Chengdu is known as the "Kingdom of Heaven". In ancient times, the "Tianfu" was an official position, mainly in charge of human treasures. In the late Warring States period, Li Bing and his son Erlang of the Qin State built the Dujiangyan Water Conservancy Project in Shudi, which brought wealth to the Chengdu Plain. Today, the term "Kingdom of Tianfu" is used specifically to refer to the Sichuan Basin, especially the Chengdu Plain.
The rich land brings a lot of ingredients, and the people who live here are like skilled magicians, turning the ingredients into a series of delicacies, making Chengdu's soul-stirring cuisine. Food in Chengdu is not only a shining signboard, but also a ukiyo-e that covers people from all walks of life. Regardless of men, women and children, rich or poor, they can always find their own delicacies in Chengdu.
There are high-end and exquisite, Yangchun white snow style cuisine, as well as simple and simple, Xia Riba style roadside food dishes. In addition, Chengdu cuisine is inseparable from a wealth of condiments, and among the thousands of condiments, Chengdu people have a special love for chili peppers, but Chengdu's spicy, not so hot, plus a little bit of hemp, appears tender and unforgettable.
Chengdu's cuisine is rich and varied, from exquisite cuisine, to spicy hot pot, to street food, all of which reflect the city's love of food. No matter who you are or where you come from, you can find your own delicious food in Chengdu.
Therefore, it is not so much that Chengdu has created a wide range of food, but rather that it is a large number of delicious foods that have created a lively Chengdu - a city that I don't want to leave when I come.
Yangchun Baixue "Gongguan Cuisine" turns cuisine into a painting as one of the four traditional Chinese cuisines, Sichuan cuisine, which originated around the Qin Dynasty, and in the Wei and Jin Three Kingdoms period, whether it is the use of cooking raw materials, or the use of condiments, as well as the requirements for knife work and fire, it has begun to take shape, and after entering the Tang Dynasty, Sichuan cuisine has become famous all over the world. Since then, the cooking skills of Sichuan cuisine have become more and more perfect, and the dishes have become more and more abundant, during the Qing Dynasty, a literati named Li Tiaoyuan in Sichuan recorded in the "Hanhai Xingyuan Record" that the cooking methods of Sichuan cuisine are stir-frying, sliding, simmering, simmering, boiling, frying, boiling, simmering, stewing and so on 38 kinds, which can be said to be impossible, only unexpected.
Modern Sichuan cuisine began in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, when China was in the autumn of troubles, the people's livelihood in Sichuan was withering, and the Qing government made the policy of "filling Sichuan with lakes and filling sichuan", which introduced many able people to Sichuan. Foreign officials moved their families to the country of Tianfu, and even the chefs brought them, so the major cuisines were integrated in Sichuan, which further enriched the style of Sichuan cuisine.
Therefore, now, Sichuan cuisine can be said to have absorbed the essence of all parties, and in many dishes, generations of master dishes have been refined, turning food into a real art.
As the capital of Sichuan, Chengdu is undoubtedly the master of Sichuan cuisine. In downtown Chengdu alone, there are more than 30,000 restaurants and restaurants, which are all over the streets and alleys, and people can easily find a restaurant to eat even with their eyes closed. If you are a person who pays great attention to taste and pursues high-end exquisite cuisine, you can taste Chengdu's unique "Gongguan Cuisine".
During the Republic of China period, especially during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chengdu attracted many dignitaries and cultural celebrities to settle down, and they lived in the courtyard of deep houses, which the people of Chengdu called "mansions". People who live in the mansion are very particular about food, clothing, shelter and transportation, and in cooking, they are "not tired of eating and not tired of being fine", constantly torturing the chefs who come out of the famous restaurants with their picky taste buds. However, it is precisely because of this pickiness that Sichuan cuisine has derived a new branch - "Gongguan cuisine". The characteristic of "mansion cuisine" is exquisite. The chefs of the mansion at that time exerted the spirit of scientist-like research, repeatedly delving into the potential of each dish, and striving to produce an exclusive delicacy that was unparalleled in the world, for which they could even raise for several days for a plate of stir-fried greens, and its sophistication was breathtaking, probably even the molecular cuisine that is popular in Europe and the United States today can only be ashamed. Later, some of the chefs of the mansion did not want to be lonely and self-congratulatory, so they opened the restaurant on the spot and opened it to the outside world, and "mansion cuisine" gradually became the highest pursuit of food by ordinary people in Chengdu.
Another feature of "Gongguan cuisine" is the simple and elegant dining environment, carefully carved mahogany furniture, intricate pattern draperies, and unique charm of classical brush strokes... All of them reflect the style of the Republic of China, coupled with the fine wine and cuisine of the artwork, so that diners are like stepping into a beautiful picture, and every chew is the ultimate enjoyment.
Lower Riba people
Chengdu's food culture has a long history, in addition to the exquisite cuisine of Yangchun white snow, there are also xialiba-style civilian snacks. Chengdu snacks are colorful, the taste is varied, only commonly used are sweet, salty sweet, pepper hemp, red oil, strange taste, home cooking, spicy, salty and fresh, sweet and sour, mustard, garlic paste and other more than ten kinds, under the hands of the chef, each condiment can play out the "eighteen-like taste", so that people can never get tired.
If you want to eat authentic Chengdu snacks, you need to explore. Like food stalls in many places, Chengdu's food stalls are often hidden in the winding and deep alleys, and some of the food stalls do not have fixed addresses, but continue to migrate as the stall owners walk the streets, so in order to enjoy a wonderful snack, sometimes some luck is needed.
Many post-70s and post-80s Chengdu people must remember the "sweet and not spicy" that wandered in the family area. "Sweet is not spicy" is a special snack in Chengdu, that is, a kind of fried skewers, all kinds of food are divided into very small pieces, skewered on a toothpick-like skewer, fried, the small skewers are placed in a sauce full of chili sauce sauce, wrapped hard, and you are done. "Sweet but not spicy" stalls are very small, often only a folding table and chair, the stall owner in addition to fried "sweet not spicy", but also "part-time" painting sugar light. There are not enough chairs to sit on, and diners - usually children returning from school, do not mind, they are in groups of three or five, patiently waiting for the stall owner to fry the tempting "sweet not spicy", after getting the food, with a sugar light in one hand and "sweet not spicy" in the other, a group of people giggling and eating delicious snacks and going home separately.
Unfortunately, with the development of urban modernization, the former family area has become a series of high-rise buildings, and the "sweet is not spicy" has gradually disappeared, only in the few old residential areas that have not yet been demolished, you may have the privilege of meeting a stall owner with a stooped waist and white hair, a group of lively children around it, chattering to choose food, the stall owner is silent, silently taking out the food chosen by the children, and then watching the children take the food and jump away. Speaking of which, "sweet and not spicy" should be counted as a branch of chengdu skewers. Chengdu people love to eat skewers, but also can eat skewers out of a thousand different patterns, cold pot skewers, hot pot skewers, rattan pepper skewers, bowl chicken, casserole skewers... It can be said that the slender bamboo sticks string together the most ordinary city life in Chengdu. There are many skewers in Chengdu, and Chengdu people have a consensus: the more remote the skewers, the more delicious they are. One of the representatives is the "toilet string".
"Toilet string" has no name, but with a good reputation, diners are always in an endless stream, because the location of the store is remote, it is not easy to find, but fortunately there is a public toilet nearby, diners will take this as a landmark, word of mouth, over time, the store will be officially named "toilet string". Although such a name seems somewhat indecent, it has also attracted more diners to explore it, and soon became a famous shop in Chengdu. Later, seeing that there are too many diners, "toilet skewers" decided to open branches, unexpectedly, the "toilet skewers" that compete to imitate have also opened, but the real shopkeepers have a headache, according to rough estimates, there are more than 300 "toilet skewers" in Chengdu, and the "genuine" of them is less than one-tenth of the total. Although this result makes people cry and laugh, it can be seen how crazy Chengdu people are about strings.
Thick and thin
Composing a symphony with condiments For the birthplace of spicy hot pot, Chengdu and Chongqing have had countless verbal wars, and regardless of the truth, hot pot can undoubtedly be said to be synonymous with the Sichuan-Chongqing region. In fact, there is a big difference between Chengdu hot pot and Chongqing hot pot, and Chongqing's spicy hot pot is different, Chengdu hot pot, pay attention to rigid and soft, spicy in the incense, spicy in the incense, plus the aftertaste brought by peppercorns, let people have endless aftertaste.
In the eyes of many outsiders, skewers and hot pot seem to have great similarities, in fact, skewers are more like the first choice for supper, while hot pot is more or less "formal". Perhaps for the informal Chongqing people, dinner is indistinguishable from supper, but this is not the case in Chengdu, and hot pot definitely belongs to the category of dinner.
Because of this, Chengdu hot pot always seems to be more exquisite, from the decoration of the store, the type of oil dish, to the color of the bottom of the pot, the presentation of dishes, there is a petty bourgeois atmosphere. Tumbling red oil, emitting a rich fragrance, in the fragrance, countless condiments like a kaleidoscope, constantly changing the arrangement and combination, pepper, pepper, watercress, butter, Sannai, star anise... These condiments are like jumping notes, composing a seductive symphony.
Of course, the richness of Chengdu cuisine in condiments is not only reflected in the hot pot, because in Sichuan cuisine, the condiments themselves occupy an absolute proportion, such as Kung Pao chicken, mapo tofu, stilted beef, old mother rabbit head, husband and wife lung slices, boiled beef, sour and spicy hoof tendons... It can be said that the condiment is the soul of Sichuan cuisine.
Chengdu cuisine is inseparable from the condiments, which may make people feel a bit noisy, but in fact, it is these condiments that make the taste of food more delicate and rich, so that every taste bud on the tip of the tongue can fully feel the delicious taste, which can really be described as "thick and fine".
Some people say that Chengdu is a lazy city, which actually means: living in Chengdu is called real life. The fast-paced modern life does not make Chengdu impetuous, but makes it more timeless, like an old wine, silently emitting a mellow fragrance. In this altar of wine, the wine is undoubtedly Chengdu people, and the wine song is their pursuit of food and the pursuit of life. The wine song continues to ferment, drunk Chengdu, fragrant the world, this is the charm of Chengdu.