Cauldron cuisine is a kind of dish with more distinctive characteristics in the northern region, and one of the cauldron dishes named after people is the famous dish "Li Hongzhang stew" in Hebei. Today I will introduce you to the history of this dish.
Li Hongzhang stew is also called Li Hongzhang chop or Li Hongzhang chowder, it is one of the more classic famous dishes in Hebei Province, and the cuisine belongs to the directly subordinate official cuisine. The founding place of Li Hongzhang's stew is not in China, and its founder is not actually Li Hongzhang, but a chef under Li Hongzhang.
Li Hongzhang served as the viceroy and minister of Beiyang. In October of the twenty-second year of Guangxu (1896), the Guangxu Emperor appointed Li Hongzhang as a minister of the first class of Qinchai, went to Russia to congratulate the tsar on his coronation, and went to Britain, France, Germany, the United States and other countries to submit his credentials and contact diplomatic matters.
Li Hongzhang has been on a mission to Russia and Europe and the United States for a long time, especially on a mission to the United States for many days, Li Hongzhang wants to eat the food of his hometown, and often goes to the restaurants opened by overseas Chinese in the United States to eat. The American asked Li Hongzhang what dish he ate? Chinese food is not easy to translate, Li Hongzhang replied in a general way about the chowder eaten. After Li Hongzhang returned to the Governor's Office, he talked to Dong Maoshan, the chief catering officer, about this matter, and Dong Maoshan understood it. Dong Maoshan's disciple was Wang Xirui, the treasurer of Changchun Garden, a famous restaurant in Baoding, and according to the tradition of Baoding Province, they selected high-quality sea cucumbers, shark fins, deer tendons, ox whips, etc. with Ansu (now Xushui) tribute cabbage, tofu, wide noodles, etc., and carefully stewed them with Huaimao sweet noodle sauce. After Li Hongzhang tasted it, he cocked his fingers and praised. Because Li Hongzhang had a special love for this dish, the official chef who was directly subordinate to him later named this dish "Li Hongzhang Stewed Dish".