● In 1982, China and Japan jointly published the "Collection of Chinese Famous Dishes", and Rongyuan Was selected as the representative of Sichuan cuisine
● In 2013, Zhang Yuanfu began to restore some of the blue Sichuan cuisine, and finally the centennial banquet was reproduced
● Established the Blu-ray Jian Sichuan Cuisine Aesthetics Exhibition Hall to spread Sichuan cuisine culture
Zhang Hongxia, an all-media reporter of Sichuan Daily
At 7 p.m. on May 3, Zhang Yuanfu changed into a snow-white chef's clothes and walked into the private room where his old friend Li Anming was.
During the "May Day" holiday, Zhang Yuanfu stayed at the 1911 China Sichuan Cuisine Experience Center (hereinafter referred to as the "Sichuan Cuisine Center"). Not long ago, the Blu-ray Sichuan Cuisine Aesthetics Exhibition Hall was opened, and the Sichuan Cuisine Center was also opened at the same time.
"Hello Master Zhang, please sit down!" Li Anming can be called a fan of Zhang Yuanfu. As the third generation of blu-ray jian of the "father of modern Sichuan cuisine", Zhang Yuanfu, known as "vegetable idiot" in the industry, has fully reproduced the Rongyuan Garden package banquet that has disappeared for many years in the Sichuan Cuisine Center. That night, tasting food, a long story spanning a hundred years, made Li Anming and his friends addicted.
This is actually a story of Sichuan cuisine searching for roots and returning home.
The legend of Lanpai Sichuan cuisine
"Anyone who mentions Blu-ray Jian is full of respect in his tone." Food writer Shi Guanghua said that nearly half of the chefs in Shuzhong have a relationship with Rongpai Sichuan cuisine. Peng Ziyu, a master of Sichuan cuisine, also said that no matter how lush and the big tree of Sichuan cuisine falls to the roots, it has to be said to blu-ray jian and Rong Paradise.
In 1883, Blu-ray Jian was born in Chengdu, he was the eldest son in the family, and there were two brothers under him, named Lan Guangrong and Blu-ray Wall. The three Lan brothers divided their labor to operate RongYuan, which interpreted a legend.
Due to his family's poverty, Blu-ray Jian did not read much and had to start earning a living at the age of 13. An emerging team of professional chefs attracted young Blu-ray Jian - in the late Qing Dynasty, Chengdu officials were popular among family banquets, and the Qing court imperial chef and Manchu Guan Zhengxing founded Zhengxing Garden, transformed the full table of the manchu Han in the palace into a Sichuan version of the banquet, and organized a team of chefs to go to the door to do dishes, which was called "cold package banquet".
Blu-ray Jian (first from left) with well-known journalists and gourmets in Chengdu (center).
As soon as Guan Zhengxing saw The Blue Light Jian, he fell in love with this talented and intelligent teenager, went to the door to receive apprentices, and taught him hand in hand. Blu-ray Jian grew rapidly, and at the age of 16, he could cook alone on the stove and once led the palm of the magic to make a hundred table feasts. After that, Zhengxingyuan was on the verge of collapse for some reason, and Blu-ray Jianfu was idle at home thinking about making a living, and Guan Zhengxing came to the door again and persuaded Blu-ray Jian to set up another door to do it, not to live up to his own talents, and also to start a business with his brothers. In order to solve the problem of funds, Guan Zhengxing persuaded the businessman Qi Lezhai to invest 300 yuan of ocean to fund the Blu-ray Jian.
Thus, at the end of 1911, "Rong Paradise" was born and opened in Xinglong Nunnery in Today's Dongfeng Road, Chengdu, and the 28-year-old Blu-ray Jian ushered in his own era.
In 1933, The Park was moved to No. 1 Buhou Street, where it reached its heyday – covering thousands of square meters, with courtyards and gardens in front of it, as well as parking lots. The dining building is a small two-storey Western-style building, and the ground floor hall can open 100 tables at the same time.
At this time, Rong Paradise has been upgraded from a simple restaurant to a cultural and artistic place - in the private room, the four walls are hung with celebrity calligraphy and paintings, including Tang Bohu, Zhang Daqian and many other famous artists, and the calligraphy and paintings are changed every Monday, and they can not be repeated in January. The table and utensils are very exquisite. Behind the Rongyuan dining building is the kitchen, which occupies a wide area, with more than 200 people at the peak of the current affairs kitchen staff. Every morning, the sound of chopping meat on the pier of Rongyuan Park can be heard from afar.
Blu-ray Jian is respected by posterity as the "father of modern Sichuan cuisine", because on the one hand, he inherited the official cuisine of the Zhengxingyuan collection genre, on the other hand, he collected folk cuisine from all over the world, not only the largest restaurant at that time, but also promoted the innovation of the Shouzheng fusion series in the 1930s, and the dishes reached hundreds of colors, which further strengthened the prosperity of Chengdu's catering industry, known as "Sichuan cuisine authentic". The creation of more than 300 Sichuan dishes has created a new situation in Sichuan cuisine and formed a cooking concept of "taking me as the mainstay and using it for me", which is still very enlightening to this day.
At that time, Zhou Shanpei, the general office of Sichuan Persuasion Road, once praised: Chengdu Hundred Pavilions for banquet guests, Zhengxing Garden is the crown of Rong. There are thousands of people in the treatment, and Sichuan flavor is the first to promote blue light. "Rong Zu Rongxian four seasons of color fragrant soup, Leshan Leshui eight treasures delicious yin and yang." This is the famous association of Rongyuan in New York in 1980, and it is also the interpretation of the food proposition of Rongyuan in later generations.
Zhang Yuanfu went out of the mountain again
On the evening of April 27, Zhang Yuanfu was busy late at the master's studio at the Sichuan Cuisine Center. The next day, the Blu-ray Sichuan Cuisine Aesthetics Exhibition Hall will be unveiled, and the predecessors, peers and cultural people in the Sichuan cuisine industry will be invited to witness this moment. After three years of preparation, Zhang Yuanfu was worried: What do people in the industry think? Can you get the approval of your predecessors?
Learning to cook when he was young, starting a business as a young man, carrying a top job in his prime, and teaching in his later years, Blu-ray Jian was hailed as a "culinary prodigy rarely seen in a hundred years". Such a blu-ray appreciation has become the goal of Zhang Yuanfu's lifelong pursuit.
"He is a vegetable idiot" "Sichuan cuisine revitalization, where he goes to say where"... Although he is more than a year old, the outside world talks about Zhang Yuanfu, still feel that he is full of youthfulness, "gourmet plus beauty, I have only done two things in my life", for the revival of Sichuan cuisine, while calling for practice and pushing, wholeheartedly.
Zhang Yuanfu made Blue Pie Sichuan cuisine.
"I'm the first chef in Chengdu to drive a Mercedes." Zhang Yuanfu said that because he opened his own sofa furniture factory while working as a chef. A native of Chengdu, he worked as a cook in the army for more than a year, and after being demobilized, he was assigned to a vocational school as a cook.
From 1983 to 1989, it was zhang Yuanfu's years as a chef and furniture factory owner, from the most cattle Honda 145 motorcycle to the earliest Mercedes-Benz sedan, he was the first to get rich. At the age of 30, Zhang Yuanfu chose to be a professional chef, he felt that he belonged to the focused personality, taking the road of specialization is more suitable, and has since worked in a number of famous restaurants. During this period, he studied under the chinese elder-level Sichuan cuisine master Wang Da, the second generation of Rongyuan, and began to inherit and study Blue School Sichuan cuisine.
Zhang Yuanfu
Around 1999, Zhang Yuanfu "disappeared" in the industry for 3 years, staying in Shuangliu's studio to develop and make various tableware. "In the era of Blu-ray Jian, Sichuan cuisine is very particular about the matching of gourmet food and utensils, and the culture of the ancestors cannot be submerged." Zhang Yuanfu hid in the rivers and lakes. This time the Sichuan Cuisine Center opened, Zhang Yuanfu specially designed a full set of lacquerware tableware, which won a lot of applause.
In 2013, Zhang Yuanfu and his partners opened a restaurant to restore some of the Blue Pie Sichuan cuisine, which won the recognition of diners, and the business has been booming. In 2017, Zhang Yuanfu and Wang Development jointly founded the Bao Xi Guan Song YunZe to restore the banquet system, process and technique of RongYuan Park, which was highly praised by food company Cai Lan and many industry awards including "Black Pearl". After that, Zhang Yuanfu resumed the cooking techniques of Sichuan cuisine small frying and short stir-frying. Sichuan Cuisine Center is the mature version and advanced version of Song Yunze, and the centennial banquet is fully reproduced here.
"In the past ten years, I have tried step by step, inviting the Sichuan cuisine system of Rongyuan back little by little, doing it very hard and long, but fortunately, every step has been stable, and it has verified that Rongpai Sichuan cuisine has vitality and can withstand the test of time and the market." Looking back, Zhang Yuanfu is pleased that the vision in his heart has been realized step by step.
Lan family descendants to "Blue family cuisine"
At the opening ceremony of the Blu-ray Jian Sichuan Cuisine Aesthetics Exhibition Hall, Lan Yutian, the grandson of Blu-ray Jian, as the representative of the Lan family, signed a "Power of Attorney" with Zhang Yuanfu, and handed over the relevant materials and documents and furniture of blu-ray Jian to Zhang Yuanfu for safekeeping.
This is a very solemn delivery of Blu-ray jian descendants. Prior to this, the lan family descendants had held several rounds of family meetings to discuss whether to agree to open the museum and whether to hand over their grandfather's belongings — for more than half a century, none of the Lan family's descendants had been engaged in the catering industry.
Lan Yutian and Zhang Yuanfu met because of a magical fate.
In May 2019, Lan Yutian's mother celebrated her 102-year-old birthday. How do you have a meaningful birthday? Lan Yutian thought of "Song Yunze", and the name of this restaurant that was named Rongpai Sichuan Cuisine Bao Xi Guan had been ringing in the ears of the Lan Yutian family for two years.
In 1948, Blu-ray Jian closed the Vinh Land, and the chefs scattered. In 1956, when the public-private partnership was launched, it was assigned to the Chengdu Catering Company, and it is still a state-owned brand. In 1982, China and Japan jointly published the "Collection of Chinese Famous Cuisines", Sichuan cuisine as one of the four major cuisines in China, included in it, the famous Rongyuan Garden was selected as the representative of Sichuan cuisine. Zhang Yuanfu's master, Chinese Sichuan cuisine master Wang Development, participated in the preparation of 13 Rongyuan dishes selected in the "Chinese Famous Dishes Collection".
Since then, with the rise and fall of Sichuan cuisine, RongYuan Park has opened and closed, closed and opened, opened and closed again, after two twists and turns, and finally due to factors such as the change of the times, the change of taste, the lack of talents, etc., in 2004, it completely bid farewell and drowned in the tide of the times.
Lan Yutian said that the appearance of Song Yunze made them happy and surprised. Through the contact of friends, on the day of his mother's birthday, Lan Yutian and Lan Xiaohui, the eldest sister who rushed back from Australia, accompanied her mother into Song Yunze.
Jar meat, amaranth lion's head... The dishes of that day's luncheon were all on the menu of Rong Paradise, and they were also familiar to the Lan family. "My mother was very happy, felt very kind, and vaguely saw the shadow of Rong Paradise." Lan Yutian was glad to have made that decision.
The recognition of the Lan family made Zhang Yuanfu extremely happy. He and Lan Yutian also got closer, and his professional attitude towards excellence in cooking skills impressed the descendants of the Lan family.
"Don't let the spicy marijuana turn the way of Sichuan cuisine crooked!" "Sichuan cuisine is known for its freshness and spicyness, and it cannot blindly cater to the market, only to see spicy and not fresh, losing the origin of Sichuan cuisine." Zhang Yuanfu said that this is the root of his Sichuan cuisine.
Cai Lan and Zhang Yuanfu "passed the move"
On the evening of May 20, 2020, in a restaurant in Chengdu, cai lan was in the center of the food crowd, and Zhang Yuanfu stood aside. Every dish came up, Zhang Yuanfu introduced the source of ingredients and cooking methods to Cai Lan in detail, Cai Lan is everyone, as soon as he hears it, he understands and learns it. For example, "Fragrant Sun Liver Cream Soup", he started with Zhang Daqian's love, with the heart of cultural pilgrimage, and ate the history and thickness of different cuisines from others.
When the waiter brought a piece of bacon, Cai Lan felt good, Zhang Yuanfu said: "This is our own bacon, made of the best pork belly, not much left, I send you a piece to taste", he also made and brewed a jar of watercress sauce for 10 years to Mr. Cai Lan.
Zhang Yuanfu shows Sichuan utensils.
That night, the guests and hosts had a good time. When the assistant at the next table reported Mr. Cai Lan's arrangement for the next day, when it came to the place of lunch, Cai Lan did not hesitate to point down and point a little harder, meaning "right here." At the same time, Cai Lan made several small wishes to Zhang Yuanfu, hoping to be satisfied at the table the next day: one was to add another pot of meat fried by Zhang Yuanfu himself, and the other was to add two dishes that Master Zhang had pioneered and sold to the explosion, "soba noodle mixed meat" and "crispy powder tamales".
After Cai Lan left, Zhang Yuanfu got busy. The meeting, which was 8 years late, made him impressed by the old man's exquisite insight into food, and also made him feel the joy of being "understood". He took out the most tender part of the bamboo thorn that he personally picked in Yibin Zhuhai in April, tried to make a "fragrant sun liver cream soup", and prepared enough ingredients to cook two portions the next day, making a "double insurance". Soba noodles were eager to get it, so he used cold noodles instead of trying them, and the taste was not bad!
Reunited on May 21, Cai Lan told Zhang Yuanfu just after meeting: "I returned to the hotel last night, opened the watercress sauce you sent me and secretly tasted it, the taste is very good!" I wonder if you can give me another can and take it with me after I finish eating. Cai's bluntness and innocence impressed Zhang Yuanfu, and what can make the world-famous gourmets nostalgic must be what he really likes."
That day's lunch was a first-class collision of stunts and good reviews, and each dish carefully prepared was touched to his heart by Mr. Cai Lan's stomach, "the whole time was smiling, while tasting it, he was very happy and contented to laugh", Zhang Yuanfu also felt satisfied.
On May 23, Cai Lan tweeted 5 blog posts on his personal Weibo, recommending 5 impressive Song Yunze dishes. On June 3, he personally wrote an article on the media platform "Mo let Sichuan cuisine become only hot pot", solemnly introducing Song Yunze and Zhang Yuanfu, and introducing 13 dishes in a row, which is rare in his Weibo and WeChat public account articles. Moreover, Cai Lan understands that although Sichuan cuisine is famous all over the world, it is covered with a "spicy" word, and people think that the representative of Sichuan cuisine is hot pot, after in-depth tasting and understanding of the classic Sichuan cuisine represented by Song Yunze, he expressed his heart directly, and also shouted to the Sichuan tourism department in the air, "We should vigorously promote and inherit these ancient Sichuan famous dishes, expand publicity, let the younger generation re-understand Sichuan cuisine, and do not let Sichuan cuisine become only hot pot." ”
(Images in this edition are provided by the interviewee)
Protagonist business card
Zhang Yuanfu, born in 1958, Chengdu "kitchen idiot", the third generation of Lanpai Sichuan cuisine, was awarded the title of "Chinese Culinary Master" by the China Cuisine Association in the Great Hall of the People in 2002. He is committed to promoting Sichuan cuisine culture, obsessed with the creation of Sichuan cuisine dishes and utensils, founded the "Blu-ray Sichuan Cuisine Aesthetics Exhibition Hall" and "1911 China Sichuan Cuisine Experience Center", comprehensively presents the multi-dimensional information of the formation, extension and change of modern Sichuan cuisine, promotes the cultural exchange of contemporary Sichuan cuisine, culinary research and development, dish innovation and experience, etc., and becomes a new platform for traditional Sichuan cuisine to modernize.