Together with Wu Pingzheng, the inheritor of Shengxiang Intangible Cultural Heritage, he and his colleagues made special cakes for beef and mutton steamed buns
Making every dish well is Li Yuan's requirement for himself
tell
Squeeze out 5 balls in one hand
From the age of 17 to the present, the 79-year-old "national treasure-level Shaanxi cuisine master" Zhai Yaomin has never left the stove and has also worked in many long-established restaurants, such as Xi'an Restaurant and Wuyi Hotel.
At the age of 17, when he met the recruitment of workers at the Tianfulou Restaurant in Xi'an, Zhai Yaomin came to the provincial capital from Lantian County and successively learned cooking skills with Yu Baoqi, Yu Zefu, Xue Chengrong and other masters.
"Speaking of Tianfu Lou, there is another name that many old Xi'an people know - No. 64 West Avenue." Zhai Yaomin recalled, "Two floors, the place is not big. Sell vegetables, dumplings, pot stickers, there are many varieties. ”
In 1960, Zhai Yaomin participated in a cooking class organized by the Beilin District Commercial Bureau of Xi'an City at the Zhengyang Hotel in Nanguan, and after graduation, he was assigned to Xi'an Restaurant, where he studied and worked with Cao Bingjun, a famous Chef of Shaanxi cuisine at the time. Master Cao saw that Zhai Yaomin was honest and willing to work hard, and then wrote down on the paper a few tricks of his own cooking, and taught them to Zhai Yaomin, who was in his early twenties.
"At that time, Xi'an Restaurant was a bungalow, and there was a garden landscape in the middle of a circle of houses, which was different from now." In Zhai Yaomin's impression, the business of Xi'an Restaurant is very good, especially the snack department on the first floor, pot stickers, persimmon cakes, shortbreads and everything, "the cook who made pot stickers was the chef of Tianfu Lou before." A 3 cents, a ninety cent 30, the lads can't eat it all. ”
After leaving the Xi'an restaurant, Zhai Yaomin went to the Wuyi Hotel, which had just reopened after changing its name, and his wife sold buns and noodles in the snack department on the first floor.
Zhai Yaomin is most proud of the technology of squeezing out 5 balls in one hand: the meat filling in the palm of the hand is evenly distributed to 5 fingers, and the balls pinched at the same time can be of the same size through the control of the force. To further improve his work efficiency, he later created the "cut back knife" technique for fast processing of meat dishes. The kitchen knife pushes one slice forward and one slice back in the skilful manipulation of his right hand, completing the effect of cutting two slices at a time.
After working in Xi'an Restaurant for 13 years, he was transferred to the Zhiyuan Hotel as a chef, inheriting and innovating, and famous dishes such as Huayue Pearl Cactus, Pearl Monkey Head, and White Grilled Cloud Head became important labels of Shaanxi cuisine in his hands.
Over the years, Zhai Yaomin has passed on his exquisite cooking skills to the next generation without reservation, and has cultivated a large number of culinary technicians, among which Zheng Xinmin, Li Chuanglun, Wang Baoqing, Cao Yongsheng, etc. have become famous chefs in Shaanxi.
complex
Xi'an people's time-honored complex
"Wuyi Hotel, East Asia Hotel, Baiyunzhang Dumpling Restaurant, Jufengyuan Roast Duck Restaurant..." Citizen Zhang Dong used to live in Erdao Lane in Dacha City, and many long-established shops on East Avenue were like a number of treasures, "Now the east next door of Kaiyuan Mall, formerly the Dahua Hotel." ”
Founded in the early 1920s, this restaurant specializes in Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine and Shaanxi cuisine. Even in the 1950s and 1960s, there were still all kinds of old cars of celebrities parked outside the hotel. "Then the people will go to the Majestic Hotel, that is, to eat buns and snacks." Speaking of buns, Zhang Dong also mentioned the Wuyi Hotel, which is not far from the Majestic Hotel.
In 1952, the national capitalist Cai Hongbin bought the building where Yushun Lou was located, renamed it "Jin Jiang Hotel", and wrote the name of the store by the calligraphy master Yue Songlin. In 1955, the public-private partnership adopted it as a national ownership and named it "Xi'an First Canteen". In 1969, it was officially renamed as "Xi'an Wuyi Hotel".
"At that time, almost all of Xi'an's famous old brands were concentrated near the Bell Tower and East Avenue." Zhang Dong said, "Especially in the early 1980s, when reform and opening up had just started, the people's consumption awareness gradually changed, and the 'lower restaurants' grew from less to more, and finally formed a normal state." Although the gourd chicken dishes of Xi'an Restaurant are the signature dishes, everyone still likes to eat snacks such as rice noodle skin, crystal persimmon cake, pot stickers and so on on the open first floor, and if you drink a bowl of rich yellow cinnamon thick wine, it is comparable to eating a big meal. He also mentioned a folk song of the time, "East Bell West Drum, Green Dragon White Tiger, Coriander Hot Soup, Xi'an Restaurant." ”
recall
Once 60 yuan a table is a luxurious banquet
Founded in 1929, Xi'an Restaurant is famous for its "Authentic Shaanxi Cuisine and Shaanxi Flavor Snacks", which was built by some celebrities in Xi'an at that time, initially named "Xi'an Hotel", and later renamed Xi'an Restaurant. The site is located on the west side of the bell tower. During the "Xi'an Incident" in 1936, Zhou Enlai set up a "peace banquet" at the Xi'an Restaurant, and entertained patriotic generals Zhang Xueliang, Yang Hucheng, and anti-Japanese democrats with specialties and Huang Gui thick wine, and finally reached a peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident and reversed the situation.
Under the care of Premier Zhou Enlai, in the second half of 1977, a new Xi'an Restaurant Building with a height of 70 meters, a height of 6 floors and a business area of more than 8,000 square meters was completed and opened in the middle of East Avenue.
Three years after the new building was built, 20-year-old Li Yuan came here. "The first floor is the snacks on both the east and the west sides, the second floor is the Chinese restaurant, the third floor is the Western restaurant, the fourth floor is the reception restaurant for foreign guests, and the fifth floor and the sixth floor are the guest rooms." He recalled, "At that time, the living conditions were not good, and ordinary people who could eat in restaurants had to save money for a few months. Ground floor snacks are most popular because they are affordable. Today, Li Yuan is a national senior culinary technician, a Chinese culinary master, and a deputy general manager of Xi'an Restaurant.
Li Yuan said that at that time, the cheapest table meal in Xi'an Restaurant was 25 yuan, the most expensive 41 yuan, and generally 45 yuan a table was the standard for inviting foreign guests. "Once a person's wedding was held on the fourth floor, 60 yuan a table, we talked for a long time, it was a fairly high-end banquet." 」
scene
Carrying a small bench in line to eat steamed buns
Not far from the geographical location of Xi'an Restaurant, Tongshengxiang Restaurant was founded in 1920 by the three Hui Zhang brothers. Today, the production technique of beef and mutton steamed buns has been passed down to the fourth generation.
The Northern Song Dynasty writer Su Shi had a poem "Long cuisine has bear wax, Qin cooking only sheep soup", and folk have "mention Chang'an City, often remember the name of sheep soup; sheep soup delicious taste, only belong to the same Shengxiang" folk song. The "yokan soup" mentioned here is the Xi'an special snack beef and mutton steamed bun.
Ma Bo, executive deputy general manager of Tongshengxiang, pointed to a historical photo and told reporters: "In the past, Tongshengxiang supplied 200 bowls of steamed buns every day, and every morning before going to work, the front of the steamed bun hall was already crowded with people who ate steamed buns with tickets." In order to eat steamed buns, many people line up in front of the door with small benches in the early morning, as soon as the door opens, people flock in, and there are not a few people who are squeezed out of their shoes, so every day Tongshengxiang's staff can pick up the shoes and benches lost by many guests. ”
Ma Bo smiled and said, "My father got up in the morning to go out to work, take a teacup and go to Tongshengxiang to eat a bowl of steamed buns, then there will be no oil and water in the stomach, he can eat 8 steamed buns in one meal." Then he pulled the rack car to Xianyang and did not eat all day until he came back at night. ”
"In the era of planned economy, the supply of raw materials in restaurants is relatively abundant, a family with children to go to a large bowl, and then to 4 steamed buns or 6 buns, some people even at home to break 6, 8 steamed buns, with a jar to bring, a big pot, enough for a family to eat." At that time, a bowl of steamed buns cost two cents and five cents. For ordinary people whose monthly salary is only a dozen yuan, this price is not particularly cheap, but they can eat a family, so it is more affordable. ”
Get the bottom out
There are 27 long-established brands in Shaanxi China
According to data from the Provincial Department of Commerce, at present, there are 2 batches of 26 and 27 brands of "Chinese time-honored brand" enterprises identified by the Ministry of Commerce in the province, including 16 in Xi'an, 3 in Baoji, 2 in Xianyang, 2 in Weinan and 4 in Hanzhong, which are concentrated in traditional industries such as catering, liquor, medicine, retail, and brewing.
Among them, there are 14 catering enterprises, 6 liquor enterprises, 2 brewing enterprises, 2 food production enterprises, 1 pharmaceutical enterprise and 1 retail enterprise.
Among them, there are 11 companies with good development momentum, namely Shaanxi Xifeng Wine Co., Ltd., Shaanxi Qinyang Changsheng Liquor Co., Ltd., Xi'an Yongxin Halal Meat Food Co., Ltd., Xi'an Demaogong Food Store, Xi'an Jiasan Halal Soup Dumpling Restaurant, Xi'an Northwest Glasses Co., Ltd., Xi'an Zaolutang Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Shaanxi Baishui Dukang Liquor Co., Ltd., Shaanxi Chenggu Liquor Co., Ltd., Yangxian Daxiande Condiment Co., Ltd., and Xianyang Zhangji Catering Co., Ltd.
Including Xi'an Restaurant Of Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd., Defa Chang Hotel of Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd., Laosunjia Restaurant of Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd., Tongshengxiang Restaurant of Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd., Chunji Branch of East Asia Hotel of Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd., Xi'an Roast Duck Branch of Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd., Shaanxi Taibai Liquor Industry Co., Ltd., Tongguan County Pickle Food Factory, and Xianyang Laowangjia Halal Food Co., Ltd., which are in continuous and stable operation.
Like Shaanxi Qinchuan Wine Co., Ltd., Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd. Wuyi Hotel, Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd. East Asia Hotel, Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd. Tao Li Chun Hotel, Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd. Xi'an Roast Duck Shop Jufengyuan Branch, Xi'an Catering Co., Ltd. Laosun Family Restaurant Baiyunzhang Flavor Snack City or facing development difficulties, or recently closed, many have not carried out business activities for two consecutive years. Article/Reporter Li Ping Chief Reporter Shi Yuhan
Photo/ Ma Zhao, reporter of this newspaper