The "Eight Cuisines" is the culmination of China's food culture and has distinct local flavor characteristics. Due to the difference in climate, customs, ingredients, cooking methods, etc., the characteristics of the eight major cuisines are very distinct, each has its own charm, and the characteristics of the dishes have their own advantages. So, do you know what are the gastronomic allusions of the colorful eight major Chinese cuisines? Today we will first talk about Lu cuisine.
Shandong is the development of Confucian culture, the founders of Confucianism Confucius, Mencius and Mozi, the founder of Mojia Thought, were born in the Lu country, Shandong is a very cultural place. At the same time, Shandong's food culture and traditional folk customs are also quite famous. Shandong Province has a rich food culture, and the food folklore is unique.
Lu cuisine originated in the State of Qi and the State of Lu (present-day Shandong Province) during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, and was formed in the Qin and Han Dynasties. After the Song Dynasty, Lu cuisine became the representative of "Northern Food" and was one of the eight major cuisines in China. Lu cuisine is the most extensive local flavor cuisine in China, covering the three northeastern provinces of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.
Factions: Coastal Jiaodong cuisine (mainly seafood) and inland Jinan cuisine and self-contained Confucius cuisine.
Characteristics of Lu cuisine: Lu cuisine pays attention to pure seasoning, the taste is salty and fresh, with fresh, tender, fragrant and crisp characteristics. Pay great attention to the preparation of clear soup and milk soup, the clear soup color is clear and fresh, and the milk soup color is white and mellow.
Unique skills: There are more than 30 kinds of cooking techniques commonly used in Lu cuisine, especially the unique and specialized techniques of explosion and grilling. The explosive method pays attention to rapid fire and fast frying; the grilling technique is the original of Lu cuisine, the raw materials are pickled with sticky powder, fried on both sides of the yellow side, and the juice is slowly cooked; the finished product of the grilling method is neatly formed, the taste is thick and rotten, and the juice is tight and thick.
The first of the eight major cuisines is Tuilu cuisine. The formation and development of Lu cuisine is related to the cultural history, geographical environment, economic conditions and customs of Shandong. Shandong is one of the birthplaces of ancient culture in China. Located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the climate is mild, and the Jiaodong Peninsula protrudes between the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea. The territory is crisscrossed by mountains and rivers, crisscrossed with rivers and lakes, fertile and wild, rich in products, convenient transportation, and developed culture. Grain output ranks third in the country; there are many kinds of vegetables and excellent quality, which is known as one of the "three major vegetable gardens in the world". Such as Jiaozhou Cabbage, Zhangqiu green onion, Cangshan garlic, Laiwu ginger are well-known at home and abroad.
Fruit production ranks first in the country, with apples alone accounting for more than 40% of the country's total production. The production of pigs, sheep, poultry, eggs, etc. is also extremely impressive. The output of aquatic products is also the third in the country, among which precious seafood include shark fin, sea cucumber, prawn, gagi, flounder, abalone, swan egg, Xishi tongue, scallops, red snails, seaweed and so on. The brewing industry has a long history, many varieties and excellent quality, such as Luokou vinegar, Jinan soy sauce, Jimo old wine, etc., are well-known products. Such a rich product provides inexhaustible raw material resources for the development of Lu cuisine.
The history of Lu cuisine is extremely long. The Shang Shu Yu Gong contains "Qingzhou Tribute Salt", indicating that at least in the Xia Dynasty, Shandong had been seasoned with salt; as far back as the Zhou Dynasty's "Book of Poetry" has been recorded as eating the Yellow River bream and carp, and now the sweet and sour Yellow River carp is still the best in Lu cuisine, which shows its long history. The rudiments of Lu cuisine can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The natural conditions of Qilu and Lu are unique, especially the State of Qi, which is close to the mountains and the sea, and with the benefits of fish, salt and iron, the Duke of Qi Huan has become a hegemon.
Legend has it that yi ya, who steamed his son and offered it to King Qi, was actually a cooking master who was good at seasoning at that time. The clear soup in Lu cuisine, the color is clear and fresh, the milk soup is white and mellow, unique flavor, may inherit the ancient tradition of making soups, and Jiaodong cuisine is known for seafood, which inherits the custom of eating fish by the ancestors of the seaside. And Confucius, who "does not eat tired of fine food, and is not tired of fineness", also has a series of "no food" propositions, such as "fish are fed and meat is defeated and not eaten, color is evil and does not eat, stink is not eaten, food is not eaten, from time to time is not eaten, not cut is not eaten, and its sauce is not eaten...".
It shows that at that time, Lu cuisine had paid great attention to science, paid attention to hygiene, and also pursued the artistry of knife work and spices, which had reached the point of becoming more and more exquisite. During the Qin and Han dynasties, Shandong's economy was unprecedentedly prosperous, and landlords and rich people were staggered with cars and horses, and they lived in Qiongtai pavilions and lived a luxurious life of "bells ringing and eating, singing and dancing". According to the "Portrait of the Kitchen in the Front of Zhucheng", you can see that it is hung with pig heads, pig legs, chickens, rabbits, fish and other animals, poultry, wild game, and below there are people who are busy cooking operations such as water, burning stoves, chopping wood, slaughtering sheep, killing pigs, killing chickens, slaughtering dogs, cutting fish, cutting meat, washing, stirring, scones, kebabs, etc. The complexity of the scene depicted in this painting and the fine division of labor are equivalent to the whole process of cooking operations, which is really comparable to modern cooking processing.
The Northern Wei Dynasty's Qi Min Zhi Shu makes a more comprehensive summary of the cooking techniques of the Yellow River Basin, mainly in shandong. It not only elaborates on the cooking methods of frying, roasting, stir-frying, boiling, roasting, steaming, pickling, waxing, stewing, and bad, but also records the preparation methods of famous dishes such as "roast duck" and "roast suckling pig". This book has a profound impact on the formation and development of Lu cuisine. After the improvement and tempering of the Sui, Tang, Song and Jin dynasties, Lu cuisine gradually became the representative of northern cuisine, and even the "northern food shop" in Shandong in the Song Dynasty flourished for a long time.
After the Song Dynasty, Lu cuisine became the representative of "northern food". In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Lu cuisine has become the main body of the imperial court, which has a greater influence on the northeast of Beijing and Tianjin, and now Lu cuisine is evolved from the local cuisine of Jinan and Jiaodong. It is characterized by fragrant, tender, pure and famous taste, paying great attention to the preparation of clear soup and milk soup, clear soup color is clear and fresh, milk soup color is white and mellow.
The taste is salty and fresh. Pay attention to the excellent texture of raw materials, use salt to freshen, soup to strengthen freshness, seasoning to emphasize salty and fresh pure, highlight the original taste. Salty and fresh is mainly exquisite, proficient in making soups, good at cooking seafood. There are more soups in Lu cuisine, which are more nourishing, and the representative dishes include six hi balls, sweet and sour carp and so on.
In these long years, Wu Bao, Cui Hao, Duan Wenchang, Duan Chengshi, Gongdu or so on, are all famous culinary masters or gourmets, and they have made important contributions to the development of Lu cuisine. By the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, Lu cuisine had a new development. At this time, Lu cuisine entered the court in large quantities, became a treasure of imperial cuisine, and was widely spread throughout the north.
Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty visited Kongfu eight times, and when he visited Confucius for the fifth time in 1771, he married his daughter to Confucius's 72nd grandson Kong Xianpei, and at the same time gave a set of "Manchu Han Feast, Silver Dot Copper Tin Antique Pictographic Water and Fire Tableware" to Confucius. This has further promoted the development of the strange "Kongfu cuisine" in the Lu cuisine to the direction of high, fine and sharp.
After a period of development and evolution, the Lu cuisine system gradually formed two schools, including qingdao, represented by the Fushan Gang, and the Jinan school, including Dezhou and Tai'an. There are also elegant and luxurious Confucian dishes that can be called "Yangchun White Snow", as well as a variety of local dishes and flavored snacks. Jiaodong cuisine is good at frying, frying, grilling, boiling, steaming; the taste is fresh, prefer light; the selection of ingredients are mostly shrimp, conch, abalone, oyster yellow, kelp and other seafood. Among them, the famous dish is "grilled original shell abalone", the main ingredient is the Sea Treasure Abalone of the Changshan Archipelago, cooked with the traditional technique of Lu cuisine, which is delicious and tender, and stimulates people's appetite. Other famous dishes include crab yellow shark fin, hibiscus dried scallops, roasted sea cucumber, grilled prawns, fried oyster yellow and steamed gagi fish.
Jinan pie is known for its soup, supplemented by frying, stir-frying, roasting and frying, and the dishes are known for their clear, fresh, crisp and tender dishes. Among them, the famous dishes include clear soup assortment and milk soup pu cabbage, which are fresh and elegant, and unique. The tender and browned Yellow River carp, the crisp and tender oil burst double crisp, and the pot tofu of vegetarian vegetables show the fire power of Jinan pie.
Nine-turn large intestine: "Nine-turn large intestine" is a traditional famous dish in Jinan, Shandong. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, the owner of The Jiuhualin Restaurant in Jinan washed the pig intestine (rectum), added spices and boiled it in boiling water until it was hard and crispy, took out the cut sections, added soy sauce, sugar, spices and other seasonings, and first made a fragrant and delicious "braised intestine", which won the welcome of customers and gradually became famous in the city. Later, the production method was improved, that is, after the washed intestine was cooked in a pot of boiling water, it was first fried in a frying pan, and then cooked with spices and spices to make the taste of "braised intestine" more delicious. After eating, some literati and scholars felt that this dish was indeed different, and in order to please the shopkeepers, they liked the "nine" habits, and praised the chef for making this dish as exquisite as the Taoist "nine alchemy jindan", so they renamed it "nine turns of the intestine".
Jar meat: "Jar meat" is a famous dish in Jinan, which began in the Qing Dynasty. It is said that the first to create this dish is Jinan Fengjilou Hotel, about a hundred years ago, the chef of the restaurant with pork rib meat seasoning and spices, put into the porcelain altar slow simmered to cook, the color is rosy, the soup is thick meat rotten, fat but not greasy, the taste is fragrant, people after eating, feel very palatable, the dish is famous. Because the meat is stewed with a porcelain altar, it is called "altar meat".
Jiaodong cuisine
Jiaodong cuisine is famous for cooking a variety of seafood, the taste is mainly fresh, the emphasis is light, and its famous varieties are "dry steamed jiaji fish", "oil burst conch" and so on. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the varieties of innovative famous dishes include "grilled abalone with raw shell", "walnut meat in milk soup", "white juiced fish", "hemp powder elbow" and so on.
Braised prawns: "Braised prawns" is a famous dish in Jiaodong, Shandong. According to Hao Yixing's book "Sea Mistakes", the Bohai Sea "has shrimp in the sea, long feet, as big as a child's arm, the fisherman's net, two and two, dry or pickled, the goods are called shrimp." Shrimp travels between the Bohai sea and the Yellow Sea in spring and autumn every year. Shrimp is famous for its thick meat, fresh taste, beautiful color and rich nutrition.
Confucius cuisine
Confucius cuisine: "Food is not boring, not tired of fine" is Confucius's dietary experience, and Confucius cuisine is the concrete embodiment of his dietary concept. Confucius cuisine is basically divided into two categories: one is banquet diet; the other is daily meals. Although feast dishes and home cooking are sometimes common to each other, there is a difference in cooking.
"Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea and Making Lohan" is the first dish of the Confucius Celebration Feast, using shark fin, sea cucumber, abalone, fish bone, fish belly, shrimp, asparagus and ham as "Eight Immortals". The chicken breast meat is chopped into puree and made into an Arhat money at the bottom of the bowl, called "Arhat". After making it, it is placed in a round porcelain jar, arranged in eight squares, with luohan chicken in the middle, sprinkled with ham slices, ginger slices and green vegetable leaves, and then poured the boiling chicken soup on top. In the old days, this dish was sung on the table, and while tasting the delicious food, listening to the opera was very lively and extravagant.