What is the origin of the old Beijing fire?

Braised fire is a traditional snack in old Beijing. It is estimated that few authentic Beijingers don't like it. Burn the knife, cut the tofu into triangular pieces, chop the small intestine and lung head into small pieces, scoop a spoonful of old soup from the pot and pour it into a bowl, then add some garlic paste, Chili oil, tofu brain and chives. Serving a bowl of steaming food is like tasting delicious food on earth.

This delicious food is native to old Beijing, and the original stew came from the "Soviet-made meat" of the Qing court. According to legend, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty stayed at the home of Minister Chen Yuanlong during a private visit to the South. Zhang Dongguan, the chef of the Chen family, cooked a good dish, which was quite to Qianlong's taste. So when Emperor Qianlong returned to Beijing from his private visit, he asked Chen to take a look at Zhang Dongguan and put him in the palace.

Zhang Dongguan is a very clever man. Knowing that Emperor Qianlong loved thick food, he made a meat dish with pork belly and spices such as clove, cinnamon, licorice, Amomum villosum and cinnamon. The amount of seasoning varies according to the four seasons. The broth cooked with this seasoning is called "Su Zao Tang" because Zhang Dongguan is from Suzhou and the meat inside is called "Su Zao Meat". Later, Soviet-made meat spread to the people and was deeply loved by the people.

However, how did the meat produced in Suzhou become braised pork? This is due to Chen Zhaoen, the founder of Xiaochangchen. Chen Zhaoen was selling meat from Suzhou. At that time, the meat produced in Suzhou was cooked with pork belly, so the price was very expensive. Only those dignitaries can afford it, and ordinary people can't afford it at all. In order to let more people eat delicious Soviet-made meat, Chen Zhaoen decided to change the expensive pork belly into cheap pig's head meat, and at the same time add cheaper pigs to cook in water. Unexpectedly, Suzhou's meat cooked with pig's head meat and pig's water was so popular among the people that it became a must at that time. This gave Chen Zhaoen great encouragement and confidence. In order to let more people eat more delicious Soviet-made meat, Chen Zhaoen advocated adding fire to stew together.

The creation of pot-stewed fire not only facilitated the people at that time, enriched their daily life, but also added a beautiful scenery to the old Beijing special menu.