Text, photo/ Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Wang Min
When it comes to "food in Guangzhou", I believe that no one will object. However, not many people know that these four-word evaluations have quietly risen from the Republic of China period, and cantonese cuisine has become famous and entered its heyday. However, with the change of the times, some well-known famous dishes and the much-loved food forest palms have gradually dissipated.
Nowadays, the retro wind is popular, and the retro wind blows not only fashion, but also food. Recently, the "Cantonese Flavor of the Republic of China" theme banquet launched by Guangzhou Restaurant Group revived the endangered dishes on the modern table, restoring a living fragrance of Cantonese cuisine in its heyday for diners.
The cultural blessing behind the "Cantonese flavor of the Republic of China"
During the Republic of China period, cultural celebrities, dignitaries, merchants and rich people from all over the world gathered in Guangzhou, loved life, studied food, and the integration of Chinese and foreign food cultures in the north and south reached an unprecedented peak, which achieved the heyday of the development of Cantonese cuisine. At this time in Guangzhou, restaurants flourished, famous dishes were produced, and various cuisines blended and reflected, forming a diversified tone of Cantonese cuisine in the Republic of China, and "food in Guangzhou" became famous.
Eight treasure eggs, net oil oysters, Taishi stewed chicken... Classic Cantonese dishes from the Republic of China period will be reinterpreted today and appear freshly baked on the menus of Guangzhou restaurants.
The launch of the Cantonese banquet of the Republic of China can be said to be a set of "geographical advantages and people". Zhao Liping, vice chairman and general manager of Guangzhou Restaurant Group, said that Cantonese cuisine has gradually become famous with the opening of the port of Guangdong people to Shanghai Beach, until it has developed to the fame that the people of the whole country yearn for today, so that the reproduction of Cantonese cuisine in the Republic of China has the advantage of geographical advantages. The Cantonese recipes of the Republic of China period compiled by Zhou Songfang, an expert in the history of Lingnan food culture, spared no effort to provide a blueprint for the reproduction of "a table of Cantonese cuisine of the Republic of China".
There are many dishes in the Republic of China, but in the face of thick manuscripts, how to choose the right dishes from them to reproduce the classics? Guangzhou restaurant Cantonese chefs worked together with experts and scholars to study, extensively collected literature and historical materials, excavated allusions to dishes, interviewed famous artists many times, and repeatedly tasted and tested.
The difficulty of restoration is that in the historical data, the description of many dishes is actually unclear, and some even have only the name without description, so Cantonese chefs need to constantly explore. After repeated debugging and development, the chefs refined the selected dishes of the "Eight Big eight Small" feast series of high-grade Cantonese cuisine in the Republic of China, and a table of "Republic of China Cantonese Cuisine" finally came out.
The common feature of these dishes is that they are both detailed and representative of Cantonese cuisine in the Republic of China, and the ingredients are now available.
Huang Tianji, a member of the National Ancient Books Collation and Publication Planning Group, an honorary librarian of the Guangdong Provincial Museum of Culture and History, and a professor at Sun Yat-sen University, pointed out that Cantonese cuisine is an important part of China's intangible cultural heritage, more complex than other types of art, and hopes that Guangzhou's diet will not forget the original, so that "food in Guangzhou" will continue to be passed down and carried forward. This time, through the systematic combing and practical restoration of Cantonese cuisine in the Republic of China, an important part of the historical recipe of Cantonese cuisine in the intangible cultural heritage archives was filled, and the vigorous vitality of the intangible cultural heritage was given with living inheritance.
Cantonese cuisine is alive and fragrant
According to the reporter's understanding, the theme banquet is currently launched in the Guangzhou Restaurant Sports East Store and Linjiang Avenue Store, and some classic dishes will be listed in its catering stores, and its taste and sales are quite remarkable.
Cold meat: Eight treasure eggs
To taste this table, start with the traditional eight-treasure egg. This cold dish is a complex dish, breaking a small hole in the tip of each egg, taking out the egg liquid, keeping the eggshell for later, mixing the egg white and egg yolk, adding lean ham, winter shoots, chicken, dried shrimp, shiitake mushrooms, parsley, green onion white, walnut meat, and then pouring it into the eggshell and steaming. Eggs originally have a mild taste, but when paired with ingredients such as ham, dried shrimp, chicken, and shiitake mushrooms, they are several times fresher.
Hot meat: Finches and venison
This dish used sparrow meat during the Republic of China period, and now it is re-interpreted, using pigeon meat, fried into pigeon pine, fried in lard; "deer surimi" is actually tofu, made of corn flour, eggs, soup and tofu together to make tofu cups. The fresh flavor of the pigeon meat is complemented by the tenderness of the tofu.
Large piece: Taishi stewed chicken
Taishi stewed chicken is made by the home cook of Liang Ding Fentaishi, one of the "Four Houses of Modern Lingnan". Stew the chicken and ham with the soup, and use the soup to buckle the winter melon and the chicken leg. This dish, the beauty of qing and fresh, was the famous dish of the powerful people at that time. Now it is changed to bullfrog, the meat is delicious, and the R&D team added dried scallops in order not to let its taste be detracted. The soup made from ham is fresher and clearer than fresh pork soup.
Large piece: raw and dismantled fish cloud soup
The word Yuyun fully reflects the imagination and beauty of Chinese characters. "Fish head cloud", in fact, is the fish brain, that is, a white cloud near the gills of the fish head, which is the best for the big head fish. Fish head cloud cooking, is the Republic of China period of the characteristic Cantonese cuisine. First, the big fish head cloud is boiled in the pot, the soup is removed, and then the fish head cloud is mixed with cooked oil, top soy sauce and rice wine, and then the soup is rolled with grass mushrooms or mushrooms, and when it is about to be bowled, the fish head cloud is added to a roll, and the taste is very delicious.
Staple food: mud carp noodles
The fresh mud carp fish glue is improved, mixed with egg white and fish glue, tarted through, pressed into slices and steamed, and then cut into noodles and braised soup, the taste is smooth and sweet, unique flavor.
Journalist's Note
"Catering + culture" promotes the new development of Cantonese cuisine
A few years ago, the "Internet + concept" detonated the design of cross-border models, and all industries will think about how to add their own advantages to the advantages of other industries, design new business models, and improve each other's competitiveness. Recently, when chatting with the bosses of the restaurant industry, some bosses asked me, what can I add to the restaurant?
Dining + culture is undoubtedly the hottest one at present. When it comes to food, we will go to the food, but in many stores, if we want to find a reason to choose in addition to delicious dishes, the connotation and characteristics of culture will become an important measure and selection criterion.
The release of the "Cantonese Flavor of the Republic of China" theme banquet is a successful embodiment of Guangzhou Restaurant Group's integration of "catering" and "culture" models. After eating this feast, in addition to the tongue can taste the sweetness, the head can also harvest something, what can be harvested? People in the industry have made a high degree of generalization for us: culture and taste.
In fact, Guangzhou Restaurant Group has been at the forefront of exploration in the "catering + culture" model. As early as the 1980s, Guangzhou Restaurant successfully created the "Manchu Han Grand Feast", when countless diners from home and abroad came to visit, becoming a bright business card of "Food in Guangzhou" at that time. Then, during the Canton Fair in 1986, the "Five Dynasties Banquet (Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing) Banquet" and in 2003, the "Nanyue King Banquet" that showed the origin of "food in Guangzhou" were launched respectively, further deepening the cultural connotation of "food in Guangzhou". Coupled with the release of the "Cantonese Flavor of the Republic of China" theme banquet, Guangzhou Restaurant Group has built a historical chain throughout the development of Cantonese cuisine through the refinement and shaping of cultural banquets.
Diners can also feel the long-standing culture of Cantonese cuisine in the process of tasting Cantonese classics. To some extent, the combination of catering and culture is not only a way for operators to express their feelings, but also a way for consumers to experience their feelings. The story of color and fragrance, diners understand, this business is naturally easy to do.
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Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Xu Weilun