All major Chinese cuisines are good at making and using soups. In particular, Lu cuisine and Cantonese cuisine soup are even more skilled. Sichuan cuisine soup is also based on the mystery of it, combined with the characteristics of Sichuan cuisine to refine a set of exquisite cooking techniques for making clear soup, milk soup and red soup. The charm of the dish lies in the taste, and the mystery of the taste lies in the soup. As the saying goes: "The cavity of the singing, the soup of the chef". What is less known is that cooking soup, because there are "three highs", that is, high raw materials, high technology, and high cost, it is called "soup". Chefs can't help but use soup to flavor and spice up dishes. However, nowadays, most restaurants and restaurants are difficult to see chefs hanging soup, soup making, at most a pot of boiled raw meat head soup, but most of them use a variety of soup treasures, flavor enhancers, fresh flavor agents, chicken powder, chicken paste, chicken essence and other synthetic soups to mix and cook soup. If you abandon the traditional soup hanging and completely rely on ready-made synthetic seasonings to blend, it is impossible to abandon the roots and lose the roots, and it is more difficult to reflect the true taste and essence of cooking, and there is also the suspicion of deceiving consumers. Especially in recent years, with the continuous prosperity and rapid expansion of Sichuan cuisine, the interest and attention of foodies and fans at home and abroad in Sichuan cuisine have also hit people. A "boiling water cabbage" has caused heated discussion in the market. Of course, this boiling water is better than boiling water, and this dish embodies the culinary realm of Sichuan cuisine's good soup and wonderful soup.
Chicken and beef soup
Singing cavity Chef's soup
In Sichuan cuisine, taste is the soul of vegetables, and soup is the spirit of taste. In the industry, there is a saying that "no vegetables do not use soup, and no soup is difficult to become a dish". Steaming, stir-frying and stir-frying can not be separated from the soup to become a dish. Even dry-roasted dishes require soup to be cooked until the juice is harvested. For example, shark fin, sea cucumber, abalone fish, it is necessary to repeatedly feed the high-grade soup, simmer for a long time, so that the fresh aroma of the soup is immersed in and dissolved into one, in order to achieve the effect of soft and sticky, thick juice. Like the "bamboo sun liver cream soup" and "chicken skin bamboo shoot soup" in Sichuan cuisine, most of their taste is fresh and elegant, focusing on the soup. Nowadays, the "chicken beef soup", "dragon and phoenix soup", "amaranth chicken bean flower", "pocket tofu", "emerald hoof swallow soup" and "clear mouth vegetarian soup" of The Songyunze Baoshi Restaurant are all wonderful soup dishes.
The various genres of Sichuan cuisine have always paid attention to the use of soup, and famous chefs can make a good soup. Rong Paradise, the top historical restaurant of Sichuan cuisine, has a soup dish named Bashu, which is not only good at making soup, but also more skillful in using soup and magic soup. Blu Jian, the founder of RongYuan Park and the founder of modern Sichuan cuisine, told the secret of making soup and hanging soup: First, pay attention to the heat, "milk soup should be fierce (boiled on high fire), clear soup should be hung (simmered on a small fire);" The second is to pay attention to ingredients, "no chicken (old hen) is not fresh, no duck (old duck) is not fragrant, no belly is not white (pork belly), no elbow (pork knuckle) is not thick." "The art of this hanging soup has been passed down to this day. The soup dishes in Rong Paradise are not only varied and self-contained, but also delicious and delicious. Its widely acclaimed representative dishes include: boiled water cabbage, bamboo pigeon egg soup, chicken bean flower, white ear pigeon egg soup, meat cake soup, Cigu meatball soup, tomato oxtail soup, mussel winter melon soup and so on.
Butterfly bamboo soup cooked by Sichuan cuisine master Zhang Zhongyou
Like "boiling water cabbage", its raw material is cabbage heart, it does not sound like it is worth much, but the soup used for this dish is very expensive, the clear soup it uses is boiled to a certain extent by small fires such as chicken, duck, pork chops, stick bones, ham bones, etc., patiently and carefully skimming the foam, and repeatedly sweeping the soup through red mushroom (lean pork) white mushroom (chicken), simmering over low heat. So hanging out of the clear soup, the soup is clear, mellow, natural and fragrant, looks like green tea water, called special clear soup, high-grade clear soup, used to cook high-end dishes.
Sichuan cuisine cooking soup is usually divided into: head soup (original soup), two soups (mao soup), broth, bone broth, chicken soup, duck soup, fish soup, beef soup, mutton soup, milk soup, clear soup, mouth soup, old soup (special red soup), etc.; among them, which is often used in medium and high-end dishes are clear soup, milk soup and red soup, generally referred to as broth. In cooking, the soup dish, with the soup as the main ingredient, the soup is the main ingredient; the cooking dish, with the soup as the juice, the soup is the ingredient; the stir-fry, with the soup with the juice, the soup is the seasoning; and the cold vegetables to collect the juice, the same with the soup mixing, so that it is delicious and delicious. Therefore, Sichuan cuisine divides the soup very finely, which shows its intentions and the essence of its hard work.
Dragon phoenix soup
The clear soup is not clear, fragrant and delicious
For example, it is used to cook boiled water cabbage and chicken bean blossom clear soup. That is, to the old hen, old hen duck, pork ribs, ham, stick bones (pig's trotters) into the pot with water to boil to beat the foam, and then boiled with a high heat for about an hour, all the materials are fished up and rinsed, the original soup is filtered and boiled, the soup is swept with chopped pork lean meat (red mushrooms), and then put in the raw materials, changed to a low heat and simmered for an hour and then fished out the raw materials, and then use the minced chicken breast meat (white mushrooms) to sweep the soup. And the red and white meat that was swept twice into a meatloaf, wrapped in gauze and put into the soup pot half-dropped and half-floated, simmered on simmering, and hung on low heat for later. The secret of hanging clear soup is: no chicken is not fresh, no duck is not fragrant. The technical requirements of clear soup production are higher, and its cost is also higher, so it is called special clear soup and high-grade clear soup. The soup is brown in color, clear to the bottom, light but not thin, fragrant and delicious, and is mostly used for high-end dishes for feasts.
In addition, the dish "boiling water cabbage" was improved and created by Luo Guorong in the 1940s from Huang Jinlin's aunt Feast, and is considered to be one of the representative dishes of modern Sichuan cuisine. Boiling water cabbage bowl is "boiled water", clear flowers bright color, crystal bottom, the water is one or two cabbage hearts or a few tender green shoot tips, like jasper floating in the bowl, steaming, but there is no oil star, but as long as you drink a tablespoon, the delicious fragrance of the taste is indescribable, only feel that the mouth is comfortable, refreshing; with its "liver cream soup" and "chicken skin winter shoot soup" three high-grade soup dishes and crown Bashu. Luo Guorong also launched the soup dish "liver cream soup" as the first dish of the banquet, which was considered to break the tradition and refresh the diners. At that time, the Chinese calligraphy master Xie Wuliang likened these three famous soup dishes to the "Boyuan Thesis", "Qingtian Thesis when it rained fast" and "Mid-Autumn Festival" in the "Three Xitang Fa Ti". In 1953, Luo Guorong was ordered to enter Beijing, and his three famous soup dishes became the state banquet dishes of the Beijing Hotel.
Boiling water cabbage
Like milk, thick and thick than pulp
Milk soup, like milk. It is usually boiled with old hens, old hen ducks, pig trotters, pork belly, and pork knuckles. The secret of boiling milk soup is: no belly, no white, no elbow and no thick. When making, put the washed raw material into an appropriate amount of water pot, boil over high heat to remove the foam, cover it with a lid, boil until the soup is white and thick, fish out the material, the soup is filtered and then left for later, according to the needs of the dish, scoop it into the pot and boil it to taste. Milk soup is also more expensive and exquisitely made, so it is often called "special" or "high-grade" milk soup. The soup is thick and white like milk, the taste is mellow and fragrant, and it is mostly used for high-grade milk soup dishes or milk soup as seasoning dishes, such as milk soup abalone, white juice fish lips, dried scallop vegetable hearts, white juice asparagus and so on. Nowadays, many restaurants and restaurants use chicken juice, soup treasure, milk or cheese to mix milk soup, which is contrary to the bottom line of professional ethics.
In the early 1950s, Wu Yusheng, a national treasure-level Sichuan cuisine master, was both good at making soups and using soups more skillfully. Through decades of practice and exploration, his hanging soup technique has reached the point of pure fire. For example, the hanging "milk soup" is made with wood chicken, pig's feet, pork knuckles, pork belly, put in the onion and ginger, and cooked for 4 to 5 hours on high heat, and the soup is white and thick, and the flavor is delicious. The milk soup hanging by Master Wu Yusheng drips to the ground, and when it cools, it will turn into a milky white milk ball, and when you flick it with your hand, the milk ball will bounce forward. Master Wu Yusheng's superb soup hanging skills have been called "like magic tricks" by industry insiders.
Nowadays, Zhang Yuanfu, a famous sichuan chef in Chengdu Songyunze Bao xiguan, according to people's dietary fashion, uses fish, mushrooms, fried eggs, fried meat yuan, crispy meat and other accessories to boil the thick soup, and then uses sea cucumber, dried scallops, grass mushrooms, winter shoots, bamboo shoots, wood ear fungus, vegetable heart, carrots as ingredients, so that its soup color is thick and white and slightly beige, colorful; the soup is less animal fat, cholesterol, and rich in plant protein and amino acids; the soup taste is natural and delicious, and the taste is rich and nourishing, refreshing and beautiful.
The great thing about pocket tofu is that the milk soup is delicious and fragrant
Red soup is not red And the function is very useful
Wu Yusheng, a national treasure-level Sichuan cuisine master who was originally in Beijing, once said: What dishes are fried and what soups are used are also very exquisite. To cook braised dishes, such as braised sea cucumbers, braised abalone, etc., use red soup so that the cooked dishes are bright in color and delicious in taste.
In Sichuan cuisine, red soup is also a high-grade soup, made with old hens, duck, pork knuckles, pig trotters, ham hooves and mushrooms (some with beef) and water carefully boiled. The finished red soup is light red in color and mellow in taste. It is common to use high-end dishes such as braised and dry-roasted as auxiliary soups. Such as braised shark fin soup, dry roasted deer tendon, jar meat and so on. The boiling of red soup is very delicate, and in the past it was the teacher's own hands. First of all, the chicken, duck, elbow, hoof and other treatment should be cleaned, put the water on high heat, beat the foam, and then switch to a low heat, and then add mushrooms, cooking wine, soy sauce, pepper and other seasonings, cover the lid, but leave some gaps, continue to simmer until the soup is thick.
In traditional cuisine, soup dishes are broadly divided into three categories: soup dishes, half soup dishes, and dishes with mustard juice. The soup dishes are mainly soups, and the soup dishes are equally heavy, and the atmosphere is filled with a deep bowl. Such as milk soup shark fin, milk soup sea cucumber, clear soup bird's nest, etc.; half soup dish, to the amount of vegetables as the weight, appropriate use of soup, mostly used for banquet craft dishes, such as pineapple fish belly, butterfly sea cucumber, etc.; sauce dish, is to add sauce to the soup, increase the thickness of the soup, so that the soup is attached to the dish, vegetable soup as a whole, after the dish scooped, such as white oil qingyuan, shrimp soup soup, etc. Soup, mellow taste, rich taste, high nutrition, easy to absorb. The beautiful soup of the four seasons, suitable for all ages, women and children are especially happy, is a natural product for gourmet health. Cooking soup, when taking the nature, cooking the nature, so that the natural food, is the way to cook.
Chinese Sichuan cuisine Shu Guozhong professor tang prepared liver cake soup
Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Editorial Board of "Sichuan Province Chronicle • Sichuan Cuisine Chronicle" Sichuan Cuisine Culture Person Sichuan Cuisine Contributor
Author of "A Hundred Years of Sichuan Cuisine Legend", "The History of Sichuan Cuisine on the Roadside", and "Three Hundred Years of Spicy Hemp Temptation"
Original Jianghu Gluttony East 2019.07.15 Chengdu