"Brain" is a unique halal snack in Shanxi, and it is a soup food. In a bowl of soup paste, put three pieces of fat mutton, a lotus root and a long yam. The condiments in the soup are yellow wine, distiller's grains and astragalus. When tasting, you can feel the mixed fragrance of wine, medicine and mutton, which is delicious and delicious, and the more you eat, the more fragrant it is. Features: benefiting qi and regulating yuan, tonifying deficiency, promoting blood circulation and invigorating stomach, rich in nutrition, and having the functions of dispelling cold and relieving asthma, strengthening body and prolonging life. It has a history of more than 300 years. Every year, in the spring of the Lunar New Year, most halal hotels in Taiyuan have "brains" listed.
The brain was invented by Fu Shan, a famous scholar and physician in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. It is a medicated diet, which has a nourishing effect on human body and has a good effect. The brain is nutritious food. Also known as "Bazhen Decoction", it is made of Radix Astragali, Huimian Noodles, Lotus Root, Mutton, long yam, yellow wine, distiller's grains, and sheep's tail oil, and pickled leeks are added as the introduction. If you eat it regularly, it has the effects of benefiting qi, regulating yuan, promoting blood circulation and invigorating stomach, and tonifying deficiency, especially in the morning. Because in the early years, Taiyuan people got up before dawn to eat brains, which is also called "grasping brains" and hung lanterns for lighting, so a paper lantern was hung as a symbol in front of the restaurant that manages brains. This custom has been passed down to this day.
The "hat box" with food when drinking brain is also a specialty of Shanxi. Hat box is a kind of toast, short cylindrical and hollow. It is made by kneading unfermented flour, salt and pepper into two empty shells, putting them together and baking them in the stove. When drinking your head, break the "hat box" into small pieces and soak it in your head, which is fragrant and chewy and has a unique flavor.
According to legend, Fu Shan, a famous doctor of the later Ming Dynasty, lived in seclusion in his hometown, took care of his mother and made his own "Bazhen Decoction" to make him recover. Later, he taught this to a restaurant and listed it as "Qinghe Garden". "Bazhen Decoction" was renamed as "Brain". Whenever Fu Shan treats patients who are weak and in need, he tells them to "eat the thoughts of Qing and Yuan". It means eating the brains of the rulers of Qing Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty. This product is a nourishing medicated diet. It is to put three pieces of lamb tenderloin, a piece of fresh lotus root and a yam in a bowl of batter, and sprinkle 3.3 cm long leek festival when eating.
Main hotels selling "Brain": Taiyuan Qinghe Garden and Yuci Desheng Garden "Brain"
To add: brains are a classic breakfast in Taiyuan, and the old shop "Qinghe Garden" only deals with brains before 9 am. The mind has a light taste, supplemented by pickled leeks. With Shanxi rice wine and mutton steamed dumplings, it is delicious and nutritious.