Li Hongzhang, I believe everyone must know. He was the leader of the Western Affairs Movement, and together with Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and Zhang Zhidong, he was known as the four famous ministers of ZTE. In the dynasty of the late Qing Dynasty, which was a bunch of "rotten things", he spared no effort to maintain the last glory of the Qing Dynasty. No matter how it is done, Mr. Li Lao is indeed not easy. But it is very interesting that at the other end of the ocean in the United States, there is a food named after him, called "Li Hongzhang Miscellaneous".
When Ben ID was in the United States, the name of this dish was really different for the first time. This "offal" belongs to the memory of this ID as a "derogatory word", often appearing in some curse passages, such as "I want to slaughter XX that chop", and the foreigner waiter at the time strongly recommended this dish, which is a famous Chinese dish. So what is the origin of this so-called Li Hongzhang miscellaneous? This must first begin with Li Hongzhang's visit to the United States.
It was 1896, during the Western Affairs Movement. Li Hongzhang organized a delegation to the United States to search for rich countries, and after arriving in New York City, he was solemnly received by the US Government. There were many meals at the US banquet, and Li Hongzhang himself was not embarrassed. As a major minister of a big country, although he came to seek "the way to seek a strong country", he could not lose his "national prestige". Lao Mei here is full of good food and drink, and I have to "mean it" here.
The so-called "etiquette is not going, and incivility is also". So Li Hongzhang also decided to make a bureau and invite local government officials back and forth. But what Americans like to eat, Li Hongzhang is completely unaware. You can only let the chefs in the group learn to do a little according to what is sold outside. Fortunately, american cuisine is not very difficult, and it is only a few things that go over and over again. The chefs learned it quickly.
But Li Hongzhang thinks about it, pure Western food is not OK, hamburgers, steaks, salads are too simple, any restaurant has, invite guests to eat these without the "sense of ceremony" of a big country. Therefore, it is also necessary to come to some Chinese-style hard dishes, so as to reflect Chinese characteristics. However, Chinese hard dishes need Chinese excipients. In the United States at that time, the taste of oil, salt and vinegar was completely different from that of China, not to mention Chinese ham, dried mushrooms and other condiments. Therefore, the Chinese dishes made by the chef team are completely devoid of the "taste" of China.
Therefore, Li Hongzhang summoned the chef and asked everyone to think about whether they could develop a new style of cuisine that combines Chinese and Western styles. However, it is not easy to achieve the combination of East and West as it is to engage in foreign affairs movements, and the dishes that are tried are either not good-looking, or the taste is too "strange". Completely out of the table.
Seeing that it was almost the day of the banquet. Li Hongzhang really did not move, shook his head and sighed, "Governing the country is like cooking fresh...", but Old Master Li's temper is that no matter how bad the strength is, he cannot lose the momentum. So I patted my head and let the chef make Chinese food as usual, anyway, those foreigners had never eaten authentic Chinese food, had not tasted the real taste, and only when it was "feeding the eight precepts of the pig" the tube was full.
At that time, there was no Chinese food in the United States, so many Americans were very curious about it. On the day of the banquet, the guests all brought a family of young and old to eat "Chinese food." Although the Chinese food on the table is not a "Chinese taste" at all, the guests like it, eat it in a stormy cloud, and soon, the "surplus grain" in the back kitchen is not enough.
There are too many guests and there are not enough ingredients. This situation was something that Li Hongzhang never expected. It's time to get people out to buy again.
"It's really a pig eating offal..." the chef said, glancing at the situation in the banquet hall.
"It's just chowder!" Li Hongzhang suddenly thought of it, so he asked the chef to collect all the remaining "scrap materials" left in the kitchen. Although it is all "scraps", the ingredients are very good, including chicken, sea cucumber, ham, fish belly, squid, rotten bamboo, pigeon eggs, fish meat, magnolia slices, shiitake mushrooms, pork belly, and dried scallops. Running on land, swimming in the sea, the mountains are all ready.
Although Li Hongzhang is engaged in "political work", he also has a certain degree of achievement in cooking. Immediately roll up your sleeves and cook yourself. Sea cucumber, fish belly, squid, magnolia slices, sliced tofu bamboo and pigeon eggs are boiled and hulled. Chicken, pork belly, scallops plus green onion and ginger slices drizzled with rice wine, then basketed and steamed to taste.
Then, cut the steamed chicken, pork belly and ham into slices. The dried scallops are pounded and kneaded together with the fish into a ball, basketed and steamed thoroughly. Finally, add all the ingredients together and simmer them to taste.
Finally, start the plate, take a sea bowl, first pick out the mushrooms from the various ingredients of the braised mushrooms and place them flat on the bottom of the bowl, the edge of the mushrooms is surrounded by pigeon eggs, the other ingredients are opened according to the color, neatly arranged into the bowl, and finally all kinds of scraps are put in, poured into the original soup, drizzled with sesame oil, poured on the chowder, put salted duck egg yolk on top, and finally spinach stalks are inserted under the yolk. A "miscellaneous piece" is completed.
"The kings come according to this." Li Hongzhang said. Several chefs looked at each other, and they couldn't manage so much, all of them used their imaginations, how convenient and how to come, and after a while, all the "miscellaneous pieces" in the back kitchen were turned into dishes in the sea bowl and served.
Although it is said to be chopped offal, this dish contains a variety of "mountain treasures and seafood", so it is very delicious. At that time, the mayor of New York City thought it was particularly delicious, so he joked: "Did you not want us to eat this delicious dish at the end?" ”
Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "Chinese always like to put good things at the end and create surprises. The mayor asked what this dish was called. Li Hongzhang was speechless for a moment, thinking, "This can't be directly said to be the eight precepts of the pig eating offal, right?" But I'm embarrassed not to answer. So I could only laugh and say, "Eat chop, eat chop..."
The mayor was eating happily and did not understand the meaning, but the word "miscellaneous" was heard, so there was this "Li Hongzhang miscellaneous". After drinking and eating, I am preparing to return home. But as soon as I went out, I was caught by the reporters who had been waiting outside for a long time.
Seeing so many flashes brushing at each other, the mayor was also heroic enough to talk about Chinese food culture, and forcefully said that the "Li Hongzhang Miscellaneous Dishes" became China's "famous state banquet dish". In this way, "Li Hongzhang Miscellaneous Pieces" spread throughout the United States from the competing reports of these reporters. It has become a famous Chinese dish that Americans are familiar with and Chinese do not understand.
It is very interesting that people who open Chinese restaurants in the United States, because they want to reflect their chinese cuisine is the most authentic, many of them will name the store as "XX Chop" Restaurant, and many Chinese who have just arrived in the United States will be very funny when they see it. Especially on the menu of "Li Hongzhang offal", in different shops, the method is completely different, fried and steamed, all kinds of dishes, as long as it is a dish made of scraps, it can be called "Li Hongzhang chop". However, the most authentic Li Hongzhang miscellaneous, the taste is more inclined to Cantonese cuisine, paying attention to the taste of the ingredients themselves, not to the thick oil red sauce is preferred.