Naming a dish is a technical job that requires flexible thinking, broad insight, literal attainment, and professional knowledge.
Now that the New Year is approaching, restaurants around the world have begun to plan the group's New Year banquet menu. So, what are the techniques for naming the dishes of the New Year's Feast? Here are some methods for your reference.
1. The naming method of dishes
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The naming of dishes is often directly related to the raw materials used, cooking methods, colors, textures, tastes, and physical characteristics, and sometimes has a lot to do with historical allusions and local characteristics, such as:
A product
This refers to the highest official ranks in feudal society, such as Taishuai, Taibao, Taiwei, Situ, Sikong, etc., all of which are official residences, and the catering industry often borrows these words to describe the noble and advanced dishes, such as: a pint of bird's nest, a bite of puff pastry.
Ternary
Take the meaning of three yuan auspiciousness. In ancient times, there were three yuan of heaven, earth and people, and there were also three yuan of the first day of the first lunar month of each year, which was the meaning of wishing for a good start to the year and wishing everything as they wished. Sanyuan mostly refers to three kinds of raw materials, such as: three-yuan white sauce duck, three-yuan fish.
Four hi
It refers to four raw materials made into four equal amounts of shape, with a container to hold. For example: Sixi shrimp cakes, four sixi balls. Four joys also refer to the four things that people are most celebrated, and the four great joys of life in the past refer to: long drought and sweet rain, other parties encounter old knowledge, cave flower candle night, and gold list nomination. It is now used in the name of the dish, which means to wish people good luck.
Unicorn
Legend has it that it is a noble animal, whose shape is like a deer, with a single horn covered with armor and a tail like a cow, which is often used as a symbol of auspiciousness. It is often used as a dish name in the catering industry, which means auspicious, such as: unicorn cinnamon fish.
mandarin duck
Bird name, male is a duck, female is a duck, the body is small like a duck, the mouth is flat and short, the male has beautiful feathers, and the female is all pale brown. The food and beverage industry often names dishes with color into pairs, taste into pairs, and raw materials into pairs, such as: Mandarin duck chicken, Mandarin duck sea cucumber.
There are also eight treasures, hydrangeas (shark fin, sea cucumber), crystal (duck, chicken), jadeite (shrimp), three fresh and so on.
There are also some examples of other methods:
Named after the image
This is to emphasize the image characteristics of the dish, arouse people's curiosity, and pay attention to the effect of the artistic shape of the dish, such as: lion's head, dragon boat treasure, squirrel fish, gourd duck.
Named after the vegetarian dish
This is the way to make a dish into a meat dish, to satisfy the psychology of a few people, in order to enjoy the blessings, such as: vegetarian sea cucumber, vegetarian chicken, vegetarian fish balls, vegetarian fish.
It is named after vegetables and fruits as containers
Vegetables and fruits vermicelli are made into the shape of food containers, which are used to hold dishes, which are both containers and food, such as watermelon cups, winter melon cups, and fishing boats singing evenings.
Named after a combination of East and West
Emphasis is made by using Western ingredients or Western cooking methods, and eating Chinese food to reflect the taste of Western food, such as: Qiandao beef, Jili shrimp steak, sauce scallops, steak pudding, French pork chops.
Named after a famous verse from a poem
Emphasize the artistry of the dishes and give them poetic meaning, such as: palm pearls, birds returning home, a row of egrets on the blue sky, Mandarin ducks playing in the water.
Named after the serving dish and ingredients
Emphasis is placed on the characteristics of heating dishes, and mature dishes are heated for a long time to taste mellow and fragrant, such as: lamb steam pot chicken, casserole shark fin soup.
Named after an exaggeration
Through exaggeration, the atmosphere is rendered, giving people a new feeling, such as: the world's first dish, the world's first soup, flat land a thunder.
Named after good wishes
Emphasize happiness and good wishes, so that people feel comfortable, such as: carp jumping dragon gate, family portrait, mother and child meeting.
Named after the artistic modeling
Emphasize the artistry of the composition of the dishes, so that the dishes are picturesque, such as: Erlong Ju zhu, Yaochi fresh fruit, dragon play phoenix, goldfish play water.
Named after the rendering magic
The emphasis on unique preparations is fascinating, such as: cooked live fish, loach drilled tofu, fried ice cream.
Named after the harmonic sound
Replace the words or words of the dish itself with homophones or words, such as: Fortune Fish Dumpling Soup, Bawang Bieji (turtle, chicken).
Named after the theme of the banquet (birthday and wedding)
For example: Eight Immortals Hexi (Eight Wai Dish), Long Life 100 Years (Braised Turtle), Anju Leye (Magpie's Nest Shuangcui), Yuanliu Chang (A-Ma Hand Rolling Noodles), Red Pink Pretty Guy (Goji Berry Stewed Golden Rooster), Thousand Silk Heart Knot (Chicken Silk Wing Belly), Xie He Hao (Lotus Lily), Early Born Takako (Red Jujube Stewed Lotus Seed), Song Crane Yannian, Dragon Wind Auspicious (Chicken Ball Fried Shrimp Ball).
Named after historical allusions or legends
For example, the Buddha jumped off the wall (seafood, rare birds simmered in crock pots, it is said that "the meat fragrance floats around, the Buddha smells the Zen jumping off the wall"), called the flower chicken.
Give the raw material a good name
For example: silver sprout chicken shreds (bean sprouts), Kaiyang golden hook celery (sea rice), pearl (fish balls, shrimp balls).