A few days ago, I received a call from Mr. Wang Liangcai, a culinary master in Fuyang, about to taste a prestigious classic traditional dish "Chrysanthemum Pot" at the Xiaoyoutian Hotel.
On the phone, Master Wang Liangcai said that it is the time when chrysanthemums are in full bloom, and the "chrysanthemum pot" is also a recommended autumn delicacy, but this dish is complicated and now little known, and the major restaurants in Fuyang are even less visible to this dish, so he still wants to make a "chrysanthemum pot" according to traditional cooking techniques for everyone to see.
For the famous dish of "chrysanthemum pot", I have long heard of it, but I have never had the opportunity to meet, today I can not only see the "chrysanthemum pot" made by the master himself, experience this almost lost famous dish, and observe the entire production process, which is a rare opportunity.
The next day, I went to the Xiaoyoutian Hotel next to the old party school as promised. As a master chef in Fuyang who is already in his 70s, Mr. Wang Liangcai has been adhering to the cooking techniques of traditional dishes for many years and passing them on to his disciples without reservation, and is currently serving as the chef director of Xiao Youtian Hotel.
Pull too much, the book returns to the truth, or talk about the "chrysanthemum pot"
As the saying goes, it is better to hear than to see. The "chrysanthemum pot" in front of me turned out to be a white soup hot pot with milk soup at the base. The milk soup is made from old hens and the soup is delicious. The main side dishes are four raw slices, namely fish fillets, chicken fillets, loin slices and tenderloin. The accessories are cooked ham, cooked chicken, squeezed vegetables, cooked bamboo shoots, and side dishes such as chrysanthemums, vermicelli, and spinach. I carefully counted, the main course plus auxiliary materials, a total of 24 side dishes, double on the table, exactly 48 dishes.
The "chrysanthemum pot" pays attention to the raw slices to be thinly sliced, the puff pastry to be crispy, and the soup to be boiled white. According to Mr. Wang Liangcai, in the past, large households also paid special attention to eating methods, first of all, before eating, they should wash their hands with water made of chrysanthemum leaves, so that there will be a faint fragrance on their hands, so that people feel that they are eating in an elegant environment and mood.
After some concessions, a group of people sat around the table. Between small talks, I saw the chicken soup mixed in the hot pot boiling, and took the washed white chrysanthemums into the soup. After the fragrance of chrysanthemum flowers penetrates into the soup, the sashimi, raw meat slices, raw chicken slices, etc. are cooked in the pot soup, dipped in the juice, and their taste is fragrant and unique, and it is regarded as the top product in the hot pot family.
In fact, in my opinion, the beauty of the "chrysanthemum pot" takes the fragrance of chrysanthemums into the food, winning in light, healthy, corresponding to the season, the rich soup base meets the fragrant chrysanthemums, that fresh floral fragrance, from the mouth and throat, from the throat to the stomach, wonderful fragrance to the extreme.
Only then did the tip of the tongue go down, and then to the heart. I am a person who loves to ask the roots, and I want to understand everything, who invented this "chrysanthemum pot" and when did it become popular?
With the help of Baidu, it is known that China has a long history of eating chrysanthemums. The Jin Dynasty poet Tao Yuanming "single love chrysanthemum", created many poems about chrysanthemums, and the chrysanthemum hot pot is also his first creation.
In the late Qing Dynasty, it became the favorite of Empress Dowager Cixi. According to the Records of the Imperial Fragrance, the chrysanthemum hot pot eaten by Empress Dowager Cixi originated from a white chrysanthemum called "Snowball". Every year in late autumn, Cixi asked the imperial dining room to bring out a small hot pot, and then put the washed and drained chrysanthemums into a silver plate and put them on the dining table together.
It can be seen that chrysanthemum hot pot was popular in the late Qing court, and it is said that after the eunuch Zhang Lander, the eunuch in charge of the imperial dining room, left the palace, these chrysanthemum delicacies were introduced to the people. Mr. Wang Liangcai introduced that the "chrysanthemum pot" has been introduced to Fuyang for nearly a hundred years. Fuyang chrysanthemums have a long reputation, widespread cultivation and a long history, so the source of raw materials is unique. Famous people such as Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi of the Song Dynasty wrote many poems about Chrysanthemums in Fuyang during their tenure in Fuyang, and Ji Dong, a native of Wujiang, Jiangsu Province, in the Qing Dynasty, wrote "Records of Chrysanthemums in Yingzhou".
In fact, from a personal point of view, "chrysanthemum pot" should belong to the category of literati cuisine. So, what is a literati dish, it seems that no one has yet strictly defined it. In my understanding, the name of literati cuisine must have at least two conditions: one is the dishes made by the literati, or the literati design scheme to guide the chef to make the dishes; the other is to make dishes that must be original and have a certain cultural taste.
And the "chrysanthemum pot" obviously belongs to the latter. Literati cuisine is generally won by simplicity and generalization by partial generalization. Do not seek nobility in materials. For example, the main dish of "chrysanthemum pot" is basically common chicken and fish meat, but the processing is exquisite and subtle, raw chicken slices, sashimi, etc. Have high requirements for knife work, requiring chicken and fish slices to be consistent in size and as thin as paper. And taking the way of boiling water and boiling, it is simple and casual; more importantly, chrysanthemums are eaten, and it is all at once made to eat vulgar. This is often consistent with the natural and true style expressed by the literati in poetry, calligraphy and painting, and the style of turning popular into strange. Therefore, I think that the "chrysanthemum pot" is a literati dish.
Whether it was in the past or now, Chinese always regard food and cooking as an art, and Chinese literati have a wide range of interests and hobbies in literature and art, and some literati will inevitably consciously or unconsciously get involved in the art field of food and cooking, making eating poetic.
Well, don't write, stop writing. Finally, I would like to say that thanks to the cooking master Mr. Wang Liangcai, let me see the true appearance and taste of the traditional famous dish "Chrysanthemum Pot", and feel the profundity of Fuyang's traditional food culture.