Hi guys! This is Amanda ☺
Anyone who has traveled to Yunnan, China,
Have you ever tried this specialty dish called 'Rushan?’
It's a traditional snack for Bai people
And it's made with milk.
The flavor of milk is very deep.
So I've been studying how to make it properly.
It's very similar to making cheese.
So I'm wondering about
where Yunnan’s version
comes from.
So I've been researching it.
The first place recorded in the history
is Ming Dynasty.
Joo Won-jang from the Ming Dynasty had Joo-kwon, his first son.
The book he wrote was about
how he lived a secluded life and cultivated himself
He called himself Koo-sun.
and also named the book ‘Koo Su Shin Eun Seo.’
Koo means dry.
Basically, this book is about
Skinny ascetic's daily religious life.
The book has
recipes for Rushan.
It's called Rushan now.
I've tried to make cheese on my own before,
and the way how to make cheese is
very similar.
We need sour water including milk.
The protein in the milk reacts to
the acid and becomes solid.
According to the record
Put the sour water under the sunshine
It is solid due to natural fermentation.
The residents of Yunnan
used their wisdoms
and started to use sour papaya from Yunnan.
I'm sure I showed you guys this
We made a salad with this ingredient before.
This papaya only comes from China.
In the Classic of Poetry, there is this phrase
'If you give me quince, I will return it with jade’
The quince here means this sour papaya.
We have to cut papaya and boil it
then we can easily make papaya water.
If we put this in milk,
Theoretically, we can make Rushan.
But this papaya is hard to get
except in the Yunnan area.
Based on my experience of making cheese,
We can replace it with lemon juice
However, the amount of sour water we need
and the appropriate temperature and time
was referred to this thesis.
I studied hard
then had a mental breakdown
It looked very easy and simple in
the documentary about Yunnan.
But due to acidity, temperature, and time
so many times methods were taken
as well as many many failures.
It doesn't become lumpy.
It doesn’t get smooth enough.
It's not sticky enough so it gets torn when pulled from the sides
Etc
I read a lot of different articles
and realized the efforts people had put into it
Additonally
It's easy for the older generation to find good milk but
it isn’t easy for us.
There wasn’t a proper sterilization system at that time
So by using fresh milk
and the raw protein and fat inside it
we can make Rushan.
Both sterilized milk from supermarket
and those kept at room temperature can’t be used.
If we leave fresh milk, it divides into layers
and mix together if we heat it up.
So heat up the fresh milk around 60 Celsius and put in some lemon juice.
Make sure to pour some water to balance the PH levels.
After diluting,
Add milk slowly around to make it PH 3~4.
Now you can see it becomes lumpy a little bit.
Shake the pan carefully
Heat it up to 70 Celcius.
Now you can really tell it becomes lumpy.
Milk becomes clear whey
Filter whey by using a net.
Please press it with a spoon to make it a single lump.
So the watery lump becomes very sticky as one.
After that, put the whey into hot water.
Please extend it by putting in a little whey.
So now we can see, it becomes very sticky.
Look at this.
It's chewy gooey☺
Roll the cheese dough by using a push stick
Extend it.
Make the dough thin and long.
I guess the Ming Dynasty used to call it
Rushan because of its shape.
People who make Rushan in Yunnan,
they dry it on a specially customized drying rack.
You can dry it on the net like this at home.
Leave it in a well-ventilated shady place for 1-2 days
Then it looks like this.
looks like this in the market.
The Rushan I made is
has a similar texture after drying it.
It's evenly thin and yellow.
You can feel the grease layers
According to how the Yunnan people enjoyed it
Fry it under 170 Celsius until it rises in the oil.
It's crunchy and sweet if we put sugar on top.
Bake it for 3 mins at 160 Celcius in the oven.
Put rose jam a little bit
then it's nutty and sweet.
As you can see it from the process,
Rushan is a milk extract.
According to the record in the Jiaqing Period(嘉慶年間)
One Rushan can be traded for 1kg of pork.
If we convert it into the latest currency exchange,
it's around 20 yuan (around 4,000krw)
Plus, if one family has 4 cows
they can make 200 loaves of Rushan per day.
Let's do some math.
The sales are 4,000 yuan per day.
Work 25 days per month
then the monthly sales is 100,000 yuan.
Let's say the profit rate is 30%,
then it’s almost 30,000 yuan per month.
It's enough for a family of 8.
Rushan is a specialty product from China
a dairy product.
I think this is a great snack, full of wisdom from the old times.
They completely understood milk.
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