Recently, a special donation ceremony was held at the China Hotel in Guangzhou, where collector Zhang Zhi donated ten pieces of the old menu collection to the Guangzhou Museum. At the same time, the museum has worked with the China Hotel to develop and restore the famous dishes on these menus, so that the lost Cantonese cuisine can be returned to the table.
Zhu Xiaoqiu, deputy director of the Guangzhou Museum, introduced that the "Disappearing Famous Dishes" activity originated from a number of old menus of Cantonese restaurants in the Guangzhou Museum that were included in the Republic of China period. The famous Cantonese cuisine table in the Republic of China period, originating from the Manchu and Han dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, was a luxurious bright color in the life of Guangzhou citizens a hundred years ago. With the passage of time, the famous dishes that were well-known and the food forest palms that were enjoyed by the citizens gradually dissipated in people's memories.
In order to restore the glory of the famous seats in the past, the Guangzhou Museum, together with the China Hotel, conducted in-depth research on the old menu, carefully selected dishes from the old menus of local famous restaurants in the early republic of China, such as Lu Yuju, Xinhua Restaurant, and South China Restaurant, and gathered the authoritative forces of the catering industry, extensively collected historical documents, excavated the allusions behind the dishes, conducted oral interviews with famous artists many times, and conducted repeated experiments and research and development, several tastings, and strived to be highly restored, so that the lost Cantonese cuisine could return to the table.
Turn ordinary ingredients into exquisite classic dishes
Wenyuan, one of the four major restaurants in Guangzhou during the Republic of China period, was presented in turn with famous Cantonese dishes such as "Jiangnan Hundred Flowers Chicken", a gold and silver chicken cake that concentrated on the "embroidery" kung fu of Cantonese cuisine, and "Pineapple Bath Day", which symbolizes one of the eight scenic spots of Yangcheng in the Ming and Qing dynasties. "Erjingguo", "Four Hot Meats", "Six Bowls", "Seven Inches" and "Nine Inches" and other Cantonese feast regulations, procedures and cultural meanings of the Republic of China were told by the Guangzhou Museum and the catering team of the China Hotel through documentary form. The dishes presented by the star chef team reflect the "ingenuity" and "ingenuity" of Cantonese chefs. The ordinary ingredients are turned into exquisite classic dishes, and the unique qualities and craftsman spirit of Cantonese cuisine genes are fully displayed, and the unique quality and craftsman spirit of Cantonese cuisine are fully displayed, and its production pays attention to authenticity, not luxury, which is highly consistent with the spirit of the times of "strict economy", and is also the essence of the social and cultural atmosphere of economic reality, non-extravagance and waste that "Lao Guang" has always upheld.
The Elegant Cantonese Banquet, which consists of restored famous dishes, is popular at the China Hotel, which also combines Guangcai with the banquet menu and designs a cultural and creative gift with Lingnan characteristics, "Guangcai Dish Menu", to give to guests. The combination of century-old traditional Cantonese cuisine and Guangfu Intangible Cultural Heritage Project Guangcai cleverly reflects the essence and feelings of Lingnan culture.
It is not only a dish but also the Cantonese food culture that has been restored
Xu Jinhui, Executive Chef of Chinese Cuisine at China University, said it was Cantonese food culture that was restored. The highest requirement of Cantonese cuisine is that the color, aroma and shape of the utensils are good, and the "disappearing famous dish" restores not only a dish, in addition to traditional cooking techniques and strict ingredient selection standards, but also the design of the plate design, the naming of dishes, the arrangement of menus, the selection of utensils and so on.
Cantonese feast is developed from the Manchu han full table, and cantonese cuisine feast on the basis of the Manchu Han full seat sublimated the "first cold and then hot" diet concept, "disappeared famous dishes" strictly in accordance with the Cantonese feast system of that year, to "four hot meat", "six bowls", "staple food nine inches" and "dim sum once" as the specifications.
During the Republic of China period, a small restaurant could have more than 400 dishes
The dishes on this menu come from ten old Republic of China menus. Where did these old Republic of China menus come from? What kind of stories are there? The reporter interviewed Zhang Zhi, a collector who donated ten old menus.
Zhang Zhi said that the collection menu is a coincidence. He came to Guangzhou for 30 years and paid more attention to the collection of documents of modern history in Guangdong, including the Xinhai Revolution, the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the Dongjiang Column. A friend suggested that Cantonese cuisine in Guangdong is rarely studied and can be collected in this regard.
After paying attention, he found that "there are very few literature books on the side of the recipe." So far, the more representative recipe is a book of "Delicious Truth-Seeking" from the Qing Dynasty, and then in the 1950s, there was a Chen Rong in Hong Kong who had a kitchen experience for thirty years. At present, the more authoritative ones known are these two sets. Because recipes belong to craftsmanship, in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, this kind of craft was passed on by word of mouth, and the cultural level of chefs was generally not particularly high, and few people wrote recipes and wrote about the experience of cooking.
There are not many old menus left, Zhang Zhi said, we used to order, after ordering very few menus, now there is no habit of collecting menus, these are inadvertently left. These menu recipes reflect the historical situation at that time, such as how much money the dish is, the living standards of the people, the living habits, etc. Moreover, Cantonese cuisine is also a process of development and evolution, Cantonese cuisine has absorbed a lot of northern cuisine practices, and gradually evolved into what it is now.
Zhang Zhi once collected a menu of Datong Restaurant in the Republic of China period, just such a small restaurant, there are more than 400 dishes on the menu, which is difficult for us to imagine now.
"Disappearing Famous Dishes" complete dish
1. Erjingguo
Two candied fruits in pairs
The preserves of the apricot meat are slightly steamed until soft
Serve on a four-inch round dish before meals
A thin round gold base is on the stage
2. Two fruits
The two fruits are four or two or four inches each
Among them, the slings are cut into three strings
3. Four cold meats
Burn gold and silver
Chicken shredded skin
Melaleuca perch chunks
Fenjiu beef
4. Six large bowls
Phoenix braised fresh belly
Burnt suckling pig in an open stove
Gangnam Hundred Flowers Chicken
Braised fairy duck with hairy tail shoots
Five willow groupers, steamed crabs
5, staple food nine inches
Braised noodles
Yangzhou fried rice
6, dim sum once
Gold and silver chicken cake, pineapple bath day
Eating the forest
Four hot meats
According to historical research and oral accounts of famous masters, "four hot meat" is the essence of the whole table feast, is the old time to measure the skills of a chef, the four hot meat are used in ordinary ingredients, its preciousness lies in the chef's "ingenuity", "ingenuity" and "embroidery" kung fu.
Six large bowls
In the early days of the Republic of China, due to the development of food culture, the supporting of the feast dishes was basically set to the format of "four hot meat and six major dishes". Four hot meats are the home-watching effort of each chef, and each restaurant will arrange its most famous signature dishes into the feast as six large bowls. There must be dishes with good meanings in these six bowls, such as roasted suckling pig in the open stove, which means red skin and red strength.
Staple food nine inches
It used to be customary to use the size of the utensils to indicate the portion of the dish. For example, if the E-noodles are 9 inches, the 9-inch disc is used to hold the I-noodles. Moreover, the ratio of meat to vegetables on each size dish is also fixed, and a chef who sees the size of the vessel knows how much to make. This reflects a kind of standardization in the Cantonese cuisine industry, and also reflects the character characteristics of the Lingnan people who are meticulous and calculating.
Dim sum for a time
Cantonese dim sum has eight categories: regular dim sum, weekly dim sum, four-season dim sum, travel dim sum, dim sum on the table, staple dim sum, Chinese and Western refreshments, and frozen dim sum, covering more than 3,000 different dim sums. Among them, the weekly dim sum is the first of the Cantonese dim sum, which means that a batch of exquisite dim sum should be introduced every week, generally ten sweet and ten salty or twelve sweet and twelve salty, with seasonal seasons, made by frying, steaming, frying, baking and other methods, in the form of buns, dumplings, horns, rolls, slices, cakes, cakes, boxes, barrels, cups, tarts, crisps, breasts and other forms of presentation, pay attention to color collocation, naming also requires pleasant literary style, many literati inkers will even create Tibetan poems in the name of dim sum.
Written by: Nandu reporter Xu Xiaolei intern Yang Xiaoxin
Photo: Nandu reporter Chen Zhigang (photo courtesy of some interviewees)