Li Hongzhang, a native of Hefei, Anhui Province, was extremely controversial in his life, with some praising him for his contribution to resisting imperialist invasions, while others criticized him for betraying the country and doing only superficial work. These comments gave his story a veil of mystery. In fact, Li Hongzhang has also contributed to China's food culture, that is, he created a famous dish in Anhui - Li Hongzhang Chowder.
In 1896, Li Hongzhang created this dish, which was originally just an unintentional work, but it was unexpectedly loved by the locals in Anhui, so this dish was all the rage at that time. And in 2018, it was rated as one of the top ten famous dishes in Anhui. Are you curious about the historical conditions under which Li Hongzhang created this dish, and how exactly this dish was made? Let's reveal it together
The origin of "Li Hongzhang's chowder"
There are two theories about the origin of this dish, one is that Li Hongzhang was ordered to participate in the coronation ceremony of Nicholas II, so he needed to leave for distant Russia, Li Hongzhang thought that since he had come out so far, he would simply go to Britain and the United States to see, because Li Hongzhang was 70 years old at the time, the boat was tired, and the diet was not accustomed, which made him miss his hometown cuisine very much, so as soon as he arrived in the United States, he immediately summoned the Chinese cooks at the embassy at that time and let them cook Chinese food for him to eat, especially his hometown cuisine, Hui cuisine.
After Li Hongzhang arrived at the embassy, Chinese food immediately became hot. Li Hongzhang specially asked the chef of the embassy to make a hometown dish to entertain American guests. Americans usually eat big fish and meat, Chinese food is fine, the portion is relatively small, but the style is diverse, each dish has not been eaten, another dish has been on the table, the Americans eat dazzling, they are like a gluttony to send a piece of Chinese food into the mouth, the kitchen dishes were eaten continuously for several hours, and finally finished eating. But they thought the Chinese food was so delicious that they wanted to keep eating it, but the kitchen dishes were already cooked, and all that was left was some leftover dishes. At this time, Li Hongzhang had a heart, and mixed all the remaining dishes together in a large basin and served them, and the American guests ate happily. And said that the taste of this dish is more delicious than the previous ones. Immediately they composed the name of Li Hongzhang's dish. Li Hongzhang's mind was blank for a moment, and he thought for a long time and said: Eat more and eat more. Coincidentally, the pronunciation of delicious and delicious in English is similar to "chowder", so each dish was called "Li Hongzhang Chowder" by people at that time.
Another version is that when the guests reflect that they don't have enough to eat, the amount of dishes left in the kitchen is OK, but they are not enough to make a complete dish, so the chef puts all these scraps together and cooks a pot of dishes. The name of the dish was called by Li Hongzhang: offal. So there was the later "Li Hongzhang Chowder".
"Li Hongzhang Chowder" production method
The main ingredient is chicken, the ingredients are rotten bamboo, sea cucumber, fish maw, pigeon eggs, ham, etc., and these ingredients are put into the thick chicken soup that has been boiled for a long time, and it becomes the famous "Li Hongzhang Chowder". This dish seems to be simple to make, but the process flow is very complicated, there is no certain experience in making emblem dishes, and it cannot make an authentic chowder feeling.