There are surprises in the picture above
In Xiamen
You may often be asked by friends who come here:
I want to eat the specialties here
How many do you recommend to me?
In addition to sand tea noodles, noodle paste, sea oyster fried these
What else?
For more follow the online "raiders"
People who come to Xiamen in search of good food
Except for those famous snacks that have been passed down by word of mouth
Their impression of Fujian cuisine is even a little vague
As one of the eight major cuisines in China
Fujian cuisine is a bit low-key
In Xiamen Evening News, the most Xiamen "love old craftsmanship"
In the persistent exploration of Xiamen's food culture
We were pleasantly surprised to find out
Several volumes of precious Fujian cuisine recipes that have been preserved nearly 100 years ago
meantime
We have also witnessed a period of culinary masters spanning three generations
A story of nostalgia for the revival of old Fujian cuisine
Today, with the evening newspaper Jun, let's pay attention to it~
Hu Xizhuang and his century-old "old recipe"
Nowadays, turning over these "old recipes" of Fujian cuisine in front of you, you seem to be able to feel the candle shadow of that year and the fireworks of that year. This set of recipes handed down from nearly a hundred years ago to the present day, in the republic of China's Fujian cuisine master Hu Xizhuang persevered in a stroke, infiltrated the magical intersection of food and the time that are about to come out.
Three old recipes that have gone through vicissitudes
Hu Xizhuang was a "Qing Dynasty man". He was born in 1903 in Shudu, Fuzhou, a place close to the old shop of "Juchun Garden" at dongjiekou. At the age of 12, he entered Juchun Garden to learn to cook, which was a well-known Fujian cuisine restaurant at that time, and the owner was Zheng Chunfa, a legend in the Fujian catering industry.
At that time, the restaurant owner himself was a chef, so the young Hu Xizhuang was undoubtedly lucky to be able to learn the art under Boss Zheng and Master Zheng. In Juchun Garden, seven years of learning art, which is hard work is needless to say. In the 1920s, nineteen-year-old Hu Xizhuang came to Xiamen alone, wanting to break through the sky for himself.
At that time, it was the period of xiamen municipal development, and the prosperity of Xiamen city began here. At this time, Hu Xizhuang, who already had a good cooking skill, was just a great place to play. He successively worked as a chef at Nanxuan Restaurant (later reorganized as "New Nanxuan Restaurant") and East Asian Restaurant. Hu Xizhuang's cooking skills are comprehensive, and his knife work and cutting board skills are even more praised by the people of the times. It is said that many of the most ordinary vegetables quickly became "works of art" under his hands: garlic heads carved into magnolia flowers, tomatoes cut into goldfish, carrots turned into rabbits and peony flowers... As for the classic knife methods of Fujian cuisine, such as straight knife method, flat knife method, oblique knife method, flower knife, etc., it is even more flowing, which is a must.
The completion of the three recipes spans more than 20 years, from 1922 to the 1940s, covering the detailed production methods of Fujian cuisine, snacks, famous points, seasonal side dishes in the Republic of China period, a total of more than 400 dishes, of which Fuzhou cuisine and Minnan cuisine are the mainstay, but there are also records of the practices of Beijing, Shanxi, Huaiyang, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine at that time, and even "foreign dishes" such as the Soviet Union and Hungary in the later period. In addition, some of the knife work and cooking method requirements for the chef examination at that time are also recorded, as well as the raw materials and methods of "sand tea", an imported condiment from Nanyang. In one of the recipes, Hu Xizhuang recorded in detail the famous dish "Yipin Cobalt", which was very popular in both the store and the home cooking, and also included a record of the Buddha's practice of jumping off the wall. Through the records of these recipes, you can see not only the grand situation of Xiamen's catering industry in that year, but also a glimpse of the society, humanities and customs of the Republic of China period through these "dishes".
Let's take a look at the names of these dishes that will drool when you hear them: Guifei drunken chicken, hibiscus chicken down, chessboard duck, stir-fried sand tea meat, Nanzheng pork liver, crispy guiyu (guiyu), Lujiang oyster frying, Shoufeng plum fish, Nanxia pancake... Some of these "old Fujian dishes" are still active on the table, but many of them have been temporarily obliterated with the changes of the times, but here they have found detailed records of living ingredients and methods.
Looking at other dish names, you may even think that people at that time ate things and also paid attention to "user experience": one life extension, Mandarin duck companion sleep, purple qi Donglai, North and South Xianzeng, ninth world tongtang, Taoyuan Jieyi, crowned Jinlu, dragon through the heavenly court... The names have cultural connotations one after the other, even if the recipe will tell you that the ingredients of "Hongyan Chuanshu" and "Making Moon with Shadow" are pigeons, and "Dragon Through heaven" is a dish made of pig's head, you will feel that "Meng Mengda" is creative.
Some dishes are likely to be created by Hu Xizhuang himself, or improved in the dishes of the time, and given a strong era characteristic. For example, "Victory in the First World War", a dish with chicken as the main ingredient, brings out a different sense of age; another example, "Anti-Japanese Shrimp General", with a combination of shrimp, bread and red crab paste, is more emotional.
The old Fujian cuisine is restored
The record of Huxizhuang's recipes organically integrates the classic dishes of Fuzhou and southern Fujian, and combines its own rich industry experience to form a diversified "Fujian cuisine grand view" that integrates the essence of food and the fusion of Chinese and Western characteristics across the country.
Ye Mingfu is a registered Chinese cooking master and a Fujian Fujian cuisine master, and has been practicing for nearly 40 years. He and Hu Xizhuang and these recipes have a unique relationship.
He once studied under Hu Zhennan, the second son of Hu Xizhuang, and was also a disciple of Master Tong Huixing, a senior disciple of Hu Xizhuang. Therefore, according to the perspective of the inheritance of masters and apprentices in the kitchen industry, Hu Xizhuang is Ye Mingfu's "master". From the perspective of in-law relationship, Ye Mingfu's two sisters were married to Hu Xizhuang's two sons, because of this relationship, Ye Mingfu often went in and out of Hu Xizhuang's home when he was a child, and often saw the old man "writing and painting".
Now I know that he is carefully recording the latest dishes, when he was already sixty or seventy years old.
Ye Mingfu loved painting since childhood, and later learned calligraphy and seal engraving. In 1981, he entered the culinary world and studied under Hu Zhennan at The New Nanxuan Restaurant, where he was deeply taught. Later, he worked at the Xiamen Hotel and was then sent to the Jin Jiang Hotel in Shanghai to learn fruit and vegetable carving and the art of arranging cold cuts in color. There, he was like a fish, immersed in learning art, and after returning from his studies, he obtained the true legend of Tong Huixing, and took care of carving and cold dishes at the Xiamen Hotel. In 1988, he went to the United States as a young chef to perform.
I became a real chef myself, and the feeling of watching the events was naturally different. Ye Mingfu said that once, when he saw these three recipes at the Hu family, his head "buzzed" at that time, which was two words: shock! The first thought that came up next was that we must not let these recipes continue to be silent.
This is not only because of the many old Fujian dishes in the recipe, but even he himself is unheard of. Moreover, after many years of cooking, he often heard such a saying - there are no big dishes in Xiamen, only snacks. So, let them take a look at these recipes!
Three recipes stored in a safe
However, it is not enough to have a recipe, and it is convincing to wake up those "disappearing" Fujian dishes and make them appear on the table again.
Ye Mingfu's ideas coincided with his master Tong Huixing.
Since then, as soon as the two masters and apprentices have time, they will go through these recipes together, "bring" some of them into the kitchen, restore them one by one according to hu xizhuang's records, and try and improve them many times, looking for the perfect combination of traditional ancient taste and the characteristics of the times. The restored dishes are applied to the usual feasts, and the gourmets praise each other.
Two Minnan cuisine masters and their restored century-old Fujian cuisine "crispy cinnamon fish"
However, the recovery process was not as smooth as expected.
Because Hu Xizhuang is from Fuzhou, many of the words recorded in these recipes are Fuzhou dialect, and some have early expression contexts. Although Tong Huixing was still familiar with the expression of his master, they still had to go through a large number of materials and strive to understand it from the cultural and historical background of the time.
In the recipe, the grams of some accessories are not marked, so it is necessary to test, verify and complete from their own experience accumulated over the years; in the production steps of some dishes, they should be adjusted according to the characteristics of the current equipment and stove; in addition, after all, the ingredients in the early years are different from the present, so when restoring, they cannot be 100% stuck to the original practice, and the improvement should also be improved.
Among them was a recipe, which was accidentally rained in the early years and the handwriting was blurred, Ye Mingfu said, he took a flashlight from the back and then recorded it word for word. Later, he spent a lot of time taking pictures and archiving his pages, and when he studied, he tried to view them on his mobile phone or computer to reduce the flipping of the original recipes, after all, this is already an "old object" for hundreds of years.
For Tong Huixing and Ye Mingfu, the restoration of old Fujian cuisine is not only a "mechanical restoration" of the dish, but also a spiritual inheritance and the inheritance of the essence of taste. And the essence of restoring Fujian cuisine is not a matter of one person or several people, they hope that with the reappearance of these old Fujian dishes, this matter can become a "system engineering".
"It is very necessary in to restore and inherit the old Fujian cuisine, recreate the grand situation of Fujian cuisine a hundred years ago, and leave the true taste and spiritual wealth of Fujian cuisine for future generations." Tong Huixing said. Ye Mingfu hopes that in the future, with the attention and support of relevant parties, he can set up a master studio to focus on researching and promoting the promotion, inheritance and innovation of old Fujian cuisine.
Tong Huixing (left) and Ye Mingfu (right) study ancient recipes
Follow the master to learn to cook old Fujian cuisine
Three old recipes, added up to record more than 400 old Fujian dishes, in an interview with "Love Old Craftsmanship", Tong Huixing and Ye Mingfu two masters specially chose three of the dishes to do the restoration display - crispy cinnamon fish, soft fried chicken, snowflake raw.
Crispy cinnamon fish
"Crispy cinnamon fish" ("crispy expensive fish" in Huxizhuang's recipe) was a famous dish of Fuxia in that year. Cinnamon fish, also known as freshwater grouper, has become an important ingredient in fish and Fujian cuisine because of its tender fish meat and suitable for all four hours. In addition to the subtle grasp of the heat when frying the fish, the "sweet and sour" method that best reflects the characteristics of old Fujian cuisine is also significantly different from many similar dishes now.
In the seasoning mixing, the author found that even a senior chef like Ye Mingfu, between the sweetness, acidity and saltiness of the seasoning, is also quite a bit of deliberation, a plate of spices into the pot, repeatedly try the taste, especially in the proportion of vinegar, very "cut the details". But after the finished product comes out, taste it carefully, and the most evocative thing is the sour aroma of vinegar that the fish meat is leisurely on the tip of the tongue.
■Ingredients: Osmanthus (mandarin fish)
■Ingredients: Shredded onion, minced ginger, shredded shallot
■Seasoning: soy sauce, monosodium glutamate, white vinegar, tomato sauce, white sugar
■Production process:
1. After slaughtering and washing the cinnamon fish, the fish is shaved with a flower knife.
2: Spread the starch and egg mixture evenly over the fish body, put in 70% of the hot oil pan and fry it and put it on the plate.
3: Add a little oil to the pot, add the ingredients and sauté, add a little bone broth, add the seasonings, boil on high heat and drizzle on the fish.
■Menu Evaluation:
The fish is crispy on the outside, tender in the mouth, sweet in the sour, and it is the chef's exquisite grasp of the sauce that tests it.
Soft fried chicken
This dish tests the Fujian chef's understanding of the word "soft frying". In the recipes of Huxizhuang, in addition to soft fried chicken, there are also dishes with similar methods such as "soft fried meat". The reason why it is called "soft frying" is to retain the freshness and tenderness of the final taste of the ingredients, which is commonly referred to as "outer scorched and tender inside", which depends on the grasp of the oil temperature before and after the ingredients are put into the pot, and also depends on the judgment of the precise timing point of each turn.
■Ingredients: Chicken thigh meat
■Ingredients: Onion, garlic paste, inch shallots
■Seasoning: Duck egg white, soy sauce, monosodium glutamate, sugar, white vinegar, sesame oil (sesame oil)
1: Remove the chicken, pat the loose meat with the back of a knife, add duck egg white, salt and MSG to marinate, then sprinkle with starch, fry on both sides of the pot and take it out. 2, put a little oil in the pot, put in the ingredients to fry the incense, add the seasoning and fried chicken, stir it evenly to get out of the pot, cut the pieces and plate it when eating.
While the chicken remains tender, it is crisp and elastic, and it is very important to control the heat when frying.
Snowflakes are born
"Snowflake Raw", also known as "Min Sheng Guo", was a traditional side dish of Fujian flavor in the early years, but now it is relatively rare at banquets. Ye Mingfu uses his own five-spice powder, and the mixing ratio of peanuts with five-spice powder and lard must also be just right. Ancient morning taste is ancient morning taste, looking at it is not alarming, but it can see the big in a small way, and there is a big thing. Perhaps, you can also try to "restore" a hand.
■Ingredients: Peanut kernels
■Ingredients and seasonings: lard, allspice powder, salt
1: After frying the peanut kernels, remove the outer film, add a small amount of lard and mix well.
2, with white sugar, add the right amount of salt and five-spice powder to mix well to make a mixture, put the peanuts mixed with lard into the mixture and mix evenly, plate and eat.
A seemingly simple "small dish", in fact, has an endless aftertaste and has a strong taste of ancient and early.
I hope that in the future, we will also be proud to introduce it to friends from other places
Our Fujian cuisine specialties are available
Great!
Produced by The New Media Center of Xiamen Daily
Text/Xu Xiaochun Photography/Xie Cultivation
Editor: Shi Luwei Review: Cai Wenyan
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