China's food culture has a long history, carrying the customs and customs, history and humanities, culinary characteristics, taste bud preferences and nostalgic memories of various places... Those who are commemorated and praised by the common people in the form of delicacies, the holy emperor and the famous courtiers are well-known for hundreds of generations; those delicacies that the emperor personally tastes, praises and recommends, continue to carry forward and pass on from generation to generation, have a strong vitality that has not faded for thousands of years, and are widely welcomed by the people.
Qin Shi Huang and Liang Pi
Liangpi is available in many places, but why is Shaanxi Liangpi so famous for its deliciousness? Because it is the birthplace of cool skin, due to the favor of Qin Shi Huang and become a royal tribute, the production process is constantly improved, there are many tricks and fine, popular in the Three Qins, and then the fragrance of the Central Plains, the north and south of the great river for more than two thousand years.
Qinzhen, also known as Qindu Town, is located in Xi'an's Enyi District (Hu County), which was once the land of Gyeonggi in the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to legend, there was a great drought in the Qinzhen area one year, the rice withered, and the rice after the harvest was small and dry, and it was impossible to pay tribute. A farmer named Li XII milled this rice into rice paste, steamed it in a cage to make rice skin, cut thin strips and seasonings, and offered it to the imperial court. After Qin Shi Huang tasted Longyan Dayue, he waived the local annual tax and designated the cool skin of Qinzhen as a tribute, which grew into a prestigious traditional snack for a long time. The Chronicle of Chang'an County and the Chronicle of Liuba County describe the origin of Mipi in Hanzhong (southern Shaanxi) with similar stories related to Qin Shi Huang.
The cool skin is divided into two categories: rice skin and dough skin, the rice skin is steamed with rice pulp, and the skin is steamed with wheat flour washing pulp. Cool skin appetizer to remove greasy, dehumidify and cool down, reduce fire and relieve fatigue. The "Compendium of Materia Medica" says: Rice can nourish the spleen, and wheat can replenish the heart. If the spleen is good, the people are healthy; if the heart is good, the people are honest, and the Qin people have been unique since ancient times.
The white skin is topped with bright red oil and served with crispy bean sprouts, cucumber shreds or celery. The creamy and refreshing Qinzhen rice skin is made of locally produced indica rice, while the Hanzhong hot rice skin is soft and sticky and spicy. Woye Qianli Guanzhong is mostly made of wheat, chewy teeth, and some are mixed with honeycomb gluten (croak) full of soup, sour and spicy. The tough Baoji Qishan rolling dough skin is really delicious and energetic! There are also noodle skins, sesame sauce cold skins, konjac cold skins, black rice cold skins, mung bean cold skins... In northwestern China such as Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang, this kind of dough that is steamed with flour pulp juice is called stuffed skin and is a popular specialty.
Cool skin is cheap and good, convenient and fast, can be cold mixed, can also be hot stir-fried, can be eaten in all seasons. Weddings and funerals, or various festive festivals, cool skin is an indispensable part of local banquets. Cool skin investment is small, large profits, fast returns, has become one of the main items of snack business. Ancestral secret recipes, folk masters, seasoning varies from place to place, each with its own advantages.
Liu Bang with Ziyang steaming pot
Ziyang steamed pot is a famous traditional snack that originated from Hanwang Town, Ziyang County, Shaanxi Province. Widely circulated is the legend that it was founded in the Han Liu Bang period. When Liu Bang led the army to the Han Dynasty City at night, the villagers were ready to feast and entertain, but the army was about to leave the next day, and it was too late to cook step by step. Clever chefs add spices such as pig's trotters, hens, squid, black fungus, lotus vegetables, etc., and put them together in large black pots and steam them overnight over high heat. In the early morning, the soldiers woke up from the smell of incense, devoured and swallowed, and ate like a cloud in the wind, and their spirits were refreshed. Liu Bang was greatly appreciative and asked what the name of the dish was. The chef had never done this before, and when he was embarrassed, he saw the big black basin on the table, and the spirit moved to say that the dish was called "steaming pot".
The Ziyang steaming pot was first a stewed dish for Hanjiang steamers to rest their feet and gather, and later developed into the finale dish on the Chinese New Year's Eve reunion dinner. The selection of materials is exquisite, the workmanship is fine, and the procedures are complex. The main ingredients are all from local products, whole chicken (native chicken), pig's trotters, lotus root, red and white radish, yellow flowers, fungus, shiitake mushrooms, egg dumplings, water hair cuttlefish and other dried vegetables, the main utensils are locally produced large black pots, steaming must be used in the earth stove, bamboo firewood, steaming time must reach more than 8 hours.
10,000 flavors come together in one pot, mellow and delicious. The yuanbao-shaped egg dumplings, which mean "four seasons of wealth", are made into a "goldfish" type, which means "more than one year in a row", and the steamed pot symbolizes reunion, auspiciousness, prosperity and prosperity. Entertaining VIPs and handling red and white weddings, there is this unique and expensive dish at the banquet. For the return of relatives and friends to pick up the wind, or to go out to the door, also make a steaming basin to express hospitality.
Tang Taizong's bamboo shoot feast, fine wine and noodle soup
"Taste the fresh and all the spring shoots", since ancient times, it has been regarded as "the treasure of the dish", fat and crisp, nutritious and delicious. Tang Taizong liked to eat bamboo shoots, and whenever the spring shoots were listed, he always summoned the group of courtiers to eat bamboo shoots, which was called "bamboo shoot feast". He also used bamboo shoots to symbolize the prosperity of state affairs and the emergence of talents, just like "mushrooms after the rain". The Zhenguan Dynasty, fierce generals and strategists, talents, Ling Yange twenty-four heroes are among the best, the history is called China's most Qing Dynasty Zaifu general Xiangqun Yinghui. Tang Taizong "drove the heroic materials, pushed the heart to treat the soldiers", accepted advice like a stream, meritocracy, and the relationship between the monarch and the subject was extremely harmonious. According to Liu Zongyuan's "Dragon City Record", Emperor Taizong gave Wei Zheng "vinegar parsley" at the banquet, because it was his favorite small dish. Wei Zheng, who was not smiling and outspoken, had not eaten the meal, so he ate the vinegar parsley, his eyebrows flew and danced, and he talked and laughed.
In the fourteenth year of Zhenguan (640), after Tang Taizong obtained horse milk grapes and winemaking methods from Gaochangguo (Turpan), he not only planted grapes in the imperial garden of the imperial palace, but also personally participated in the brewing, resulting in eight colors of wine. "Fangxin is fierce and tastes thimper. Having conferred on the courtiers, the Kyoshi began to recognize its taste. (Song Dynasty Yuan Gui, vol. 970) The winemaking of wine moved from the court to the people, and the cultivation of grapes became popular. Datang is a glorious period in the history of Chinese winemaking, and the Tang people who used to drink rice wine have fallen in love with this healthy grape wine.
At the foot of Cuifeng Mountain in Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province, it is the place where Li Shimin, the king of Qin, met the immortals, and the legend of "Suogu Qingcha greeting the Tang King" originated from here. After Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, he pardoned Suogu as the "Lady of Quanzhen", and the Cuifeng wonton (noodle soup) made for him by Suogu also became a royal banquet for the court and was widely popular in the northwest region. This Suogu, who became an immortal, is recorded in the "Guanzhong Shengzhi Tuzhi", "Shaanxi Tongzhi", and the "Hengzhou EvenJi" of Zou Ru of Zhouzhi County in the Qing Dynasty. The ruins of the Molt Cave on the ancient cliff of Suogu still exist, and the Shrine of Our Lady of Suo on the top of Cuifeng Mountain has been incense from the Tang Dynasty to the present, and the folk call Xiangu "Sending Children".
Emperor Taizong had a fondness for the "Shaolin Eight Treasures Cake" and praised it as a "rare and strange taste", but unfortunately, the essence secret recipe of the Eight Treasures Cake was lost after the Tang Dynasty.
When Tang Taizong went to Linyou Jiucheng Palace to escape the summer and went to the countryside to inspect the people's feelings, he loved to eat fine and smooth blood noodles. This noodle has a unique flavor because it is made of fresh pig blood (or sheep's blood) and noodles, basketed and steamed, then dried and preserved. Also because of the complexity of the production process, no one else can do it. Because the emperor liked it, the local people cherished it even more. For thousands of years, the people of Linyou County have passed down the craft of blood noodles from generation to generation, and almost every household will make it.
Song Taizu with lamb steamed buns
The most flavorful delicacy in Guanzhong is the famous lamb steamed bun, which is fragrant, tender and mellow, steamed and tough, warm stomach and hunger tolerance, and replenishes the body. The bold northwestern man held the sea bowl, sucked and buried his head in hard work one by one, and ate and envied others.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, beef and mutton soup was listed as the ceremonial food of kings and princes, and it was called "sheep soup" in ancient times. Beef and lamb steamed buns evolved on the basis of ancient beef and sheep soup. Emperor Suzong of Tang (757) borrowed the Great Food (Arab) army to work with the Tang army to quell the "Anshi Rebellion". The Chang'an people saw that the big food soldiers often ate it with mutton soup mixed with "Turml" cakes, which is probably the predecessor of "dumpling dumplings" (lamb steamed buns), right? But the most talked about and widely influential story is the story of the Song Emperor Zhao Kuangyin who inadvertently invented the lamb soup steamed bun.
Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin had a difficult time when he was young and undemeaned. Legend has it that one winter, he was exiled to Chang'an, penniless, leaving only two pieces of dry steamed buns, so hard that he clenched his teeth and was difficult to swallow. Coincidentally, there was a small shop on the street that was cooking lamb, and he asked the owner for a bowl of steaming lamb soup, breaking the steamed bun into soft bubbles, and this delicious "soup steamed bun" made Zhao Kuangyin feel hot, hungry and cold, and his spirit was greatly invigorated.
Ten years later, Zhao Kuangyin became the founding emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, tasting all the delicacies of the world, but he could not forget the bowl of lamb soup steamed buns that were fragrant to the heart and warmed the whole body, he let the imperial chef make it several times, and he always felt that it was not the taste of the year.
Zhao Kuangyin went out to inspect, traveled to Chang'an, and then came to the street where he had wandered, he got off the royal dragon and went straight to the shop, ordering a bowl of mutton soup to soak the steamed buns. The emperor arrived, surprised and panicked Xiaomin. The shopkeeper broke the dead (unleavened) noodle cake that his wife had hurriedly burned, poured the mutton soup and boiled it, added spinach, vermicelli, and a few slices of lamb, with the seasoning, and served the emperor a large bowl full of aroma. Zhao Kuangyin tasted it, and the long-lost taste was found back, and he immediately feasted on it. After eating, the whole body was comfortable, and the satisfied emperor immediately rewarded the store.
Soon, the news that the emperor came to eat lamb steamed bun spread throughout Chang'an, and more and more people came to taste the delicious food. Many restaurants are also concocting, and the business is booming. Especially in the cold winter, people want to warm up the body like Zhao Kuangyin, mention the spirit, coupled with the story of the legend is quite inspirational, lamb steamed bun has become a favorite food of the highest officials and nobles, down to the People of Li. It looks simple and rugged, but in fact, from the preparation of broth, the process of cooking meat to the production of dry steamed buns, it is particularly exquisite, and it is known as "the first bowl in the world". Even su Dongpo, a great literary hero and a gourmet, praised: "Qin cooks only sheep soup, and Longfeng has bear wax." ("Kazuko sent by The Removal of Nichimi").
Kublai Khan and shabu-shabu lamb
Cold winter nights, wind and snow, the heat in the house, fresh fragrance. Friends and relatives sit around and eat hot pot shabu lamb, drinking wine and talking homely, which is both warm and nourishing and warm.
Hot pot ancient called "antique soup", because of the food into boiling water when the "grunt" sound made and named, the Zhou Dynasty Ding ware should be the earliest prototype of hot pot. The "five cooked kettles" of Cao Pi, the Emperor of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, that is, the pots that cook different ingredients at the same time in five compartments, can be called the ancestor of the "Mandarin Duck Pot". By the Tang Dynasty, there were already copper "warm pots". After thousands of years, it spread throughout the north and south of the great river, Sichuan's spicy, Fujian-Cantonese seafood, Hubei's wild game, Beijing's shabu-shabu... The hot pot blends the annual atmosphere of the reunion of thousands of families, and is known as the "spring breeze on the table" in the cold winter.
Lamb warms the heart and stomach, strengthens the yuanyang, replenishes qi and blood, dispels cold and fitness, and is a good ingredient for winter supplementation. "Lamb pot, the most ordinary delicacy in the cold of the year... It is a nomadic legacy of the north..." ("Hundred Words of the Old Capital"). According to research, the murals of ancient people sitting around the hot pot floor unearthed in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, depict the scene of the Khitan people eating shabu lamb in the early Liao Dynasty. After the alliance of the Yuanyuan, there was no war between the Song and Liao for a hundred years, the economic and trade exchanges were frequent, the Northern Song Dynasty exported tea and silk, the fat Liao sheep was quite popular with the officials and people of the Great Song Dynasty, and the taverns in Kaifeng City, Tokyo had hot pot in winter. The Southern Song Dynasty scholar Lin Hong's "Mountain Family Qing Offering" details the process of shabu rabbit meat, and emphasizes that the same method of shabu pork and mutton is the same. After The Mongol Yuan entered the Central Plains, it brought the peak of Chinese mutton consumption, and the practice of mutton was also diversified, among which the "raw cuàn (pronounced cuàn) sheep" was the predecessor of today's shabu lamb. The Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty ate chicken, mutton and mushroom hot pot every winter solstice, and the "Thousand Sorrows Feast" organized by the longevity emperor had more than 1550 hot pots. The mutton hot pot is also a popular diet full of fireworks in the city, and the "Qing Barnyard Banknote" says: "Kyoshi Winter... All are made of shabu lamb. ”
The most widely spread is the legend of Kublai Khan and Shabu Lamb. When Kublai Khan led his army to the south, he was camping and preparing dinner, when the war report came from the front, it was too late to stew mutton, but he could not fight with hunger! At Kublai Khan's urging, the chef cut the lamb into thin slices with a flying knife, put it in boiling water, and fished it out and sprinkled it with salt. The soldiers ate quickly and hurriedly mounted their horses to meet the enemy. Kublai Khan greatly appreciated this practice, not only fast cooking without delaying the fighter, but also exceptionally tender and delicious, and from then on the army often made shabu lamb.
Kublai Khan set the capital in Beijing, and his favorite shabu lamb was served at a lavish palace banquet. The copper pot of shabu lamb is covered with a lid like a yurt, and when the lid is opened, it is like the helmet of a Mongol cavalryman. It is said that Marco Polo ate this Mongolian hot pot in the Yuan Dynasty Palace, so the English translation of shabu lamb is Mongolian (Hot Pot), while the Japanese and Koreans simply call the hot pot "Kublai Khan".
Marco Polo dictated and Recorded by Lu Sittiqian in the "Travels of Marco Polo" (also translated as "Oriental Observations"), mentioning that there are many banqueting utensils and "extremely exquisite", "in the El Dorado of the East, residents like to eat milk ice", and "noodles", unfortunately, there is no record of hot pot, and there may also be abridgements in different versions, this strange book is still controversial, but the strong power of folklore can not be underestimated, with the historical value of supplementary reference.
Shabu lamb is not stewed slow cooking, the meat slices are cut as thin as paper and evenly, blanched and discolored, you can clip out the dipping sesame sauce and other spices to eat. Authentic shabu-shabu lamb pays attention to the copper pot clear soup, the bottom soup put a little green onion, ginger, goji berries, sea rice, eat the fresh lamb, the taste of nature. Finally, order cabbage, tofu, and vermicelli. Therefore, shabu lamb has very high requirements for meat quality, and in the early years, the good lamb restaurants in old Beijing chose sheep from the Mongolian Xilin Gol steppe, which were mellow and fragrant, tender and delicious.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Silver Ruyi
He was a poor cowherd, an orphan with a ruined family, a little monk begging for food, and once he fainted on the side of the road hungry, but thanks to a kind old woman who saved him, this bowl of food made of rotten vegetable leaves, steamed tofu and leftover rice grains became a delicacy in his heart - pearl emerald white jade soup.
This Monk of Yunyou, who had eaten and slept in the wind, later became the founding emperor of the whole world, and conquered the Northern Expedition in the south and recovered the northern barrier of the Han people in the Central Plains for four hundred years, Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and he was the Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang (October 1328 - June 1398).
All this was achieved on the eve of his 40th birthday (autumn 1368). At the celebration banquet of the rewarding courtiers, Zhu Yuanzhang named to eat "silver ruyi". The imperial chef was suddenly confused, never heard of it, and did not know how to do it, only the empress Ma Niangniang, who was familiar with the emperor's living habits and eating hobbies, understood, so she told the imperial chef the specific method.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos. Zhu Yuanzhang defected to Guo Zixing's rebel army, and because of his strange appearance, bravery in battle, and rough writing, he was appreciated by Guo Zixing and became the marshal's personal soldier Jiufu Commander. Send him to lead the army to fight, every battle will be won, there is courage and strategy, extraordinary ability, is a wizard blessed general also! As a result, Guo Zixing gave him his adopted daughter Miss Ma (Ma Xiuying, later Empress Ma), and the 25-year-old Zhu Yuanzhang became the marshal's son-in-law.
Shuaifu's home cooks make a good hand of noodles, one of which is called "Silver Ruyi", which is kneaded with fermented flour and lye water, removed from the sour taste and then steamed with sugar. Snow white as silver, shaped like cotton peach, soft and plump, the top "open mouth smile", such as flower bud blooming, also known as "flowering bun", "flowering bun".
Zhu Yuanzhang, who suffered from hunger and cold, had never eaten such a good steamed food, soft and delicate and flexible, the more he chewed, the more he loved, there was a rich wheat aroma, a faint sweetness. Eat it with vegetables and porridge, which is also delicious. This means auspicious and beautiful "silver ruyi" like his bride with a full moon, who is displaced and has nothing, and he has finally ushered in the spring of life and has a warm home from then on.
His honest and wise wife has always tried her best to help and support him, not only considerate and gentle, but also dedicated to solving his problems. Ma Xiuying's "rescue of the husband with cakes" is a good story, and Ma Dazu (without foot binding) carries the injured husband to escape from danger is even more touching, born into death, suffering and sharing, husband and wife love, deep love and righteousness. On the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly praised the empress's Shude to his subjects, comparing it to "wupu bean porridge" and "tuotuo wheat rice" (Later Han Shu Feng Yi Biography). Although it is already a nine-five-year-old, it is still more comfortable to eat home-cooked civilian meals, and it is more comfortable to eat.
At the end of the celebration banquet, the "Silver Ruyi Blossom Bun" loved by the Emperor came out. The ministers tasted it and praised it one after another. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Ma Xiuying, ordering this pasta is also a tribute to Wangfu's Kennaisuke, and the wife who understands the spirit of the gods will smile and nod to her husband...
Legend has it that the steamed bun was invented by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period. In the "Biography of He Zeng" in the Book of Jin, there is a record that "the steamed cake is not eaten as a cross", which means that if the steamed cake is not steamed with a cross crack, it will not be eaten. This kind of "flowering bun" that is steamed and cracked after fermentation is actually more like a pistachio. Peng Dayi of the Ming Dynasty mentioned in the "Shantang Wanton Examination and Diet Volume II" that Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty ordered the palace women to pick hundreds of flowers and rice steamed cakes to give heavy subjects. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi's daily breakfast was inseparable from "Silver Ruyi"! Flowering steamed buns are Kaifeng people's festivals and banquet snacks, gifts from Shaanxi villagers to relatives and friends, and some villages and counties in Shanxi have to steam flower buns every new year.
The process of making flowering steamed buns is quite strict. To make an authentic flower bun that naturally opens in steaming, it is necessary to pay attention to a "hair" word, and full fermentation is the key (the noodles are twice as large as the original), and the noodles need to go through two fermentations after they are reconciled. The craftsmanship of the noodles and the strength of the kneading dough are also important. No yeast, no baking powder, the use of ancient fat (noodle primer) noodles, the traditional flavor of natural mellow, more chewy. The more simple and unpretentious the noodles, the more they can test whether Kung Fu has arrived home.