Chinese New Year's Eve rice, also known as the reunion meal, is the most important meal of the year in Chinese, very grand, usually chicken, fish, meat, tofu, in order to please the head. For example, Chinese New Year's Eve rice in Guangdong and Hong Kong usually have "pot vegetables" and "fishing raw fish", while dumplings and jujube steamed buns are indispensable in the north.Chinese New Year's Eve For Cai Lan, a gourmet from Teochew, the Chinese New Year's Eve meal he remembers when he was a child was the whole family gathering together to "beat the side stove".
Traditionally, Chinese New Year's Eve meals are usually cooked by the hostess herself, but nowadays more and more families choose to eat Chinese New Year's Eve meals outside, lively and relaxed, not only liberating the hard-working "old mother", but also tasting different styles of dishes from the north and south. At this time, the major hotel restaurants are launching Chinese New Year's Eve meal menus, which is dazzling. The following dishes with exquisite ingredients, rich taste, and auspicious and festive meaning represent the essence of the Chinese New Year's Eve rice in the north and south, and are the "highlights" of Chinese New Year's Eve rice, which must not be missed.
Potted vegetables: Layered on top of each other, the deeper the dish becomes more delicious
Flower gum one pot pot. Photo credit:Photo courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing
Potted vegetables. Photo credit: Courtesy of Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing
Guangdong, Hong Kong and even Southeast Asia have the custom of eating potted vegetables during the New Year, symbolizing the auspicious reunion. It is said that this is a traditional dish originating from the Wai Village of Yuen Long, Hong Kong, a pot of dishes that brings together chicken, duck, fish, oysters, rotten bamboo, radish, shiitake mushrooms, pork and other more than a dozen raw materials, after frying, frying, burning, boiling, boiling, brine, layer by layer. The family eats around the table, holding chopsticks, constantly rummaging through the basin, and the more dishes in the depths of the basin, the more delicious the taste.
This auspicious dish has also been popular in Beijing in recent years, and this year's Spring Festival Waldorf Astoria Beijing, Beijing Shangri-La Hotel, Changfu Palace Hotel and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Beijing, have launched potted dishes Chinese New Year's Eve rice, and some can even be taken out.
Compared with folk pot dishes, the pot dishes in hotel restaurants are more exquisite in both ingredients and cooking, such as a variety of takeaway pot dishes launched by Shangri-La Hotel in Beijing, including precious ingredients such as dried yao pillars, roasted goose, abalone, flower glue, etc., which are stacked like cornucopias. Chef Pan of the Jade Restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton Beijing is inspired by traditional Cantonese potted dishes and launches the "Flower Glue YiPin Pot", which symbolizes reunion, with ingredients including flower glue, goose paws, goose paste, shiitake mushrooms, etc., adding the 4-hour simmering of old chicken soup and slow stew.
"Roast suckling pig", the highlight of the Year of the Pig
Hongyun suckling pig roast taste. Photo credit: Courtesy of Waldorf Astoria Beijing
Of course, the Year of the Pig is to eat pigs, and the "roast suckling pig" in Cantonese cuisine has always been the highlight of Chinese New Year's Eve meals. It is said that roast suckling pig was a famous dish of the Qing Dynasty court and the most famous specialty of Guangzhou, which has been listed as one of the "Eight Treasures" as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty. In the old days, this dish belonged to the same level of "bird's nest shark fin" and could only be eaten by authentic Cantonese restaurants. Wang Chunzeng, chef at the Waldorf Astoria Beijing Zijin Pavilion, is the best at creating a festive atmosphere, and one of the signature dishes on his Chinese New Year's Eve menu is the Hongyun Suckling Pig Grilled Platter, which is golden crisp and rich in taste. It is said that this dish is made from a baby pig for about two to six weeks, and while maintaining the traditional ancient method, it is also coated with a secret sauce to make the color bright and the taste more intense.
Foie gras slices skinned suckling pig. Photo credit: Courtesy of Beijing Capital Airport Donghai Cordis Hotel
In addition, suckling pig lovers can't help but try a foie gras sauce slice skin suckling pig in the MingGe restaurant of The Condes Hotel Donghai at Beijing Capital Airport. Chef Huo Bingjiang is a cattle man, has received a number of national leaders, his original suckling pig dish, in the traditional Hong Kong style crispy suckling pig into the Western cuisine of the precious ingredient foie gras sauce, plated from top to bottom for crispy suckling pig skin, tender suckling pork, homemade hot steamed bun fully absorbed the meat aroma of suckling pig, the taste is rich and dense. In addition, white jade crab claws, dragon ball fruit shrimp balls, traditional salt baked chicken and Liao ginseng buckle abalone are also must-order signature dishes for Chinese New Year's Eve meals here.
It's the New Year, don't you want to order the official cuisine mansion dish tonic?
Shimo buddha jumps off the wall with cod lion head. Photo credit: Photo courtesy of Pan Pacific Beijing
Although it usually pays attention to "light food", but the Chinese New Year's Eve meal can not be exquisite, especially the parents have elders, but also a festive and auspicious, so choose the grand official cuisine or mansion cuisine as a family reunion dinner, it is better. Beijing Pan Pacific Hotel Restaurant Chef Jia Bangmin is good at the new official cuisine, and even received former US President Carter that year, and his Haitianlou Chinese Restaurant launched a number of state banquet-level signature dishes, two of which are the heavyweights of Chinese New Year's Eve meals: Shi Bacter Buddha jumping off the wall and cod lion's head. Buddha jumping off the wall is actually a famous Dish in Fujian, also known as Fushouquan, and traditional materials include abalone, sea cucumber, fish lip, yak leather glue and so on. However, Master Jia's Shi Fungus Buddha jumping off the wall is more delicate and refreshing - eight kinds of wild mushrooms, pigeon eggs, chicken soup, sealed the altar with aged flower carvings, simmered for 8 hours, and when the altar is opened, the soup is thick and thick, emitting a faint wine aroma. Also as the representative lion's head of Huaiyang cuisine, it is usually made of pork as raw material, and this cod lion's head is made of healthier deep-sea cod to make a "lion's head", with shrimp, horseshoe, etc., and chicken soup, which can be described as "light and not light, fat but not greasy".
Swastika button meat. Image source/Courtesy of JianYi Mansion
KenIchi Mansion is famous for its authentic mansion cuisine. This year's Chinese New Year's Eve menu features northern dishes based on imperial court cuisine, including the long-lost dragon eggplant used to "pray for rain and sacrifice to the heavens", a toad abalone box, and Cixi's favorite chicken in a steamed pot. In addition, Chinese New Year's Eve night, you must order a swastika button meat, use the unique "swastika knife method" to change the 9 independent meat blanks into knives, and make them continuously connected, which will test the chef's knife work. The nine pieces of meat are connected to represent the longevity of FuShou, while the venison is harmonized with Lu, and after loading the plate, it is decorated with five carved bats to represent "Fu, Lu, Shou, Xi, and Cai", which means that the five blessings hold shou, which is the most suitable for Chinese New Year's Eve night.
To be traditional, you also need to be creative and small and fresh
Fresh asparagus crystal shrimp. Photo credit: Courtesy of China World Hotel
Mellow slow-roasted beef ribs. Photo credit: Courtesy of China World Hotel
Although the grand Chinese New Year's Eve rice is mainly based on traditional Cantonese, Huaiyang and Beijing cuisine, considering the taste and health of modern people, some light creative dishes will be introduced on the basis of tradition to add a different flavor to the Chinese New Year's Eve table. For example, the fresh asparagus crystal shrimp and mellow slow-roasted beef ribs of the Summer Palace of the China World Hotel are very good creative Cantonese dishes - the former fresh asparagus with crystal shrimp, the taste is smooth, like a blooming peony, meaning that the flowers are rich and noble, standing out in a piece of big fish and meat; and the slow-roasted beef ribs borrow from the Western cooking method, retaining the original taste of the meat, pea seedlings laying bottom, pumpkin segments, green onions and beef ribs layer by layer, meat and vegetarian collocation, very refreshing.
Roast duck finale, old Beijing New Year flavor is strong
"Peony Garden" traditional roast duck. Image credit: Courtesy of Chang Phu Palace Hotel
Red Pavilion roast duck. Image source/Courtesy of China World Trade Hotel
In the New Year in Beijing, of course, there is a strong taste of old Beijing, and roast duck is the protagonist of Chinese New Year's Eve rice. In the Chinese New Year's Eve meal launched by the Peony Garden Chinese Restaurant at The Chang Fu Palace Hotel, the finale is the "Peony Garden" traditional roast duck, which is fed from natural organic feed, roasted by fruit charcoal fire, the duck skin is crisp but not greasy, and the duck meat is tender but not chai. China World Summit Hotel launched Chinese New Year's EveChinese New Year's Eve rice is like a tall version of the "temple fair", the scene can participate in the Spring Festival, paper cutting, old Beijing traditional kneading people, sugar gourd, handmade windmills, magic shows and other activities. The northern Chinese New Year's Eve rice that the Red Pavilion focuses on is indispensable to classic Beijing dishes, such as the town's famous dish Old Beijing specialty roast duck, raw ground black pepper baked crispy skin yuan hoof, casserole Beijing onion fried sea cucumber, etc. - that roast duck is roasted with two knives and four cloves of jujube wood for 70 minutes.
Beijing News reporter Qu Tingyi Image source Photo courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Beijing Capital Airport, Beijing Capital Airport, Beijing,