Australian chefs inherit the traditional dragon beard candy!
Au Ka Ho moved to Australia from Hong Kong about 40 years ago and has been making dragon beard candy at a stall in Sydney's Chinatown for more than 20 years. Without high-quality ingredients and no complicated equipment, 79-year-old Ou Jiahe squeezed out more than 8,000 pieces of candy by hand.
Every Friday at around 5 p.m., Ou Jia and the master will go to Sydney's Chinatown. It seems that the usual tranquility has been lost, and the atmosphere is lively in an instant.
At this time, Master Ou's work car slowly drove into the stall area, and the lights on the stalls gradually turned on, making careful preparations for the upcoming night market.
Chef Au said that since the opening of the Chinatown Night Market 20 years ago, he has set up his stall every Friday, rain or shine.
If you learn the craft of lobster sauce to make money, you'll never succeed. You can only learn it as a hobby, and it takes patience and time to learn slowly. "Ou Jiahe said.
Chef Ou's work cart is loaded with all kinds of equipment needed to set up a stall, and of course, all the ingredients needed to make dragon beard jam are indispensable.
However, all the equipment, such as tables, chairs, lights, display stands, etc., need to be assembled one by one by Master Ou and his wife.
Master Ou said:"It usually takes an hour for the stall to open"。
Au emigrated to Australia from Hong Kong 40 years ago and worked in a variety of jobs before retiring, including chef and driving school instructor.
Fifty years ago, he learned the art of dragon whisker sauce from a master in Hong Kong.
8192 strands of sugar were extracted.
Chef Au has been a stall in Sydney's Chinatown for two decades, which means he has spent half his life in Australia making lobster pastries.
Although he is 79 years old, he is still full of energy and is skilled in a series of candy making movements.
Turn on the lights, set up three long tables, set up the exhibits, spread dust cloths from three directions of the tent, and paste red and blue on a white background"Dragon's beard candy"Posters.
Finally, he turned on the power and the night market officially opened.
Chef Ou took out the ingredients he had prepared at home and placed them on an iron plate, including two trays of corn flour and a full plate of filling made from sesame seeds, peanuts and desiccated coconut. Then he took out a piece of solidified candy corn, punched a hole with a special tool, and after three or two gestures, from"8 "The glyph becomes an inextricable dragon whisker, and then wrapped in a filling, it becomes a delicate dragon whisker candy.
Ugiawa said"This candy has 8192 strands of sugar.
The long whisker candy has a soft outer skin that melts in the mouth, the filling is sweet but not greasy, and it can also pull out long strands of sugar.
Waiting for the lobster candy cart after school is a collective memory for many Hong Kongers.
Nowadays, such scenes are rare in Hong Kong. In Sydney's Chinatown, Chef Au wants people around the world to be able to taste the taste of dragon beard candy tradition.
Master Ou said that many Chinese came to Sydney to eat this dragon whisker candy.
What is Ligustrum ligustrum?
Dragon's beard candy, original name"Silver sugar"。It is said to have a history of 1,000 years and has become a childhood snack for many Hong Kong people.
What is the special process for making dragon beard candy?
Master Ou admits that it is not difficult to learn to make dragon whisker candy, and there is no special skill, the difficulty is how to make delicious dragon whisker candy.
He laughed and said"At that time, the master's lecture was less than an hour"。
Master Au studied art in Hong Kong 50 years ago. Recalling the sugar pulling step back then, he said that he only learned for 15 minutes.
According to him, anyone can make lobster sauce at home as long as there are ingredients.
Make a hole in the middle of the tortilla flakes and let the sugar form a circle, then start pulling the sugar slowly until it is pulled into one"8 "Glyph.
Repeat this step 12 times until 4096 small shredded sugar sticks are removed and filled with peanuts, coconut, and sesame seeds.
Master Ou said that the steps of making sugar seem simple, but there is actually a lot of knowledge.
For example, pulling sugar is needed"Apply 360 degrees of force up and down from southeast, northwest, and northwest"。Each strand of sugar must be pulled with the same force, direction, and extension so that each strand is as even as even as a hair as possible.
The so-called skills can only be understood, not spoken, when to pull a little more to the left, a little lighter to the right, each angle is different, you have to rely on your own slowly experience. "Ou Jiahe said.
What kind of ligustrum is a good ligustrum?
According to Ou Jiahe and the master, a qualified dragon beard candy must meet a strict standard - 8,192 shredded sugars.
He explained that by pulling the sugar 12 times, you get 4,096 strings of sugar, which are doubled and repeated and then placed in the filling, so that you get the dragon's beard candy wrapped in 8,192 strings.
In addition, the lobster sauce should be shaped like a silkworm chrysalis and the inside should be as delicate as silk.
A novelty snack for tourists The taste of Chinese nostalgia.
In Sydney's Chinatown, many tourists are attracted by the spectacular spectacle of pulling dragon beard candy, and Ms. Liu, a Chinese tourist from Canada, is one of them.
After tasting on the spot, he praised"So fresh and delicious"and say it is"The taste in my memory"。
She said the last time she ate dragon beard candy was three years ago when she was in the United States. She also said that after returning to Hong Kong, she went out of her way to look for dragon beard candy, but did not find it because dragon beard candy is in Hong Kong"Less and less"Finish.
I miss it so much that I only eat it once every few years"She said"It's a shame not to be able to bring it back to Canada. "
The sugar industry is a **, not a business.
Since 1991, the Ou family and the chef have set up a stall in Sydney's Chinatown every Friday. He is also often hired to attend wedding banquets and make dragon beard candy on the spot.
But he said he never saw making lobster candy as a lucrative business. For him, it's more of a life**.
He stressed that in addition to the desire to promote Chinese traditional knowledge, setting up a stall is also an opportunity to engage with the community.
He laughed and said"Even if you retire, keep going.
Interacting with customers and gaining their approval as you set up your booth will make you feel very satisfied.
ojahe says:"As long as someone agrees, they will be willing to keep doing it.
Master Ou also said that the making of dragon beard candy is a spectacle, and passers-by may just come to see the making process, and not everyone will buy it, but he said"It doesn't matter if you don't buy it when you come"。
He believes that the process of learning and discovering dragon's beard jam is actually very tedious"But if you are interested, you will enjoy it very much", on the contrary,"If we are in a hurry, we want to learn some time ago, and tomorrow we go to set up a stall, then we will fail 100 percent"。
Important:"Eat authentic traditional flavors"。
There are many types of dragon beard candy on the market today, but Master Ou thinks"The most important thing is to eat the original traditional taste"。
He believes that dragon whisker sauce is like a river of fried beef"A simple dish is enough to eat, and no other ingredients need to be added"。