Fu Yang Pin Xia in Zhuang Xing Hua Mi | Lamb | Zhuang Xing
Our Fuyang Festival starts at dusk, and when we arrive at the Li Ji Lamb Restaurant, it is getting late. Intermittent showers scatter the heat into tender green crystals among the leaves. We entered a courtyard, where behind the stone screen there were rockeries, flowing water, and bonsai. Over a dozen succulent plants grew lush, each infused with a rustic atmosphere. Under the fresh air, there are also faint scents of lamb scattered between the nostrils. Next door to here are all lamb restaurants, and under the pavilion in the yard, there are already guests tasting delicious food.
Our table is a gathering of three to five literary confidants, not so much to satisfy our appetite, but to experience the culinary charm of Huami Village. We are located in the ancient town of Jiangnan with a history of over 600 years. It is said that in the early Ming Dynasty, a family of the Zhuang family moved to Nanqiao in Fengxian and opened flower and rice shops, hence the name Huami Village. This place is known as the bustling place of "clothes and bedding all over the world" and "flowers and rice connecting the eight elements". It has the customs of "appreciating cauliflower in spring, eating sheep in summer, tasting new rice in autumn, and watching folk customs in winter".
Eating Fuyang in the summer at Zhuangxing is actually my first time. Although I grew up in a rural area of Chongming and have been accustomed to eating Chongming's goat meat, I can also name a bunch of names such as Zhenru lamb, Zhoupu lamb, Zhangze lamb, and Qibao lamb from the suburbs of Shanghai. However, eating lamb at Huami Village is a fresh and enjoyable experience.
The young owner of Li Ji's lamb restaurant, Li Yingchun, is thin and healthy. He inherited this time-honored intangible cultural heritage specialty lamb restaurant from his father and is operating it vigorously. He said that the soul of Zhuangxing lamb lies in its cooking techniques. Without any seasoning, it can be cooked with just a pot of water and a little heat to produce tender and non greasy lamb, with fresh and distinct texture. The lamb here is called "hot air", but in fact, the freshly cooked lamb is delivered to the store by a refrigerated truck every day. After being chilled, the mutton's pungent smell is removed, while ensuring the freshness of the meat.
Eating lamb during the dog days, another "standard" option is to use shaojiu to expel moisture. The Three Fu Days are characterized by high temperature, low air pressure, low wind speed, and high humidity. According to Chen Sanmo's "Detailed Explanation of the 24 Solar Terms of the Year" in the book "Xiaoshu June Festival", "Summer has three Fu days. From May to summer, the third Geng is the first Fu day, the fourth Geng is the middle Fu day, and after the beginning of autumn, the first Geng is the last Fu day." Corresponding to the solar calendar, the Three Fu Days generally start in mid July and end in late August. During this period, the way of eating lamb roasted wine in Huami Village is to heat it up and treat it with food.
The standard pairing for this Fuyang Festival is Shanghai Guijiu, with locally produced "Jundao Guijiu" and Zhuang Xing lamb forming a perfect match. Of course, it can also be paired with Shaoxing "Wufelt Hat" yellow wine. This yellow wine is orange yellow and transparent, refreshing and sweet. After taking a sip, you can bite your mouth and eat lamb with skin on it. Listening to a few stories of local folk customs gives you a feeling of being a fairy. And a pot of bright yellow and firm white cut chicken and a bowl of fragrant earthen stove rice will pull people back to the countryside, as if sitting on a wooden bench, smelling the firewood and the fragrance of the earthen stove, burning a profuse sweat.
After dinner, we followed Nanzhuang Road for a walk in the evening mist and saw several farmers climbing bamboo escalators in the darkness, hanging undulating sheep festival promotional slogans on the high branches. Diagonally opposite is the scenic area of Huami Village, and the staff are also working overtime to arrange the activity site, because the village's Fuyang Festival ceremony will be held here the next morning.
The next day at dawn, we walked in the sunlight to attend the ceremony. Before going to the venue, let's go to a place to have lamb noodle breakfast. I heard that in the local area of Fengxian, farmers used to drink morning wine. Farmers have to get up and work in the fields before dawn every day, especially in summer. The cool morning weather is suitable for working in the fields. In order to boost their spirits, they will drink some morning wine with breakfast to quickly wake themselves up, stimulate their appetite, and have the strength to do farm work. In addition, there is a lot of dew and heavy moisture in the morning, so drinking some morning wine can dispel colds. To this day, in the local market of the village, the authentic lamb breakfast still follows this custom: a plate of lamb, a bowl of lamb blood soup, a portion of noodles, and a bottle of shaojiu, allowing people to enjoy a delicious lamb breakfast. Although we don't drink alcohol, we still go to a breakfast party like farmers, which is inevitably a solemn thing.
Eating lamb noodle breakfast is a dining space at Tengda Rabbit Industry Professional Cooperative. In the spacious and bright kitchen workspace, we first watched the process of cooking lamb. In a large pot that was over a meter high, whole chunks of lamb and whole lamb legs were pressed down by stainless steel shelves, and the boiling water was boiling. The kitchen was filled with the fragrance of lamb. Young Vice Chairman Gu Yonghao introduced the diversified development and digital ecological cycle farming model of cooperatives, which combines rabbit farming, earthworm farming, rice farming, grass farming, and sheep farming to develop green ecological industries. Unexpectedly, behind the traditional Fuyang Festival, there is a beautiful world created by young people who stay in the countryside!
At the Fu Yang Festival ceremony, we saw a large pot of lamb soup brought onto the stage. We followed the chef and sprinkled scallions into the soup, with green dots swirling between our fingers, as if sprinkling green hope. The milky white soup surged like this steaming rural life
