▲ Carp noodles are being made. Photo/ Documentary "China on the Tip of the Tongue"
-Fengwujun Language-
Henan cuisine: I have the look you want!
When Henan is linked to food, what appears in people's minds, in addition to the "cornucopia" generally eating more and more braised noodles, is the "dark" appearance of "China on the tip of the tongue" rejected by the peppery soup.
Such a simple and direct braised noodles, peppery soup, and Henan food are equated, which makes Henan's chefs feel indescribably bitter. After all, Henan, as the "kitchen of the Chinese", not only gave birth to Yi Yin, the ancestor of all Chinese chefs, but also the hometown of Chinese chefs.
So in addition to braised noodles and peppery soup, what other foods does Henan have?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > followed Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu to eat Yu vegetables</h1>
In today's "foodie" of the whole people, any mention of any kind of cuisine can attract a large number of fans, and the famous dish "Amway" is a variety of cuisines. Compared with these popular cuisines, Henan cuisine is almost unpopular, and even if it is mentioned, there are very few dishes that can be named.
▲ Kaifeng name eat carp baked noodles. Graph/Network
If we look back, it is not difficult to find that the history of Henan cuisine is not a blank, and even has unlimited scenery. Needless to say, the "Juntai Enjoyment" of the princes was feasted by the King of Xia, and the cooking concept of Yi Yin's "five flavors and harmony" of the Shang Dynasty was also out of the question, and the official cuisine created by Kaifeng City during the Song Dynasty alone raised Henan cuisine to several heights. After the Song people crossed the south, Kaifeng cuisine was brought to the Hangzhou area, which brought a huge impact on the development of Hangzhou cuisine. For example, the Song sister-in-law fish soup from Kaifeng, and the Hangzhou Xiaolongbao, which improved the soup bun from Kaifeng...
▲ Open the soup bun. See the looming soup! Graph/Network
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, Henan cuisine once again ushered in a highlight moment. According to the "Kaifeng City Chronicle", when Cixi passed through Kaifeng Province, "one hundred and eighty pieces per meal", sweet and sour carp, net-grilled boneless mandarin fish, lotus fish, set of four treasures, pretzel chrysanthemum, amber red fruit... It is estimated that the introduction of these dishes alone can integrate a thick book.
In this "one hundred and eighty pieces", a piece of fried purple crispy meat broke through the siege, especially praised by Cixi. As a kind of official cuisine, the preparation of fried purple crispy meat is particularly exquisite. Deep-fried purple crispy meat shaped like roast duck, made from pork ribs with fine fibers. After several processes of boiling, salting, steaming, frying and frying, it is necessary to spread balsamic vinegar three times and put it into the oil pot four times to achieve a perfect dish.
▲ The real version of the skin is like gel. Graph/Network
After the experience of the oil pan, the surface of the pork is fried out of the crispy skin, glowing with brownish yellow oil, and after cutting into thin slices, it can almost be faked with the roast duck. In terms of eating, the fried purple crispy meat and roast duck are like twins, sandwiched with a slice of fried purple crispy meat, dipped in sweet noodle sauce, wrapped in lotus leaf cake with green onions, taking a bite, the gravy is fried, immersed in green onions and bread, a layer of meat, a layer of cake, the taste is layered.
Such exquisite official cuisine is not only self-sprouted in henan enclosure, at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the people, in the city of Beijing, where Lu cuisine rode in the dust, a Henan restaurant named Hou Defu broke out of the world for Henan official cuisine.
In 1926, the Beijing Morning Post was Hou Defu's "tap water": "The famous one of the Yu restaurants in Beijing is Hou Defu of Dashilar, and the dishes are tile fish, braised mussels, bone-minced meat, walnut loins, crispy kelp, and flavored chicken..."
Perhaps it was the labor-intensive and time-consuming taste of Yu cuisine that made people linger, or there were too few Yu restaurants in Beijing at that time, as soon as it opened, Hou Defu's business was very hot, and it has opened branches in Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qingdao, Nanjing, Hong Kong, Japan and other places, becoming the earliest batch of chain hotels in China.
▲ "Good iron pot eggs!" Lu Xun: I may have really said this... Figures/MarketMap
Those who were sucked into the powder by Yu cuisine were Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu. In "Yashe Talks About Eating", Liang Shiqiu repeatedly mentions Hou Defu's signature dishes, such as carp baked noodles, iron pot eggs, tile fish, walnut loin, three non-sticks and other dishes. Later, when Mr. Lu Xun hosted Hu Feng, Nie Cyan and Zhou Ying in Shanghai, he also specially chose liangyuan in the Yu cuisine restaurant.
Among the many Yu dishes, the tile fish, which requires strict knife work, is a dish that is frequently mentioned. Kaifeng, which loves and kills the Yellow River, is also branded with the Yellow River in terms of diet - the Yellow River carp occupies a considerable proportion of the official cuisine in Kaifeng. Sweet and sour tile fish, you need fat Yellow River carp or silver carp, in order to cook that unique taste.
The tile fish is mostly selected from the middle part of the Yellow River carp, the flesh is full and tender, after removing the skin, it is sliced into a thick and moderately thick fillet, and then wrapped in protein powder sauce, fried in warm oil until golden brown, and finally poured with a spoonful of lotus flour and rock sugar boiled sweet and sour sauce. The edges of the well-made tile fish are slightly curled, like the tiles soaring on the houses of eastern Henan.
With the blossoming of Henan restaurants everywhere, chefs from Henan, especially chefs from Changyuan, Henan, have attracted the attention of "headhunters" in major restaurants. Jiao Sufang recorded in the "Hundred Years of Yu Cuisine" that "Cixi and Guangxu's imperial cooks Li Chengwen, Niu Qinglian, Song Dengke, Li Yuanhong and Xu Shichang's chefs Cai Tinghua and Wang Pengzhou, Feng Yuxiang's chef Hao Wenqing, Zhang Xueliang's chef Qiao Jiulu, and so on, are all Changyuan's cooks." ”
▲ Yu dish made from egg yolk three non-stick, also known as osmanthus egg, the so-called three non-stick, refers to do not stick the bowl, do not stick chopsticks, do not stick the teeth. Graph/Network
In addition, the owners and chefs of well-known hotels in the country at that time were mostly from Changyuan, Henan, such as Hou Defu and Da Liang Chun in Beijing, Liang Yuan in Shanghai, The Three-Five Club in Tianjin, and GreatEr China in Nanjing...
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the chefs of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, the State Council Restaurant and other departments at that time also came from Changyuan, Henan. Hou Ruixuan, chief chef of diaoyutai state guesthouse who created the original Diaoyutai cuisine, is also a native of Changyuan, Henan. Henan cuisine, a cuisine outside the eight major cuisines, has nurtured Changyuan, Henan, the hometown of Chinese chefs.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the most authentic Henan flavor, all at folk banquets</h1>
Just like the history and culture of Henan, because the age is too far away, those prominent pasts are no longer mentioned. Henan official cuisine, also due to war and natural disasters, led to talent gaps, lack of raw materials, it is difficult to see again today. At the folk banquets in Henan, some authentic Henan flavors are still inherited, such as the buckle bowl in eastern Henan and the water mat in western Henan.
▲ Luoyang beef soup. Soup soup water is the life of Luoyang people ~ figure / network
Different from the endless plains around eastern Henan, the western Henan region is surrounded by mountains on three sides, the air is cold and dry, in order to replenish water, the people of western Henan are mostly known for their soups and waters in their diet. Luoyang Water Seat is the leader in it.
As a folk banquet dish in Henan, Luoyang water mat has super specifications of wealth. 24 dishes, most of which contain soup, after eating one, and then on, the whole serving process is smooth and flowing.
As the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty, the dishes of luoyang water mats are also somewhat contaminated with the atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty. "Luoyang peony A world, the wild in the dish to produce peony flowers", as the façade of The Luoyang water mat, peony swallow dish is almost equal to the water mat. Cut into thin strips of white radish, the roots are transparent, wrapped in mung bean powder and steamed for a while, and then "radish meeting" in the broth with ingredients such as shredded ham, shredded mushrooms, and shredded winter shoots. Before serving, placing a blooming peony in a bowl is an essential step.
▲ The balls that just came out of the pot ~ Photography / Ok
Compared with the many meaty dishes of the water mat, the refreshing ball soup is more favored. The balls, which are made of vermicelli and beef mixed, are fried over low heat until crisp, and the balls that have just come out of the pan are golden brown and crispy, and the steaming heat surrounds them. It is then poured into the spicy and sour soup and simmered into a ball soup.
The balls are soaked in the soup, the shell is still charred and crispy, but the inside is soft and flavorful, and it is a little less greasy than when it first comes out of the pot. A bite of balls, a mouthful of soup, sour and refreshing, the remaining fish fat in the Five Visceral Temple, was washed away.
▲ Buckle bowl. Graph/Network
Unlike the banquet in western Henan, which is honored by the water mat, the folk banquet in eastern Henan is contracted by the bowl. The protagonists of the bowls are mostly meat, such as steamed ribs, crispy meat, elbows and other dishes, and are familiar guests at the wedding banquet in Eastern Henan.
When the bowl comes out of the pot, it has the most human pyrotechnic smell. As the cage drawer opened, a wave of heat wrapped in aroma swept over the face with joy. The meat is fried and then steamed, filling the bowl. The hot air gives a soft light to the bowl, and the dishes are particularly soft and sticky.
▲ Soft and sticky button bowl, very suitable for the elderly with bad teeth. Graph/Network
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Henan home cooking: I'm ugly, but I'm gentle</h1>
In addition to the fading official cuisine and the banquet dishes of the wedding festival, the most common in the daily life of Henan people is home cooking. Braised noodles and peppery soups fall into this category.
▲ Braised noodles are sugar garlic, get strong! Photography / Max
For Henan, which has experienced famine many times in history, the memory of starvation is still in the genes, so henan people's requirements for daily diet are not high, and the amount is large and the tube is enough, so the appearance of Henan home cooking is mostly slightly rough. In addition, Henan, located in the Central Plains, has good transportation and tastes are also harmonized into a moderate appearance, and all kinds of tastes can be compatible. It is said that the dividing line between sweet and salty tofu brain is in Xuchang, Henan. In Zhengzhou, tofu brain is not only sweet and salty, but can even be mixed with peppery soup.
Therefore, in Henan, a bowl of stew and a bowl of noodles are often a full meal.
▲ During the stay at home, many of the Anyang friends in the circle of friends of Fengwujun are in DIY flat powder. Graph/Network
In Anyang, the status of flat flour vegetables is far superior to that of peppery soup. The morning in Anyang is often accompanied by "Boss, a bowl of two-dollar cakes, garlic and peppers!" "The crisp sound.
After hearing the instruction, the boss used a large spoon to scoop it in the large iron pot at the door, and even the soup brought vegetables, just to fill the bowl. The floating broth is mixed with amber flat noodles, ivory tofu chunks, dark brown pork blood slices, and emerald green vegetables.
▲ Flat flour with oil cake, who eats who knows! Graph/Network
After the flat flour dish was served, only a few "banging" sounds could be heard, and the steaming oil cake was also served. Soak the oil cake in the dish, take the vermicelli, and suck it down with the broth. After the soup is drunk, you can also add the soup for free. A bowl of flat flour vegetables under the belly, often eat the tip of the nose sweat, physically and mentally comfortable.
The homely taste of Lushan people is in a bowl of pot dishes. For Lushan Wanderer, only by eating the pot dish can he truly return to his hometown. It can also be called stewed vegetables, but the difference from Henan stew is the fist dish that grows in the Lushan area. As a kind of bracken, fist dishes only need to put a few sticks, you can easily steal the limelight of the protagonist.
Stewed with boxing dishes, there are also cabbage, vermicelli, back pot meat, fried crispy meat, croquettes, etc., all kinds of ingredients are wrapped in a pot, both color and shape, and the taste buds are extremely tempting. With the simmering of the fire, the various flavors are fused and unified in the pot, just like the peace and tolerance of Henan.
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Wen 丨 warbler time
Resources
"100 Years of Yu Cuisine" Jiao Sufang
"A Little Talk about Henan Cuisine" Yao Xueyu