In 1960, the year of Gengzi before the first century, the various undertakings of New China flourished vigorously. In the service industry, a major event has also occurred, when the party and the government awarded the title of "technician" for the first time to 72 outstanding service personnel such as chefs, photographers and hairdressers. This was a groundbreaking first for the service industry at the time. The Beijing Evening News of January 26, 1960, reported the news on the front page.
The first batch of "four famous chefs" in New China, from right: Wang Lan, Luo Guorong, Fan Junkang, Chen Sheng.
According to the archives in the collection of the Beijing Municipal Archives, a list of seventy-two technicians can be found that year. Among them, there are 45 chefs, and 3 chefs have been rated as special culinary technicians, namely Fan Junkang, Luo Guorong and Chen Sheng. In fact, as early as the 1950s, Luo Guorong, Fan Junkang, Wang Lan and Chen Sheng, four Chinese chefs, were awarded the title of "Special Chef" by the Beijing Municipal People's Government, and they were named "Four Famous Chefs" and "Four Famous Dans in the Chinese Culinary Circle" by the industry.
In the first batch of "four famous chefs" in New China, Luo Guorong's experience is extremely legendary, he was praised by the cultural celebrities of the time as the "holy hand of Sichuan cuisine" because of his superb cooking skills, and he also cooked delicious dishes for Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and others. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he became one of the chefs of the Beijing Hotel, making unique contributions to the major political activities of the party and the state as well as foreign affairs activities.
Luo Guorong (1911-1969)
The ya name "Roosevelt" spread throughout Bashu
On December 19, 1911, Luo Guorong was born in a poor peasant family in Huayuan Township, Xinjin County, Sichuan Province. Xinjin has always been known as the "hometown of famous chefs", and many famous Sichuan cuisine artists have emerged here. Wang Haiquan, a famous artist in the history of modern Sichuan cuisine, is a native of Xinjin, Sichuan. Wang Haiquan was the cook of Xi Liang, the governor of Sichuan at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and accompanied Xi Liang to Yunnan, Guizhou, Beijing and other places, because he traveled south and north, he was well-informed, he was proficient in a variety of cuisines, and was later revered as "The Great King". After the Xinhai Revolution, Wang Haiquan also left the official government and founded the Sanhe Garden in Chengdu.
Influenced by the "hometown of famous chefs", Luo Guorong, a teenager from a poor family, also chose the profession of chef. At the beginning of 1924, after many introductions, Luo Guorong worshipped Wang Haiquan as a teacher in the Sanhe Garden. In the Sanhe Garden, Luo Guorong worked hard and complained, rushing to do chores and tiring work, and Wang Haiquan also devoted himself to teaching him cooking skills and the way of being a person. Over the past few years, Luo Guorong learned his skills and became one of the most proud apprentices of the master. At the end of the three-year study period, according to the rules, it is necessary to do xie shijiu, which is considered to be a formal teacher, but Luo Guorong has no money, and he cannot get out of the teacher after four years. At that time, his eldest brother Luo Boqin, playing a good hand of chess, he found a local rich family to gamble chess, won three games in a row, with the support of these funds, Luo Guorong's Xie Shi feast was finally completed, and he could finally break through the rivers and lakes alone. After leaving school, 17-year-old Luo Guorong went to Work in Fuhua Garden in Chengdu, which was also the starting point of Luo Guorong's legendary life.
The restaurant owner Huang Shaoqing (Xinjin ren), who is also a generation in the history of Sichuan cuisine, provided Luo Guorong with a platform for practice. More importantly, Luo Guorong deeply rooted the cooking concept of "all materials into treasures" and "things are noble and cheap, and dishes are the same" in his heart, providing a foundation for him to improve dishes such as "boiled water cabbage" in the future.
After working in Fuhua Garden for three years, Luo Guorong came to the restaurant of famous chef Huang Jinglin: "Aunt Feast". Huang Jinglin is considered to be a key figure in the final period of the completion of the founding of modern Sichuan cuisine, and is praised by posterity as "the first to open the academicization of cooking", Luo Guorong accepted Huang Jinglin's guidance, and his cooking skills increased day by day.
In 1937, Luo Guorong left the "Aunt Feast" and was hired by Ding Cihe, director of the Chongqing Office of the 24th Army of the National Revolutionary Army (Commander Liu Wenhui), to serve as a chef in Ding Cihe's Chongqing Garden. At this time, when the War of Resistance Broke Out, many people from the Kuomintang high-level, military, and cultural circles gathered in Chongqing, and these celebrities were Ding Cihe's guests, which also provided Luo Guorong with a broad world. Luo Guorong's first-hand good dish soon became famous in Chongqing Xiaoyuan.
Once, Ding Cihe invited Zhang Daqian and other cultural celebrities to a banquet, and while discussing the situation, the princes at the table also tasted Luo Guorong's exquisite dishes, and someone humorously said: "The current US president is called Roosevelt, and this master in Mr. Ding's family has excellent cooking skills, and his surname is Luo, so I think we can call him Roosevelt in the culinary world." The crowd clapped their hands and applauded, and from then on, the nickname "Roosevelt" spread.
Frequent banquets have made Luo Guorong's cooking skills more and more refined, but Luo Guorong, who is in his twenties, understands that there is no best cooking, only better, only continuous progress, in order to become a real famous chef.
At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Lan, then a member of the Kuomintang Senate (who had been vice chairman of the Central People's Government after the founding of New China), lived in a small garden in Chongqing for a year and a half, and Zhang Lan loved Luo Guorong's liver cream soup and butterfly sea cucumber. Sometimes, Luo Guorong would also go to Zhang Lan's room to ask for advice on the dishes.
"Boiling water cabbage" enjoys a high reputation
In 1940, Luo Guorong, who was already famous at this time, left Chongqing and returned to Chengdu to open a restaurant: Yi shi, which served high-end Sichuan cuisine. Later, he opened a semicolon in Chongqing. At that time, Chongqing became the capital of the escort, and Chongqing's "Yi Shi" also became a place for high-level banquets.
Chiang Kai-shek has tasted the delicious food cooked by Luo Guorong many times. According to Luo Guorong's apprentice, Huang Ziyun, a "national treasure cooking master", Chiang Kai-shek's taste was relatively light, and Luo Guorong made him steamed eels, boiled water cabbage, guifei chicken, butterfly sea cucumber and other dishes, which Chiang Kai-shek liked very much.
Chiang Kai-shek was very fond of eating eels, and there was no eel in the southwest region that Chiang Kai-shek loved to eat. Later, some people often used planes to airlift eels to Chongqing, and whenever chiang kai-shek arrived, Chiang Kai-shek asked Luo Guorong to cook them at Chiang Kai-shek's Huangshan official residence and Linyuan official residence in Chongqing. Each time his dishes satisfied Chiang Kai-shek, on one occasion, Chiang Kai-shek also gave Luo Guorong a bucket of "555" cigarettes as a reward.
At the beginning of the opening of the Yi Dynasty, Kong Xiangxi sent someone to take 120 yuan of ocean and set two tables, and Kong Xiangxi ate very satisfactorily. The next day, Kong Xiangxi sent another person to send 120 yuan to the ocean, asking him to make two more tables and send it to Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek himself left one table, and the other table was given to Lin Sen, the elder of the Kuomintang and then chairman of the Nationalist government. Lin Sen was very happy after eating, and sent someone to send Luo Guorong a plaque of "Sichuan Cuisine Sacred Hand" that he had written in his own handwriting.
Among these delicacies, Luo Guorong's most classic dish "boiled water cabbage" has never been absent. When in Chongqing, many famous people have tasted this delicacy. Zhang Daqian praised "boiling water cabbage" as "a must for Sichuan cuisine", the entrance of cabbage is soft and tender slag, and "boiling water" is fresh and refreshing. Zhang Daqian gave such an evaluation: "Light and elegant in the taste of the true taste, innocence between the charm."
When Guo Moruo was in Chongqing, he also praised Luo Guorong as the "number one leader in the southwest". After he tasted the "boiling water cabbage", he asked Luo Guorong to tell the story of the cooking, and after listening, Guo Moruo exclaimed: "Simplicity sees complexity, and complexity is simple, which is called the best." ”
After tasting Luo Guorong's dishes many times, Xie Wuliang, a famous calligrapher (who was a professor at Chinese University and deputy director of the Central Museum of Culture and History after tasting Luo Guorong's dishes many times, compared the three dishes of "boiled water cabbage", "mushroom liver cream soup" and "chicken skin winter shoot soup" to the three treasures in the "Sanxitang" Fa Ti: "Boyuan Ti", "Qing Ti when the Snow Is Fast" and "Mid-Autumn Festival".
Because of the food, Xie Wuliang and Luo Guorong maintained a friendship for many years. In 1954, after Luo Guorong was transferred to Beijing, he often visited Mr. Xie Wuliang. Luo Guorong also used the rest time to make some dishes to send over, Mr. Xie Wuliang after tasting, every time praised, praised Luo Guorong as "good at making all products into treasures."
It is worth mentioning that Luo Guorong, who was born in poverty, is a person who is serious about love and righteousness and knows how to be grateful. In his later glory, he never forgot the people who helped him. He had great respect for Wang Haiquan, Huang Shaoqing, Huang Jinglin and others who had taught him art. He also had great respect for the eldest brother who paid for his thanksgiving. Luo Guorong later supported the life of his eldest brother, and when Luo Guorong came to Beijing in the 1950s, he also brought his eldest brother to Beijing to take care of his eldest brother's life until his death in 1962.
Win a lot of excitement at the state banquet
In 1945, on the occasion of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the two parties held a historic meeting in Chongqing on the future development of China, which was for the "Chongqing Negotiations." On August 28, 1945, Mao Zedong led a delegation of the Communist Party of China from Yan'an to Chongqing.
On the day that Mao Zedong and others arrived in Chongqing, Chiang Kai-shek hosted a banquet at the official residence of Lin Yuan. Chiang Kai-shek knew that Mao Zedong was fond of spicy, so he specially prepared several spicy dishes at the banquet. Although there is no clear record that the banquet that night was Chef Luo Guorong, Luo Guorong, as the "Holy Hand of Sichuan Cuisine", has long been the first choice for high-level people when setting up banquets.
After Chiang Kai-shek hosted a banquet to entertain Mao Zedong, important figures of the Kuomintang successively held banquets to invite Mao Zedong. According to the recollections of Fu Xuewen, the wife of the famous democrat Shao Lizi, during his stay in Chongqing, Shao Lizi, Zhang Zhizhong, Zhang Qun and others feasted on Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, and the dishes at the banquet that day were cooked by Luo Guorong. Both Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai praised the dishes, and Zhou Enlai praised Luo Guorong's butterfly sea cucumber in five words: "thin and soft glutinous".
It was this relationship that changed the trajectory of Luo Guorong's life in the future, allowing him to gradually grow from a poor chef to a generation of state banquet masters. In 1954, Luo Guorong was transferred to Beijing. Initially, Luo Guorong was assigned to serve Chairman Mao in Zhongnanhai, but later Chairman Mao believed that such an excellent cook should serve more people, so he was soon transferred to the Beijing Hotel. In the 1950s and 1960s, Beijing Hotel was the largest and most well-equipped hotel in China, and it was also the primary venue for undertaking foreign affairs services and major events, many state banquets were held at Beijing Hotels, and Luo Guorong also became one of the chefs of state banquets.
As soon as Luo Guorong arrived at the Beijing Hotel, he caught up with India's first Prime Minister Nehru's visit to China, and Premier Zhou hosted a banquet at the Beijing Hotel. The exquisite dishes at the state banquet made Nehru praise. At another light meal after the state banquet, Luo Guorong made one of his own specialties for Nehru: butterfly sea cucumber. After tasting the dish, Nehru praised it as a delicious work of art.
In 1956, Indonesian President Sukarno visited China, and China received it with the highest standards. When the leaders of the two countries met, Chairman Mao said: In terms of eating peppers, I am inferior to President Sukarno. So, at the banquet held at the Beijing Hotel, Luo Guorong fried a famous Sichuan dish: Kung Pao Chicken Cube. Sukarno liked it so much that a plate of dishes would come to an end in a moment. At this time, the attentive Premier Zhou immediately sent someone to inform the kitchen to make another copy immediately. Under normal circumstances, a plate of kung pao chicken must use seven or eight chicken legs, and it is too late to cut it now. Fortunately, Luo Guorong just cut out an extra portion of the chicken cubes for later use. So in less than three or five minutes, another kung pao chicken cube came out of the pot, which surprised Sukarno. After the banquet, Premier Zhou personally went to the kitchen to toast Luo Guorong and said to Luo Guorong: "Old Luo, your performance today is too good! ”
In 1959, the tenth anniversary of New China, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other national leaders held a grand banquet of 5,000 people in the Great Hall of the People, entertaining guests from more than 80 countries and well-known people from all walks of life in China. Such a large-scale state banquet requires a high degree of cooperation between the front desk and the back kitchen, no less than a battle. At that time, the chief commander of the front desk was Zheng Lianfu, the master of banquet design, and the chief commander of the back kitchen was Luo Guorong, Fan Junkang and Wang Lan, who led 200 or 300 cooking experts transferred from all over the country to cooperate. Due to the proper organization and scheduling, this unprecedented state banquet was a complete success. When Premier Zhou gave a toast to the staff, he patted Luo Guorong and said, "Old Luo, you are worthy of being a handsome talent!" ”
From 1954 to his death in 1969, Luo Guorong worked in the Beijing Hotel, and the fifteen years in the Beijing Hotel were also the most brilliant period of Luo Guorong's life, and his experience of cooking delicious dishes for many influential people has created the legendary life of this famous chef.
(Original title: Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai both praised the legendary life of Luo Guorong, the "holy hand of Sichuan cuisine" who praised his dishes)
Source: Beijing Evening News
Process Editor: u019
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