Refreshments are a type of dim sum developed during the tasting of tea.
The refreshments are fine and beautiful, the taste is diverse, the shape is small, the amount is small, the quality is excellent, and the variety is rich, which is the main body of the tea food. Refreshments are both a fruity and a flavor carrier. It has a rich connotation, and in the long process of development, many refreshment varieties with different types and styles of refreshments have been formed.
【1】 Regional customs of refreshments
The regional nature of refreshments is mainly due to the eating habits of one party.
The Ganbei region of Jiangxi Province is rich in tea, especially the Jiujiang Lushan Cloud Mist Tea. Local residents live in the characteristics of local teas, and have developed classic tea accompaniment teas such as Jiujiang tea cakes, shortbread, rice dumplings, and amy fruits. Most of these refreshments are made of local products, with a delicate and compact appearance and a unique taste, which complements the fragrant tea flavor of cloud tea. Just so-called: enjoying the beautiful scenery of Lushan Mountain, tasting cloud and mist tea, and eating the famous points of Jiujiang are a great pleasure for life.
There are many people in the minnan region of Fujian Province and the Chaoshan region of Guangdong Province who like to drink Kung Fu tea. Kung Fu tea is strong and fragrant, so it should be accompanied by small snacks. These small snacks are quite exquisite, not only delicious in taste, but also elegant in appearance, large but as large as a small moon cake, mainly including southern sugar, mung bean paste, coconut cake, mung bean cake, etc., as well as "taro dates" with Southern Fujian characteristics, in addition to a variety of puffed foods and preserves. Usually, family and friends taste tea and taste together, and they are happy and harmonious.
Cantonese people call morning tea "one cup and two pieces", that is, one cup of tea, plus two snacks. Tea is a refreshing drink, and the condiments are prepared separately, which can be full of stomachs and not lose the fun of tasting tea. Guangdong refreshment production, due to the influence of Western food culture, there are many varieties of baking refreshments, the most common ones are frankincense chicken cake, pine nectar crisp, puff pastry pineapple bun, Lingnan egg tart, etc., and other such as various types of egg tarts, milk tarts, puff pastry tarts, sago tarts and a variety of Lingnan flavor of the crisp corner, etc., are the best quality of baking refreshments.
Old Beijing also has many tea houses, which are different from the southern tea houses. There are fewer tea houses in old Beijing, but the book tea houses are very popular, tea tasting is only auxiliary, listening to commentaries is the main thing, so the refreshments during tea tasting are mostly melon seeds and other snacks, which is very casual. But in Beijing there is a kind of tea house called "Red Furnace Restaurant", all made of Manchu dim sum, small and exquisite, there are eight large pieces, small eight pieces, mainly Beijing's ai wo wo nest, bee cake, fork, pot cake, baked cake, etc., customers can taste tea while tasting tea.
In addition, the Jinglu flavor and northwest flavor of the Yellow River Basin, the Suyang flavor and Sichuan-Xiang flavor of the Yangtze River Basin, the Cantonese and Fujian flavors of the Pearl River Basin, etc., in addition, there are northeast, Yungui, Eyu and various ethnic flavors of dim sum.
Under the general guiding principle of "dry and thin collocation, variety of tastes", you can choose any number of traditional dim sum such as spring rolls, pot stickers, dumplings, roasted sales, steamed buns, soup dumplings, buns, homemade cakes, white fungus soup, etc., and you can also use the varieties of refreshments that are innovative due to the different varieties of tea. For example, tea jelly is made by carefully blending jelly into 4 different flavors of tea (black tea, green tea, jasmine tea, oolong tea), and does not add pigments, preservatives, unique taste, is a pure natural health food. In addition, there are tea melon seeds, tea milk candy and so on.
【2】 Tea pairing at different times
Morning tea: Now Guangdong morning tea is popular all over the country, Guangdong morning tea is actually an extension of a tasting custom based on tasting delicious, supplemented by tea tasting. There are many refreshments in morning tea, so that the number of people is countless, the taste is sweet and salty, people take their own preferences, very casual, and each refreshment is small and exquisite, such as shrimp dumplings, egg tarts, colorful egg rolls and all kinds of small dishes are colored, fragrant and flavored and are welcomed by people at all levels.
Afternoon Tea: The most suitable refreshments for afternoon tea time, there are generally known muffins, sandwiches, fruit towers, such as European small snacks with delicate and refreshing madeleine cake, mellow and fragrant Custard cake, Scottish cake, French cat tongue cake or crepe, all kinds of handmade biscuits, mille-feuille pie, Paris circle, etc. are very suitable for tasting at lunch tea time. In addition, the steaming pastry boxes, pancakes and cool and fragrant ice cream are the best companions for TeaTime!
Afternoon tea: Afternoon tea is one of the ways to eat, and now refers to the prestigious Victorian English afternoon tea. The concept of afternoon tea was formed in England around the middle of the 18th century AD, and it was initially just a pre-dinner method of quenching hunger. The English aristocracy ate late for dinner, usually after eight o'clock in the evening. So between Lunch and Dinner, people who can't stand hunger begin to find something to feed, fragrant warm black tea with sugar, or milk (which becomes milk tea), paired with delicious refreshments, and over time, it has become a common practice. And such a afternoon tea convention, in the end will eat what kind of food? According to the British afternoon tea chef at the Abdul Rite Hotel, the traditional English afternoon tea is always filled with finger-catching tea snacks on three silver plates, and generally speaking, there are three exquisite refreshments: the lowest layer is a strip sandwich with smoked salmon, ham and cucumber; the second floor is filled with English round muffins with jam or cream; and the top layer is a seasonal fruit tower with an index finger.
【3】 Ancient Chinese refreshments
Drinking tea accompanied by dim sum is recorded in the Tang Dynasty. There are historical records that the tea feasts in the Tang Dynasty are more abundant.
Jiujiang tea cake: originated from the Tang Dynasty period, for the Jiujiang specialty, Su Shi has a poetry cloud: "Small cakes such as chewing the moon, there are crisp and dumplings." Known as "fragrant flowers, sweet not topped, thin skin filling" reputation, is the Jiujiang people's first choice for tea refreshments, Premier Zhu Rongji once brought tea cakes into Beijing to give to relatives and friends, also as a tribute.
Zongzi: The practice is similar to today, Xuanzong Shiyun: "The four flowers are clever, and the nine sons are fighting for the new."
Wontons: Wontons in ancient times are now dumplings, steamed or boiled, and the taste is extremely beautiful.
Cakes: thin skin, meat filling on the inside, fried, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside; pastry cakes: a wide variety.
Steamed bamboo shoots: placed in a small crock pot and steamed with rice;
Hu food: such as hu cake, tanner, pulp;
Quenching: It is a very special kind of food, it is made of only four or two (the most essential parts) of the meat of the leg of lamb, and we literally think that this is a food made of lamb, and it is unknown what spices are put in the roast. This kind of refreshment called "Dispelling Spirit Burning" is a treasure that is only for the emperor to eat, and after Tang Yizong married Princess Tongchang, the emperor gave the imperial meal, including the extinction of the spirit burning, which is suitable for storage, "although it is poisoned, it will not be deodorable." ”
Small sky puff pastry: A food that is chopped into small pieces with chicken or venison and then fried with rice noodles;
Persimmon: One of the important fruits of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang people believe that persimmon fruits are sweet and are a symbol of auspicious longevity.
The above is part of the refreshments of the palace tea banquet, and the richness of the Tang Dynasty refreshments has amazed modern people.
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