[Editor's note] "Chinese cuisine is immortal, thanks to the development of Chinese food culture for thousands of years. "The gourmand Ermao has been collecting old recipes for more than 30 years, and the documents he has collected spanned the Ming and Qing dynasties to the 1980s.
The "Ermao's Old Recipe" column will explore the history and changes of food culture in different eras, regions, cuisines, events, and celebrities as clues.
In the catalogue of "Famous Dishes of Beijing Restaurants", Sichuan cuisine ranks first
Character business card
Two hairs
Ermao (formerly known as Mou Zhenzhen) was born in Youyang, Chongqing in the 1960s. Famous poet, gourmet, gastronomic consultant of "China on the Tip of the Tongue", expert of the Research Group on non-genetic inheritance and protection of Chinese cuisine (Ministry of Culture and China Cuisine Association), collector of Chinese food literature. From 1987 to the present, he has successively founded cultural catering brands "Chuandong Laojia" and "Tianxia Salt" in Chongqing, Chengdu and Beijing. He is the author of "Jiangshan in the Bowl", "Mother's Firewood Stove", "The Tao of Taste", "Republic of China Eater" and other gastronomic works.
Dictation: Ermao
Finishing/Cover News Reporter Xue Weirui
"Famous Recipes for Beijing Hotels" was published by The Light Industry Press in 1959. Since the 1950s, this publishing house has published many famous Chinese recipes, and many of the important food literature in my collection are derived from this, which was a considerable impetus to Chinese food culture in that era.
The menu contains a total of 387 dishes, including Sichuan, Cantonese, Northern, Tanjia and some dim sum. It can be said that the recipes of Beijing restaurants can be called the collection of excellent chinese famous dishes. And the chefs who cook among them are all masters of the Hidden Dragon and Crouching Tiger.
Beijing Hotel has a long history, was founded in the early 1900s, is a famous century-old store, has received the heads of many countries and regions. The restaurant was originally dominated by Huaiyang cuisine, northern cuisine and Cantonese cuisine, but by the time this "Beijing Restaurant Menu" was developed, Sichuan cuisine had already ranked first among all cuisines.
"Famous Recipes for Beijing Hotels", published by Young Industry Publishing House in 1959
There are two masters who cook Sichuan cuisine in the restaurant, namely Fan Junkang and Luo Guorong, who come from the same division in Sichuan. Luo Guorong's entry into Beijing was decided by Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao Zedong negotiated in Chongqing in 1945, and after eating Luo Guorong's banquet, he never forgot it and personally transferred him to Zhongnanhai. Later, Chairman Mao believed that such a talent should be known to more people, and transferred him to the Beijing Hotel as a chef.
Soon after Luo Guorong arrived at the Beijing Hotel, he received a visit to China by the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, who praised the state banquet dishes. Premier Zhou also sent someone to call Luo Guorong to the banquet hall and introduced himself to Nehru: "This is our Sichuan cuisine chef, and he also made the dishes at the state banquet." ”
In addition to Luo Guorong, Fan Junkang was also valued by Premier Zhou. Zhou Enlai visited abroad, often taking Fan Junkang with him. In 1954, Fan Junkang accompanied Premier Zhou to Geneva. The "crispy duck" at the banquet made the comedy master Chaplin praise, and after eating it, he asked for one to take away, and also asked Fan Junkang for advice.
The emergence of Sichuan cuisine masters in Beijing restaurants actually represents a new height in the development of Sichuan cuisine.
In the history of Chinese cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, like other cuisines, reached its peak in the late Qing Dynasty and early Min. The real promotion of Sichuan cuisine to the whole country and reached its peak was through the Sichuan cuisine masters led by Fan Junkang and Luo Guorong in the late 1950s. This group of Sichuan cuisine masters reached hundreds in the late 1950s.
There is a detail worth noting, the "Beijing Hotel Famous Recipes" writes that the preparation process of the book is based on the oral accounts of Sichuan cuisine famous teachers Shi Junkang and Luo Guorong, Cantonese chefs Zhang Qiao and Kang Hui, northern cuisine chef Wang Lan, Tanjia cuisine chef Peng Changhai and dim sum chef Guo Wenbin. In other words, in addition to Sichuan cuisine masters, other cuisine masters are not called famous masters.
In addition, the book includes 143 kinds of Sichuan cuisine, 102 kinds of Cantonese cuisine, 52 kinds of northern cuisine, and 30 kinds of Tang family cuisine, of which Sichuan cuisine is the largest number of choices. In this recipe, Sichuan cuisine has the upper hand from any angle.
It can be said that in the Beijing restaurants of the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, and even to the 1960s and 1970s, including most of the 1980s, Sichuan cuisine was the best in the national cuisine. This is a history that is relatively easy to ignore in the development of Sichuan cuisine.
If you look closely at the 143 Sichuan dishes, you will find that only a few of them are spicy. Many dishes that are not spicy are difficult to think of as Sichuan cuisine now. For example, butterfly sea cucumber, pot sticker money chicken, sunflower three fresh, a pint of crispy chicken, char siu fish, chicken fat red amaranth, hibiscus chicken slices, braised chicken cake, etc., people should not have eaten now. Names like char siu fish, net oil fish buns, celery yellow croaker strips, abalone chicken loin, I have not only never eaten, but also never heard of.
Butterfly sea cucumber (image from the Internet)
This can also explain a misunderstanding, Sichuan cuisine has not always been spicy, in more than 4,000 traditional Sichuan cuisine, in fact, only about a third is spicy.
In another "History of Beijing Hotels", a technique passed down from generation to generation of Sichuan cuisine is mentioned. This is a kimchi technique called "pickled fish spicy".
The secret is to add a very small crucian carp to the kimchi pot, so that the brewed peppers taste particularly fresh. This kind of fish spicy is not only suitable for mixing with spices such as shallots, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, salt, and vinegar, but also can be cooked with a variety of dishes that have a fish flavor but do not see fish.
This is where fish dishes come from. This shows that there are fish in the fish aroma, and the fish flavored meat shredded made of spicy seeds soaked with crucian carp in the kimchi jar is the authentic fish flavored meat shreds.
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"Beijing Hotel Famous Recipe" method
Braised chicken in rice wine
Ingredients 1 hen, gross weight 3 and a half pounds.
Seasoning Salt, half a pound of cooking wine, soy sauce, sugar, green onion, ginger.
Cooking Process This dish is mainly cooked with roasts
1. Cut the chicken from the back, rub the cooking wine all over the body, and fry it in hot oil to a light yellow color.
2. Same as watercress chicken.
Characteristics of the dish Long plate serving, knife edge down, head lining flowers, tail with chrysanthemum eggs. The dish is red, beautiful and generous, with a special taste and contains the aroma of Shaoxing wine.
Assorted sichuan silk
Ingredients Half a can of abalone (canned), 2 pairs of water fish belly, 1 pair of ham, 1 pair of shiitake mushrooms, 2 pairs of bamboo shoots, 4 pairs of crispy meat, 4 pairs of carrots, 4 pairs of green shoots, half a pound of goose, 5 gold of watercress, half a pound of dragon's whiskers (10 sticks).
Seasoning Chicken soup 20 two, salt 3 dollars, pepper noodles 3 points, ginger 2 dollars, green onion 5 dollars, cooking wine 1 two, monosodium glutamate 5 points.
Cooking process
1. Rinse the abalone and fish maw, cut into coarse strips, ham, winter mushrooms, winter shoots, crispy meat, carrots, green shoots, chicken shredded, abalone, fish maw on the bottom surface, each silk around it, put into a bowl.
2. Place ginger and green onion on top of the fenced silk, add pepper and cooking wine, pour in 8 chicken soup, basket and steam for about 1 hour.
3. Stir in another 12 pairs of chicken broth, add spices and dough powder to form a refreshing juice, pour into the skewers in the bowl, then wai watercress, and then wai longshu vegetables (cooked with chicken soup).
Characteristics of the dish Beautiful color, clear and strong taste, large bowls. This dish was pioneered by Chef Luo Guorong.
Source: Cover News
Oral Description: Ermao (famous poet, gourmet, gastronomic consultant of "China on the Tip of the Tongue", expert of the Research Group on Non-genetic Inheritance and Protection of Chinese Cuisine, Collector of Chinese Food Literature)
Finishing: Xue Weirui (cover reporter)
Pictured: Fang Zhi Sichuan
Some of Fangzhi Sichuan's pictures, audio and video come from the Internet, only to disseminate more information. The copyright of the pictures, audio and video contained in the article belongs to the original author or media.
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