When it comes to zhanjiang and the banquets in the whole western Guangdong region, they are famous in Guangdong. There is a custom in western Guangdong called the annual calendar, the main content of the annual calendar is to worship the ancestors, pray to the heavens to bless the next year's grain abundance. In addition to the gods and various folk performances, the most important content is a grand food party, dozens of seafood dinners on hundreds of tables, so that friends from other places will never forget after seeing it!
This year, due to the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the annual cases in zhanjiang and western Guangdong have been cancelled. I used to be tired of eating, but now I can't eat it, do you miss the rich food at the feast? Today we will talk about the old banquet in Zhanjiang, so that you can feast your eyes and mouth from the text.
Roast pork has been a famous dish since ancient times
Speaking of setting up a banquet, it is a custom of the Zhanjiang people who are hospitable and face-loving, and have existed since ancient times. Not only the annual routine, but also the day of the ancestor's death, the traditional festival, marriage, birthday, partnership, chandelier, further education, etc. all like to put wine and banquets. Due to the feudal customs of the time, there were men eating first, women eating later, or men and women eating at different tables. The seats also pay attention to the dignity of the elderly and the young.
Zhanjiang is integrated with the jurisdiction of GaozhouFu, the capital of Leizhou, and the customs of various places are slightly different, but they are roughly the same. In the old days, the most luxurious banquet was called "Four Mountains and Eight Seas", which actually referred to 12 large dishes. "Four Mountains and Eight Seas" should be a dish from the Central Plains, and there is a certain evolution in Zhanjiang.
The "Four Mountains" of Zhanjiang refer to chicken, duck, goose (or ham) roast pig. Roast pork must be crispy suckling pig dipped in sugar. I think this "four mountains" originally referred to mountain treasures, but since there were no mountains in the Zhanjiang area, it was simply replaced by chickens, ducks, geese and pigs. However, the "Four Mountains" method is more complicated than it is now, including stewed chicken, braised duck, roasted goose and so on. Although it is normal to look at the "Four Mountains" now, ordinary people who saw these ingredients at that time did not dare to expect extravagantly, and it was good to eat a piece of fat pork.
Then there is the "Eight Seas", which is not ambiguous at all - it refers to eight kinds of abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, eel belly, squid, dried shrimp, sandworms, and crab meat. The method is also different from now, more exquisite. A feast featured chowder sea cucumber soup, chicken silk eel belly soup, bird's nest decoction soup, braised abalone stew, three-wire braised shark fin, sweet sour squid roll, garlic steamed sandworm, hibiscus crab meat, as well as shrimp balls, meatballs, corn, pork feet, sweet golden noodles, a total of more than a dozen plates! Such a banquet is called a fine banquet in Lianjiang Anpu Town, which belongs to the high-end banquet.
Three-wire braised shark fin is a Lu dish recipe
Xu Wen's banquet is divided into the first eight plates and the last eight plates. The first eight plates are of exquisite quality, with "four mountains (zhen) sea (taste)", "four cattle and sheep", and the last eight plates have a number of large pieces such as chicken and duck, eight treasure rice and so on. This is the banquet for the rich, and the quality of the poor's banquet is not very exquisite, there is pork, lamb, and green vegetables. It can be seen here that Xu Wenyang is a famous feast dish that has existed since ancient times.
In the past, there were two taboos for zhanjiang fishermen's banquets. First, seasoning can not be used soy sauce, the reason is unknown, in short, until now, many fish soup is also directly seasoned with salt and soup. Second, the fish cannot be fried at the banquet, generally steamed, because the fishermen think that the fish and water are dependent, and if the fried fish will be fried dry, the fish will not be caught later.
Seeing this, some people may ask, why can't you eat some dishes of "all over the world" now? First, because in the past, large households had special chefs, who were skilled in cooking and could cook famous dishes from all over the country (such as "three-wire braised shark fin soup", which is the Lu cuisine method). Second, the precious ingredients in the past have now flown into the homes of ordinary people, and they must be adjusted according to the tastes of the people, for example, Zhanjiang folk like white chopping and steaming, which is more suitable for the taste of the public. Third, the current banquet is dozens of sets, hundreds of sets, more requires the method to be simple and fast, otherwise it is made slowly, the dishes are all cold, and the color and fragrance are gone.
Zhanjiang rural annual banquet
Before liberation, the luxurious banquets could only be eaten by the rich, but now ordinary people can often eat them, which can be said to be social progress. It's just that the current banquet has more than a bit of a comparison, and some people spend the money earned from working part-time for a year on the annual banquet, which is not worth advocating. Doing what you can is the most important thing!