Today, tourists from all over the world come to Chongqing and say that Chongqing is a fascinating city with a cyberpunk futuristic feel. In fact, since a hundred years ago, Chongqing has been a legendary food capital. In 1890, Chongqing opened its port, and the Jiefang Monument and Nanbin Road ushered in the era of their "Ten Mile Ocean Field". It was also in that prosperous era that Chongqing's catering began to develop.
At that time, Chongqing was divided into the upper half of the city and the lower half of the city, and the "Big Liangzi" was today's Xinhua Road, which was the junction of the two cities. Due to its proximity to the wharf, the era when all trade was mainly transported by water made the lower half of the city the most prosperous area in Chongqing. On the dock, merchants from the south to the north gather, and where there are people, there is a need to solve three meals.
Chongqing's first restaurant "Liu Chun Yan"
At that time, in order to solve the problem of eating for dock merchants and laborers, there were many wandering stalls on the streets of Chongqing, but due to limited conditions, these small traders only sold rice and pickles. As for the banquet, there are only private seats that do not have seats and do not retail. Until 1910, at the first Saibao Meeting (Chongqing's first commercial persuasion union or Chuandong Persuasion Association) in the vegetable garden Bachuandong, the first restaurant in Chongqing, Liu ChunYi, appeared. "Liu Chun Man" was taken by the celebrity of the time, Mr. Mei Ji Gao, and was located in the carpenter street near Chaotianmen Gate.
The "Wedding Banquet Garden" in the Private Banquet Hall
In the early days, the form of catering in Chongqing, in addition to mobile vendors, was mostly "baoxiguan". Similar to Taiwan's table banquet, it is also a bit like the cartoon "China Little Boss". One or two masters in charge, liaison and leadership of the red case (meat cutting), white case (and noodles), piers, stoves, kitchen workers, running hall and waterfront handymen, etc., listed and solicited, when encountering business, they brought tools and tableware and door-to-door service. The private seat hall is called a museum, but there is no hall to sit in the shop to solicit business. Guests come looking for taste, can be found all by word of mouth, all dishes are sea cucumber, abalone, shark fin feast, at that time was also very popular in the large households. Therefore, you can imagine that there was a group of people and horses on the street at that time, all of which were these chefs who had no fixed storefront, only famous chefs, carrying iron pots, spatulas, knives and other cooking tools, and rushed to the guests' homes for dinner. The Feast Garden was the most famous banquet hall at that time, and it was the best at boiling fresh soup.
Invented the "moderate building" of fish and meat shreds
In 1921, the Commercial Press published the "China Travel Guide", which mentioned that after Liu Chun, there were several restaurants in Chongqing, one of which was Du Xiaotian's moderate building. Located in today's Bayi Road People's Park, the Moderate Building was later moved to Shishan Garden outside Tongyuan Gate, and was the first high-end restaurant in Chongqing's history. Du Xiaotian, known as Du Fatzi, is considered to be the originator of Yupai Sichuan cuisine, after founding the moderate building, recruited a group of apprentices, and created many Sichuan cuisine culinary talents. Famous chefs such as Liao Qingting, Xiong Weiqing, Zeng Yaguang, Zhou Yueting and other famous chefs are his senior disciples. If you are not familiar with Du Xiaotian and these apprentices, then you must have heard of the dish he invented, fish and meat shreds. Chongqing is good at making fish by water, and Du Xiaotian tried to add shredded meat to the seasoning of making fish, which gradually evolved into this shredded fish. Later, his apprentices took this dish to Chongqing Xiaodongtian, Yishi Hotel and Beijing Hotel, and this famous dish has been passed down to this day.
The catering people of that era laid an important foundation for the development of Chongqing catering, catering to the needs of different guests at that time, creating different formats, providing different targeted services, and innovating dishes, recruiting apprentices, and then carrying forward Sichuan cuisine by apprentices. Many brands have experienced generation after generation of skill transmission and the ingenuity of chefs, which have been passed down to this day, and only then have the prosperity of sichuan cuisine brands with a hundred flowers and a hundred schools of contention.
From Guangdong to "return" to the Cantonese village of Sichuan flavor
Founded in 1920 in Chongqing, Yuexiangcun Restaurant was originally a small food stall jointly opened by three Xiajiang people (people from the lower Reaches of the Yangtze River) and later transferred to the Luo family, whose ancestral home was Guangdong, and ran boats on the Chuanjiang River. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Yuexiang Village was booming, and in 1956, it was renamed "Red Rock Restaurant". In 1985, it merged with the old Sichuan restaurant and became a famous restaurant in Chongqing,"Old Sichuan" restaurant, founded by Zigong people Yan Wenzhi and Zhong Yifeng, whose main dishes were "three meats", "fine yak beef" and "fire whip beef", the most famous of which was "Lamp Shadow Beef", which was as thin as a filament, spicy and fragrant.
In order to meet the needs of the flow of people on the dock, there are also "private seats" to meet the needs of family banquets, and later developed with the times, with innovative dishes. Restaurants suitable for different needs, after hundreds of years of continuous upgrading, have finally been able to cross the river of time to successfully meet with us now. But no matter how many innovative dishes there are, foreign tourists still can't do without these three major cuisines after coming to Chongqing.
Chongqing hot pot
Chongqing hot pot, also known as Mao belly hot pot or spicy hot pot, its origin is derived from the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties of Chongqing Jialing River, Chaotianmen and other dock boatman haulers extensive dining methods, and then with the development of society, historical changes, people's eating habits, the unique flavor of Chongqing hot pot gradually loved by people.
Although the containers, preparation methods and seasonings of today's hot pot have undergone thousands of years of evolution, one common point remains unchanged, that is, using a fire pot to conduct heat with water (soup) and cooking (shabu) food. This cooking method has appeared as early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and it can be said that it is the prototype of hot pot. Chongqing people are "obsessed" with hot pot, even if it is a three-volt day as long as the sun goes downhill, people on the side of the street surround a pot, and some of them still hold a fan in their hands and eat it.
Chongqing small noodles
Chongqing small noodles is a special traditional snack originated in Chongqing, belongs to Yu cuisine, is the simplest kind of Chongqing noodles, of which there are more than 20 kinds of large and small ingredients.
Chongqing small noodles refer to spicy vegetarian noodles, which are divided into two kinds of soup noodles and dry slips, both belong to the spicy category, the seasoning is the soul of small noodles, and a bowl of noodles is based on spices to enhance the taste. First, the seasoning is prepared, and then the cooked noodles are added. The spicy flavor is not irritating, the noodles are smooth and smooth, and the soup is fragrant and rich.
Chongqing chutney powder
Chongqing chutney is a local traditional snack widely spread in Chongqing and has always been one of the favorites of Chongqing people. The handmade main powder is made of sweet potato and pea starch as the main raw materials, and then it is leaked by traditional hand by farmers.
Chongqing chutney powder fans vigorous teeth, spicy and sour taste, fragrant appetizer, has long been loved by Chongqing people, its characteristics are "spicy, spicy, fresh, fragrant, sour and oily but not greasy", known as "the world's first powder" reputation, but also deeply loved by the people of Chongqing local snacks.
Source: Hualong Network, Shanxi Daily New Media