrong with Dad? He has to go to worship our grandparents every year. Wouldn't it be better for him to go back once every three years? He should also spend the New Year with us." He still had some complaints about his father not being able to be with them during the New Year every year.
When Dong heard this, her hand holding the chopsticks trembled.
Thinking of her husband eating New Year's dinner with another woman and the close relationship between the three of them, her heart seemed to bleed. They have been together for more than 20 years, and it would be a lie to say that there is no love between them.
Dong Qian frowned and said, "Brother Xi has eaten."
Yue Xi didn't say anything, but he couldn't help but look outside the door. He remembered that when he was young, his father would accompany the family to have New Year's dinner every year. When he was about seven or eight years old, his father would go back to his hometown every year to worship his grandparents.
On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Xu Ji opened for business.
Donglaiju usually opens for business on the eighth day of the first lunar month, but every year when Donglaiju opens on the eighth day of the first lunar month, the other two chefs and the kitchen helpers are busy, and Yue Weimin usually has to wait until after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to return.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Dong was able to keep his composure and Donglaiju opened as usual.
Dong Qian had returned to Xu's a few days ago to continue working as a kitchen helper. He also thanked Xu Qinyu privately, but he didn't tell her the specific situation at home, only saying that his father had not returned yet.
That evening, it was almost time for dinner.
Pei Weixuan hurried to Xu's house and told Xu Qinyu, "Yu Niang, my great-grandmother has passed away."
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