Gossip About Hunan Cuisine 44 Super Chef Sheng Boji
Zhang Xiaoxiong
My initial understanding of Hunan cuisine was learned from Sheng Boji.
Sheng Boji is a very famous person in the press, especially in the television industry. Senior editors, famous directors, literary critics, a lot of titles, how did they catch up with Hunan cuisine?
This stemmed from a television column he hosted in the early 1980s, "Youth Life."
He dragged me to eat authentic Hunan food, which was when filming this show. This show features Hunan cuisine.
One day around 1985, he called and invited me to a "nother village" opposite the Changsha Youth Palace to eat Hunan dishes made by Master Wang Moquan. At that time, Wang Moquan had just returned from a cooking competition in Beijing. His specialty dish hair silk cow hundred leaves, because bringing ingredients into Beijing is not refrigerated, the effect is not very good, "Hunan Daily" published an article, for him to qu. Sheng Boji also made a show for him, which was a help for him and increased his popularity. That day, Sheng Dao did not carry a camera, the assistant was seriously shooting, he gave Wang Moquan a hand to cook. I forget what dishes Wang Moquan cooked, but his action of beating eggs to make snowflakes is very artistic. Sheng Boji explained to a few reporters who were doing youth reports on the side, and the head of the speech was the Tao. I thought to myself, this buddy really has a feeling of being a chef, and the ten minutes of explanation have brought me into the field of Hunan cuisine.
Soon after, I initiated the organization of the "Hunan Young Journalists Association" with him, and often had dinner together. Whether it is eating in a restaurant or at someone's house, every dish is served, and Sheng Boji always has to comment on it. The big guy said, you said so much, it is better to make a meal ourselves and let's taste it.
He did not renege on his word, and a few days later invited us to the house he had in the courtyard of the old television station and made a large table of dishes. I remember that the most popular ones are fried shredded meat with leeks, braised fish nuggets, and then a chicken soup vermicelli boiled bud white. It is said that this vermicelli soup is his specialty dish, and the taste is indeed delicious. Sheng Boji joked that this was specially dealt with a reporter Huang Laodi, who ate a large amount of food, because Huang Laodi had a large amount of food, and this dish supported his stomach. Unfortunately, this old brother Huang died young.
I didn't see the Hunan cuisine program he did for Wang Moquan. It may be that my family did not buy a TV set at that time, but I saw an article he wrote commenting on Hunan cuisine. Around 1990, he published a paper in the journal "Chinese Cuisine" entitled "Consumer Customs and the Development Trend of Hunan Cuisine", which commented on the Chai Cinnamon Fish of Hunan Cuisine Master Xu Juyun, which caused a controversy. Vegetable cinnamon fish, the serious saying is called chai mandarin fish, is a classic Hunan dish made of mushrooms, bamboo shoots, coriander and other ingredients, beautiful shape, fresh and smooth and tender. The chef first cleans up and removes the head and tail. The head and tail of the fish are marinated and used to decorate both ends of the plate. Peel and cut the fish, sizing it into flavor, add the processed and seasoned bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms, bundle it with coriander to make a chai fish, steam the chai fish for 12 minutes until cooked, and garnish the blanched rape in the middle. Season with soup in a pot and pour over the fish. Sheng Boji wrote this article very professionally, which caused a great response in the Hunan cuisine industry. There are many people who support him, and of course there are people who oppose him. After all, it is a very professional magazine, and those who can post articles on it are all characters in the culinary world. It can be seen from this that Sheng Boji not only makes Hunan cuisine, but also speaks Hunan cuisine, not idle talk, but positive talk.
Later, a friend told me that Sheng Boji actually took a chef's certificate, as if it was a first-level or second-level, anyway, it was a very cattle level. We were active reporters and editors in the eighties, to get a certificate, people will give some face, what lawyer card, membership card, exam is not a formality. I once joked that Sheng Boji's chef's certificate was mixed up with the title of journalist. Joke to joke, later I verified, this certificate is really not mixed, after several examinations to pass. Later, I ate a dish he made, and the level was indeed the work of a first-class chef.
That time cooking, Sheng Boji took the real skill out. One of my elders went to Hunan TV as the head and asked me to invite a guest. I consulted with Sheng Boji. At that time, it was not fashionable to go to the hotel. Of course, if you want to go to the hotel, and then rely on Sheng Boji's relationship, it is no problem to rub a meal. He said he would show his hand in person.
This time, there was no chicken soup vermicelli boiled bud white, but braised fish, five round chicken, shredded beef with cucumber, and braised sea cucumber in chicken soup. I started, the dishes are out one by one, the taste, posture, and procedure are no worse than in the big restaurant. My elder laughed and laughed. He is a gourmet, and he has tasted any cuisine in Tiannanhaibei, and he directly boasts that this is authentic Hunan cuisine.
Sheng Boji can cook, and the driving force comes from the fact that he can eat. Hunan vegetables are heavy in oil and heavy in flavor, and this routine is what he taught me. Heavy taste, that is, more salt and more peppers, so he is chopping peppers without leaving the body. No matter where he traveled, the little glass bottle of red color, he always carried with him. Even if he went to the United States, he would not worry about the customs checking him. Because there was no meat in the bottle, the pickled vegetarian food passed smoothly all the way. I went to Beijing once with him and stayed at the Tuanzhong Guest House on Qianmen East Avenue. Every night, he always dragged me to the night market under the front arrow to eat a late night snack. At that time, the front door could also set up a stall at night, and we ordered a snack for each person. He took the red vial out of his pocket, and we got a little bit out of it and put it in the food, and then the ugly Beijing dishes, we ate a little bit.
He liked the habit of eating suppers, which he had always retained from his youth. I published an article in Hunan Pictorial, writing about Sheng Boji. I wrote that if someone called me in the middle of the night, it must have been Called by Sheng Boji, and there was only one theme, inviting me to go to supper with me. Hua Tian, Furong, Fire Palace, those supper shops, he was all clear.
In recent years, Sheng Boji has somewhat played the score. Wanting to eat the dishes he made was a very luxurious idea. He was still as hospitable as before, and he often invited people to dinner, and I was naturally invited. But he rarely took matters into his own hands, a first-class super chef, with a few apprentices, the gentleman did not move his hands, just pointed out. Eating at his house, the one in charge became his two nephews. Although these two nephews are not small roles, they have to work obediently under his hands. Sheng Boji wrote the recipe in advance, ordered the disciples to prepare the ingredients, he inspected them bit by bit, and supervised the work on the side, and the knife work was not sloppy at all. Only when he is happy will he personally make a dish, which is called a taste.
The author, Zhang Xiaoxiong, a native of Xiangyin, Hunan, grew up in the state-owned Miluojiang Farm (now Quyuan District, Yueyang City), graduated from Xiangtan University with a 77-level Chinese major, and was former deputy general manager, senior editor, writer and professor of Hunan Daily Newspaper (Group). His masterpiece is the best-selling novel "The Wind Rises". The collection of essays, In Search of Heaven, will be published in the near future.