Chinese food culture is broad and profound, just like the southern fist and northern leg in the martial arts school, and the diet is also divided into southern cuisine and northern cuisine. There are more Lu cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Su cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Zhejiang cuisine, Hunan cuisine and Hui cuisine on the food rivers and lakes. Eight major cuisines.
As one of the eight major cuisines, Hui cuisine naturally represents the cuisine of Anhui. Hui cuisine is composed of Anhui yanjiang cuisine, along Huai cuisine and Huizhou local cuisine. In this regard, I once communicated with a friend in southern Anhui, who believed that the real Huizhou cuisine is Huizhou cuisine, and your Fuyang cuisine is not Huizhou cuisine at all.
As a native of Fuyang, I basically agree with the statement of friends in southern Anhui. So, the question is, since Fuyang cuisine is not Hui cuisine, which cuisine does it belong to?
In China, the formation of cuisine is related to differences in climate, geography, history, products and food customs. If you want to understand this problem, you need to start from the history of the city of Fuyang.
Fuyang, known as Yingzhou in ancient times, is located in the northwest of Anhui Province, located in the Huai River Basin in central China, which belongs to the typical monsoon climate and rich products. From the map, it is observed that the Huai River is located in a central line of china's mainland territory, in a position that is neither south nor north, nor south nor north. Of course, according to the dividing line between the north and the south of China, Fuyang belongs to the southernmost city in the north.
At the same time, Fuyang is also a city of immigrants. Due to the importance of its geographical location, Fuyang has become a place of contention for generations of warriors, and a large number of people have died or migrated. Most of the people living in Fuyang moved in from Shanxi, Jiangxi, Shandong and other places in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Such climate, geography, history, products and food customs, coupled with Fuyang as an important town in northern Anhui, ancient and modern, the goods of the north and south are integrated and exchanged here, and the culture of the north and south is integrated and exchanged here, thus forming the compatibility of Fuyang cuisine between the north and the south, paying attention to the original taste, both the roughness of the northern region and the meticulous characteristics of the southern region.
Here, we order a few flavors from the traditional menu of Fuyang, so we may wish to taste them together.
Grape fish, the fish meat is fragrant, purple and red in color, the taste is sweet and sour, very refreshing. Fuyang traditional classic dish. It is made of green fish as raw material, after frying the "grape" grains are full, the skin is crispy, the meat is tender, sweet and sour, the aroma is rich, and it is very beautiful.
In fact, this dish, which is regarded as a traditional famous dish in Fuyang, adopts the cooking technique of "lychee fish" in Huaiyang cuisine, completely removes the fish skeleton, only takes the fish meat and makes grape granules with a special knife method, cooks it and then assembles it into a fish shape, and then starts from the "taste" and seasons it with red wine. In terms of taste, "grape fish" is very similar to the sweet and sour, fresh and delicious taste of "squirrel mandarin fish" in Su cuisine.
The tiger skin meat in the Huaiyang cuisine, which also comes from one of the eight major cuisines, is called eight large pieces in Fuyang, and its cooking technique is the same as that of Huaiyang cuisine. It is made from pork belly with skin as the main ingredient. The skin is wrinkled, fat but not greasy, sweet and delicious, shiny and smooth, grained like tiger skin, soft and mellow.
Sixi balls, is the traditional dish at the wedding banquet in Fuyang, there are fat and lean meat ruddy and shiny, with emerald green vegetables covered, bright colors plus pungent aroma, just look at it to attract appetite, mellow and fragrant meat pieces and juice, is irresistible top delicacy.
This dish originates from the "braised lion's head" in Huaiyang cuisine. Minced pork belly, seasoned, served with shiitake mushrooms, carrots, water chestnuts, lotus root and other ingredients, whisked vigorously, kneaded into a round shape and fried. Braised and steamed. Because it contains a beautiful meaning of auspiciousness and reunion. Because sixi balls can get a good taste, Fuyang so many wedding banquets have this dish.
Rock sugar elbow, rock sugar elbow is a traditional dish of Fuyang made by combining rock sugar and elbow, roasting, frying, steaming and other techniques. The color is bright red, the meat elbow is crisp, the marinade is like glue, and it tastes fragrant, salty and sweet. This dish is mainly cooked with three main ingredients: pork knuckle, rock sugar and rice wine. During cooking, the grease in the elbows is neutralized by rock sugar, and the unique aroma of rice wine is the finishing touch to this dish.
Tracing the roots, the rock sugar elbow this dish originated from Lu cuisine, is one of the "Three Cubits of Jinan", is the housekeeper dish in Lu cuisine, is one of the "Three Cubits of Jinan", and its cooking techniques are exactly the same.
In Fuyang, there is also a dish that cannot be distinguished from which cuisine, called rice noodle meat. This dish is called tamales in many places.
Rice noodle meat is said to be a dish, in fact, in Fuyang only appears on the table during the New Year, so it is also the protagonist of fuyang people's Chinese New Year's Eve rice. The method of rice noodle meat is similar to that of button meat, but it is very different because of the addition of rice. This kind of food can dissolve the grease in the fat meat into itself, so that the sweetness and meat aroma are perfectly neutralized, and it is fat and not greasy to eat, and it melts in the mouth.
This rice noodle meat, which is regarded as a traditional dish by the people of Fuyang, is actually found in most parts of southern and central China, but other places call this dish tamales. But to say that the dish of tamales belongs to a variety of cuisines, perhaps Jiangxi people are a little unhappy. Because the Qing Dynasty poet Yuan Ming listed tamales as a Jiangxi dish in the "Suiyuan Food List". In August 2014, Jiangxi also selected the rice noodle meat making technology into the fourth batch of nanchang municipal intangible cultural heritage list. However, later, Sichuanese people selected Sichuan-style tamales as "Chongqing's top ten famous dishes", so it seems that the family tree of tamales is a bit chaotic.
Grilled lamb with green onions, a traditional dish of Fuyang. Using the Technique of Chinese Cooking Steak, it is known for its beautiful appearance, soft and delicious aroma, mellow and long. Choose eight ripe fatty lamb rib meat, slice, with fried yellow shallots, add broth, add condiments to the basket and steam, after the basket is turned upside down on the plate, thin mustard, drizzle with oil.
In fact, this dish should be regarded as a famous dish in the Yu cuisine that is not among the "eight major cuisines", on September 10, 2018, "Chinese cuisine" was officially released, and "scallion grilled lamb" was rated as "Chinese cuisine" Henan's top ten classic dishes. Of course, this is not surprising, in terms of geographical location, Fuyang borders the eastern part of Henan Province, eating habits are similar, and Fuyang cuisine is also normal under the influence of Yu cuisine.
So, in this way, Fuyang cuisine is indeed inextricably linked to Huaiyang cuisine, Lu cuisine, and Yu cuisine. But after all, one side of the water and soil to support the other side of the people, affected by the region. Under the influence of ingredients and taste, Fuyang cuisine has long evolved in terms of selection, cutting, cooking, seasoning and other techniques, and has long formed a "benbang dish" with Fuyang characteristics.
So, what are the characteristics of Fuyang's "Ben Gang Cuisine"?
In general, although the taste of Fuyang cuisine is mainly salty, it is full of changes, sweet and sweet, salty and salty, giving people a clear and clear feeling. Therefore, Fuyang cuisine not only has the fresh, crisp and tender characteristics of southern cuisine, but also integrates the salty, colored and thick characteristics of northern cuisine. In terms of cooking techniques, most of them use the "eight techniques" of grilling, stewing, sauce, burning, stewing, stir-frying, steaming and boiling, and each dish has its own unique features and complements each other. The local dishes such as skin mix, red taro in honey sauce, pot stickers, sugar stir-fried eight treasures, plate chicken, powder chicken, vermicelli chicken, red braised beef, scallion grilled lamb and other local dishes are delicious dishes full of local flavor in Fuyang.
In short, Fuyang cuisine embodies a spirit of tolerance, integrating elements of Hui cuisine, Lu cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, Yu cuisine and other cuisines, showing an eclectic food culture.