Xianghe County, Hebei Province, called the snail "Xiangluo", the reason why it is so called is because the snail in Xianghe is delicious, more than any big dish.
When I was a child, I liked "fragrant snails" the most, at that time, there were incense snails sold in the streets and alleys, often an old lady wearing a headscarf and carrying a wattle basket, or walking the streets or fixed at an intersection to sell, shouting "fragrant snails!" Fragrant snails! ”
The tool for loading incense snails is a conical paper bag folded from newspaper, there are two kinds of "large" and "small", the large paper bag is 5 cents, and the small paper bag is 2 cents. We bought a paper bag of fragrant snails, pulled out the snail meat with a pin, and ate it with relish.
At that time, there was a shortage of meat and oil, and adults often went down to the river to catch snails in order to satisfy their hunger and not waste oil.
There are two most important rivers in my hometown, one is the North Canal and the other is the Chaobai River. In summer, both rivers are full of trough water, and it is also the season when snails are abundant. At 10 o'clock in the afternoon, the adults took a washbasin to the river to catch snails. In fact, the so-called "catching" is to go to the river and "hold" the snails into the washbasin one by one.
Why were there so many snails at that time! You can "hold" a basin of snails in half an hour.
When you return home, you should put the snails into the water to "spit out the mud". Generally, it is necessary to "vomit" for a day and a night, during which it is necessary to "wash" at least four or five times. Every time, the snail will "spit out" a lot of "mud". You have to wait until the "water is clear" before you can fry the snails.
Xianghe fried snails is not "stir-fried", first of all, "boiled". The snails should be cooled in a pot under water, boil over high heat, and put the water into the cold water 5 minutes after boiling. It is said that if you boil the pot directly, the snail is easy to "break". Pot under cold water, and then scoop it into cold water, expand and shrink in heat, and then the snail can be dialed out of the "whole".
Fish out the snail again, and the snail is already a "cooked snail", but it has no taste. The next step is to drain the snails, pour salty soup in a large iron pot, put dried chili peppers, and pour the snails into it and stir-fry. After a few minutes, you can eat the steaming "fragrant snails".
I always thought that the reason why the snails in Xianghe were "fragrant" was because of the salty soup.
Xianghe's salty soup is made with pickled mustard heads. Every autumn, the people of Xianghe will pickle mustard heads in large vats. Stack a layer of mustard heads and spread with a layer of coarse salt; Layer another layer of mustard heads, then a layer of coarse salt until the vat is full. Seal the vat, and after a week, the mustard head will "wilt", and a full vat of "salty soup" will be pickled. In the second year of the Qingming Festival, the salty soup is boiled to cool, the salty soup should be boiled particularly "bright", and then poured back into the vat, and wait until the summer and autumn seasons to fry the snails, and the snails that have been stir-fried in the salty soup are the "fragrant snails" that Xianghe people love to eat.
Eating "fragrant snails" will become addictive, and you will want to eat it again after eating it.
In many places, I have eaten local stir-fried snails, and I feel that the "fragrance" is not the fragrance of the snails, but the taste of condiments.
A few years ago, when I returned to my hometown, I found that it was no longer the taste of "fragrant snails" when I ate snails.
Studied but cannot comprehend.
He Baisong, a childhood playmate, told me: "Over the years, the rivers have dried up, and the snails we eat now are not local snails, but are transported from outside. ”
Even if it's a snail from other places, can't it make the taste of "fragrant snail"?
He Baisong said: "You think that the fragrance of the snail is only because of the salty soup, but in fact, the most important thing is the snail itself." Think about it, the best radish we eat can only be produced in the land of Shawo, and without Shawo, the radish will no longer be crispy and sweet. ”
He Baisong's words were like the sun piercing through the clouds and fog, illuminating my thoughts, and I thought of the truth that "oranges are oranges in the south of Huainan, and oranges in the north are oranges".
After 2020, the country will manage the river, and the Grand Canal and Chaobai River will finally bid farewell to the history of many years of dryness, and the river will be full of water again.
I returned to Xianghe County again, ate "fragrant snails" again, and once again found the taste ...... when I was a childThat satisfaction thrilled me for many days.
Fragrant snails, the fragrant snails of the Xianghe River are really called incense!