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Gancai has developed for thousands of years, and the flavor of Gancai has also undergone many changes and transformations, and finally formed the current Gancai. From the perspective of the historical stage of development, the development of Gancai has gone through four stages.
Stir-fried beef in the field
First, it evolved from a farmhouse dish to a literati dish
Jiangxi has been a traditional agricultural province since ancient times, with a long history of farming culture, and its catering is more inclined to the flavor of farmhouse cuisine. However, there are many literati in Jiangxi since ancient times, especially with the prosperity of academy education, the prevalence of reading and seeking shi, during the Song and Ming dynasties, Jiangxi cultural giants spewed out thin, opened sects and established sects, and led the trend, Yan Shu, Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi, Zeng Gong, Huang Tingjian, Lu Jiuyuan, Yang Wanli, Wen Tianxiang, Xie Jin, Tang Xianzu and so on are the most outstanding representatives. During the Ming Hongwu period, there were 881 jinshi in the country, and there were 147 in Jiangxi. Coupled with the beautiful mountains and rivers in Jiangxi and the unique scenery, whether it is the emperors and generals who have come to visit, the literati and inkers, or the local growing literati talents, they have influenced the food culture of Gancai and left many good stories through the ages. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang was hungry to eat "stray chicken", Qianlong Wild Tour unforgettable "silver fish meat shreds", Fan Zhongyan appreciated "Pohu Fish Rice", Zhang Tianshi sour "Shangqing Tofu", Tao Yuanming drunkenly roasted "Chrysanthemum Hot Pot", Xu Xun was keen on "Fried Bacon with Quinoa", Zhou Yu's disease supplement "Chai Sang Duck", Wang Bozhi's "Double-layer Meat", Bai Juyi's feelings of "Homesick Fish", Tang Xianzu's love for "Frozen Rice Meatballs", Ouyang Xiu's association with "Sea Cucumber Eyebrow Pills", Wen Tianxiang's "Wenshan Chicken Cubes", and so on. It is the good story of Gancai and historical celebrities that makes Jiangxi cuisine also called "literati cuisine".
Stray chickens
Silver fish meat shreds
Second, upgrade from local flavor to national banquet
Although Gan cuisine is known as "literati cuisine", it is still lonely compared to other cuisines. In 1983, Jiangxi sent a delegation composed of more than 20 first-class chefs to Beijing to carry out the exhibition and sales of Jiangxi famous dishes, and 30 Gan cuisines appeared in Beijing for the first time with the group, which was favored and praised by the older generation of central leaders. The party and state leaders received all the comrades of the delegation. After tasting Jiangxi cuisine, Wang Zhen inscribed "Poyang Lake aquatic products, Jinggangshan mountain treasures, Jingdezhen porcelain tools, Jiangxi chefs, praised the world". After the meeting, the delegation was invited to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse for a cooking performance, which was well received, "three cups of chicken" and "sea cucumber eyebrow pills" were included in the national banquet menu, and a special clay pot clay stove was specially ordered in Fuzhou Nanfeng for cooking "three cups of chicken". In 1988, the Nanchang Municipal Government cooperated with the Xuanwu District Government of Beijing to open the first Gan cuisine style restaurant (Tengwangge Restaurant) on Luomashi Street in Xuanwu District, Beijing, and the then provincial party secretary attended the opening ribbon-cutting ceremony, so that the Gancai brand gradually sang in Beijing.
Sea cucumber eyebrow pills
Third, from traditional skills to multi-flavor integration
After the reform and opening up, the development of the market economy has been accelerating, while the development of traditional Gancai has encountered bottlenecks, and Gancai craftsmen have also begun to think about transformation and innovation, hoping to keep the main position of Gancai. The first is the acceleration of the pace of life. With the continuous improvement of the development of productive forces, people's work rhythm, the rhythm of life are constantly accelerating, so the time of dining is compressed, if in accordance with the traditional Gancai method, firing a table of large dishes, the production links are many, time-consuming, guests are difficult to wait, and the turnover rate will be greatly reduced. In order to pursue economic benefits, improve the speed of serving and the frequency of turning over, many traditional techniques have used modern techniques, such as low-heat slow simmering into pressure cooker stew, fresh ingredients for semi-finished dishes, flavor coloring more emphasis on industrial seasoning, and so on. There are gains and losses in doing so, losing some of the deliciousness and increasing the yield. The second is the impact of foreign cuisine. With the progress of economy and society, the flow of people and logistics business flow grew rapidly, since the early nineties, the operation of Cantonese cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Hunan cuisine and other foreign cuisines have appeared in Nanchang restaurants, sales are extremely hot, and even have to queue up to order meals. First there is the Sichuan cuisine of Chengdu Tan fish head hot pot hot pot hot open, then there is the Bian vegetable root is very popular, and there is the halal "Dong Lai Shun" unique, and then the Hangzhou gang dish Xin WangGe shining debut, as well as Cantonese cuisine A yi abalone resounding throughout Nanchang, and so on. These famous stores of foreign cuisines have quickly occupied the market in Nanchang, but due to the dissatisfaction of water and soil, high prices, business strategy errors and other reasons, they quickly withdrew from the Jiangxi market, and new foreign cuisines continued to rush to the beach. The third is to seek innovation and integration in survival. The competition of foreign cuisines has effectively stimulated local Gan cuisine and brought more valuable experience to the development of Gan cuisine. Gancai catering began to explore and innovate continuously, absorbing the advantages and characteristics of foreign cuisines, food culture, marketing strategies, developing more seasoning techniques, techniques and new flavors, on the basis of paying attention to traditional characteristics, changing the characteristics of salty, spicy, heavy color, oily and thick in the past dishes, paying more attention to highlighting the original taste and compound taste of dishes, and developing towards the tastes that conform to the trend of modern catering consumption, meet people's consumption needs, and are suitable for local customs and habits, further enriching the connotation of Gancai. It has improved the grade and level of Gancai. For example, Ganwei 001, GanyaoWang, Duyi, Heweiyuan, Yutu Restaurant, etc. are all famous, and today's Yunjing Ecological Park, Furnace Reminiscence Family Banquet, Xunyang Feast - a boat of fish a day, small chai rice and other new brands of Gan cuisine are quite famous in the Nanchang market.
CloudLand Ecological Park
The hearth remembers the family feast
Fourth, from fragmentary memory to system integration
The concept of Gancai was proposed late, and it was not until 1983 that Jiangxi cuisine was called Gancai after it entered the Beijing Festival. This actually shows that Gan cuisine has not yet formed a system, only the story of master-apprentice pairing skills and word of mouth. However, after years of development, under the efforts of the majority of Gancai masters, Gancai has formed many dishes and unique styles, but it is difficult to accurately count how many Gancai dishes there are. The introduction of Gan cuisine was first found in Yuan Ming's "Suiyuan Food List" in the Qing Dynasty, which recorded the famous dish "tamales" in Jiangxi. In 1980, Nanchang Catering Service Company published the "Nanchang Recipe", and Gancai was systematically summarized for the first time. In 1986, the Department of Commerce of Jiangxi Province compiled the "Famous Recipes of Jiangxi", which included a total of 209 meat dishes, aquatic dishes, poultry egg dishes, game dishes, beets, vegetarian dishes, tofu dishes, and other dishes. After 1991, the Nanchang Catering and Culinary Industry Association published the "Gancai Culture Dictionary", "Gancai Allusions Anecdotes", and "Gancai Cuisine Stories", which included and compiled more than 100 Gancai allusions, further enriching the Gancai food culture. In 2006, the Jiangxi Provincial Cuisine Association published the book "Chinese Gan cuisine", selected 461 dishes (including 439 dishes and 22 noodles), and gave a detailed introduction to the cultural allusions, raw material selection, production methods, and characteristics of each dish, which is the most important work of Gan cuisine at present. In addition, Gancai chefs actively participate in various international and domestic activities and competitions, in 2003, during the 13th China Chef Festival held in Nanchang, Gancai dressed up and appeared in glory, winning the 288 Chinese famous dishes and famous banquet gold medal awards in one fell swoop, which was highly appreciated by cooking masters at home and abroad. In 2011, Jiangxi selected "Tourists' Favorite Top Ten Gan Cuisines". In 2020, the "Top Ten Famous Dishes" and "Top Ten Snacks" were selected, and the "Three-Year Action Plan for Gancai Brands in Jiangxi Province" was released, which further enhanced the popularity of Gancai and clarified the future action plan.
Meal menu with the garden
Book "Chinese Gancai"