The poet Zang Kejia wrote a popular essay titled "The Taste of Hometown Dishes," in which he wrote: "In Daming Lake, amidst the lotus flowers, there are many cattail shoots, their tender green bodies standing tall. Tourists who have strolled through Daming Lake often go to a restaurant on the shore to eat. The restaurant is small, but it has one dish that is quite famous: stir-fried cattail shoots with pork… Writing about hometown dishes evokes a special feeling in my heart; my heart returns to my hometown, to my youth." The cattail shoots from his hometown were so famous and delicious that the poet couldn't forget them. It seems that old Jinan has many famous dishes, but many people are simply unaware of them.
In Wang Pan's "Wild Vegetable Recipe" from the Qing Dynasty, I came across a children's rhyme: "Calamus roots grow in the bends of the water; every year, thousands of bundles of cattails are cut, and the people of the water towns have enough to eat and wear." Only then did I realize that this plant grows in water. As a "foodie" from Jinan, I've eaten quite a bit of Jinan cuisine, but this hometown dish was truly a "first encounter" for me. That day, I got up early, wanting to go out early to buy breakfast for my parents. But my mother wouldn't let me go out to spend money, saying there was food at home. She took out her steamed scallion pancakes, white and glossy, and made a tomato and egg stir-fry. She took out oatmeal from the cupboard, poured it into a pot, added milk, and made oat milk as soon as it boiled. My mother's cooking was truly delicious and sweet. After breakfast, I chatted with my parents for a while, then said goodbye and went home. Less than 200 meters from my mother's house, I coincidentally encountered a once-in-a-lifetime rare find.
Near the Grand View Garden restaurant, I spotted a woman sitting on the south side of the intersection. Two large piles of something in front of her looked like scallions from a distance, but why were they all white parts? No green parts? Few vendors would be foolish enough to remove all the green parts and sell to city dwellers. Maybe it was something rare, I thought. Selling it as scallions would be a loss-making business. What were these two large bundles of? I racked my brains trying to figure it out, but couldn't guess what it was. Curiosity drove me to walk up to her, squatted down next to her, and pointed at the pile of white stuff, asking, "Sister, what is this? Is it edible?" The woman had a "money bag" slung across her chest, and a happy smile spread across her sun-tanned face. I knew she was laughing at us city folk for being naive and unsophisticated. She spoke quickly and enthusiastically, "This is the famous cattail shoot from old Jinan. It's delicious in soups, cold dishes, dumplings, and steamed buns—very nutritious. Milk soup cattail shoots are a famous Jinan dish. The cattail shoots from Daming Lake grow in the water; they're white, tender, and crisp—so delicious!" I asked the price: five yuan per jin (500g). I bargained down to four yuan per jin, and we settled on a 10-jin purchase. She smiled and took the fifty yuan, saying, "Keep the change. Buy another ten yuan's worth. You rarely see this kind of deal. Trust me, you won't lose out. Someone just bought seventeen jin." I said, "Sister, I've already bought too much. I'll give half to my mother and half to myself, is that not enough? Haha, okay, just give me thirty yuan for ten jin. Give me twenty yuan back!" Knowing I was being greedy, she said, "You're such a good person, thinking of the elderly. You're a kind-hearted person," while smiling and quickly giving me the change.
Cattail shoots, a rare find, are a natural aquatic plant that grows in Daming Lake. Besides Xia Yuhe, cattail soup is another famous dish from Daming Lake. Cattail shoots from Daming Lake are a specialty of Jinan, and those from Yaoqiang are also abundant. Hearing about such a delicious food, I took the change, grabbed a large bundle of cattail shoots, and headed home to my elderly parents. Knocking on the door, my mother was surprised: "Didn't you leave? You're back again. What are you carrying?" My eighty-year-old mother had only heard of cattail shoots before, but had never tasted them. I carried the other half of the bundle out of the house, walked from Daguanyuan to the bus station, then took the bus home. We talked quite a bit along the way. I met many people, from young people in their twenties and middle-aged passersby in their fifties to neighbors in their eighties. Often, someone would stop and come over to chat and ask questions. Seeing me sometimes carrying it, sometimes lifting it, and looking at the cattail shoots, they couldn't help but ask curiously, "What is this? I've never seen it before. It's not a scallion, is it?" I answered them with a smile, inwardly laughing at them, just like the vendor lady had laughed at me. I replied, "This? You've never seen it before, and neither have I. I've never seen it before in my life, let alone eaten it. But this isn't a scallion; it's called cattail shoots. It's a famous dish in Shandong cuisine." I explained as I walked and rode, acting as a volunteer guide. Back home, I made dumplings with my sister's family, and the whole family enjoyed a delicious meal of cattail shoot dumplings.
Speaking of the authentic way to prepare cattail shoots, it should be in soup. The crown jewel of Jinan's soups is undoubtedly "Cattail Shoots in Milk Soup." Cattail shoots were already extremely famous during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The *Jinan Quick Survey* states, "The cattail shoots of Daming Lake resemble water chestnuts in shape and taste like bamboo shoots. They are widely planted in the lake and are considered a delicacy among the vegetables of several northern provinces." This is truly high praise. Using cattail shoots from Daming Lake in Jinan—tender, white, and with a fresh flavor—as the main ingredient, this dish is accompanied by moss flowers and shiitake mushrooms, cooked in a milk broth. The milk broth is rich and white, and the cattail shoots are crisp and tender. It has always been hailed as Jinan's premier soup and considered a precious vegetable. Jinan cuisine is characterized by its soups. This dish's main ingredients are cattail shoots and milk broth. Jinan chefs use a technique of simmering fatty chicken, fatty duck, and pork bones together to make a broth, adding a suitable amount of minced chicken to absorb all impurities and infuse the broth with bone marrow, resulting in a milky white, flavorful "milky soup." The method for making milky soup with cattail shoots is as follows: Remove the outer, older leaves, leaving only the tender shoots. Cut the cattail shoots into 3-cm sections. Prepare the cooked milk broth. Heat oil in a pot, sauté scallions and ginger, then add a little flour and spread it evenly. Add a little boiled cold water, then add the milk broth. Cook for a few minutes, and once the consistency is right, add salt, MSG, and chicken bouillon to taste. Finally, add the cattail shoots, mushrooms, and other main and side ingredients to the pot. Once it boils, it's ready. When making this at home, 3 to 4 ounces of cattail shoots are sufficient for a family of three. The key is to make a good milk broth to preserve the nutrients of the shoots.
Cattail shoots are a gift from nature to the people of Jinan. They can only be found in the sweltering summer. A sip of their milky broth is rich and flavorful, reaching right to the heart. A bite of a cattail shoot dumpling is refreshing and satisfying. When appetite is poor, a dish of this specialty from Daming Lake—the crispness of the cattail shoots and the deliciousness of the milky broth—is absolutely delightful from the mouth to the heart. This foodie of mine, even before I've digested it all, is already thinking about next time. Next time I buy some, I'll definitely make it into a soup, trying the traditional broth recipe our ancestors loved; that would be truly amazing! Even more so, I'm already secretly planning a trip to Daming Lake sometime to find a hotel and try the authentic cattail shoot milky broth made by a chef to satisfy my craving. This serendipitous encounter with such a rare ingredient means that every summer from now on, I'll consciously and proactively seek out those slender, white shoots, just to kiss them and savor their fresh and enticing flavor.
No comments:
Post a Comment