[About the author]
Chen Diansong
was born in 1967 in Duchang, Jiangxi. He is a member of the Chinese Writers Association, a member of the Chinese Biographical Literature Society, a member of the Chinese Popular Science Writers Association, a member of the Reportage Professional Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Writers Association, and a director of the Sun Yat-sen Research Association of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang. First-class writer.
Text/Chen Diansong
一 Cantonese food recorded in historical documents
The origin of Cantonese cuisine is synchronized with the emergence of early humans in Guangdong, and the written history is also long and rich.
"The Classic of Mountains and Seas" written during the Warring States Period contains records about Lingnan people eating snakes. "Huainanzi " compiled by Liu An of the Western Han Dynasty wrote more specifically: "The Yue people got bearded snakes as delicacies, and China (Central Plains area) wasted and useless. "
Tang Dynasty writer Han Yu made important contributions and influences to the development of Lingnan culture. In his works, there are many records of Guangdong social life, including a poem. "Chu Nan Shi Yi Yuan Eighteen Association Rhythms", in this poem, the poet truly recorded his life in Chaozhou, and wrote about many delicacies at that time, such as horseshoe crabs, oysters, catfish, clams, octopus (fish ), specifically mentioning "The other dozens of kinds, everyone can be amazed. I came to Yumei, and I prefer southern cooking. Season with salty and sour, and use pepper and orange as the root. The fishy smell starts to get worse, and I am sweating when I swallow the noodles." "Written about my feelings about the production of Teochew cuisine .
In the Song Dynasty, there was a man named Zhou Qufei. His native place was Yongjia, Zhejiang (now Wenzhou). After passing the Jinshi examination, he worked as a local official in western Guangdong. He described his experience in Lingnan I wrote a book called "Lingwai Dai Da Reply". From the book, we can see that at that time, Cantonese people ate food from all over the mountains, rivers and seas, food that flew in the sky, walked on the ground, swam in the water, and lived in caves. Yes, there is nothing Cantonese people don’t eat.
In the early Qing Dynasty, Guangdong scholar Qu Dajun " Guangdong New Language " Volume 14 is "Food Language", which specifically describes content related to "eating" in Guangdong.
In the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Qu, a native of Wuqiang, Hebei Province, who served as an envoy to Guangdong, recorded the dietary conditions of Guangdong villages in "Guangdong Hearing and Seeing Records". He said that Cantonese people eat snakes and rats, which seem very strange to outsiders. Disgusting animals are covered up with good names like "moon eel" and "domestic deer".
During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, a Hangzhou native named Xu Ke wrote a book called "Qing Barnyard Notes", in which the article "Diet·Guangdong People's Bird-Eating Birds, Beasts and Insects" has this description: "The food of eastern Guangdong is quite popular. There are those that are different from each province, such as dogs, voles, snakes, centipedes, clams, scales, cicadas, locusts, dragon lice, and grass insects. "
With the external influence of Guangzhou one-stop trade , Cantonese cuisine became the entry of Westerners into China. The first Chinese food I came into contact with was Cantonese food in European and American books about China since the 17th century.
There is a book "The History of China Lost in the West" that cites many Westerners' records of modern Chinese social life. One of the texts writes that after the end of the Opium War, the Qing government's imperial envoy Qiying hosted a banquet for the British sent to Hong Kong. The governor, in addition to a variety of pickled sauerkraut, dried radish and other cold dishes on the table, there is a bird's nest soup before the main course. The main course includes venison, duck, shark's fin, chestnut soup, ribs, vegetable and meat fillings. Pancakes, stag tenderloin, shark, horn marrow, stewed ham, fish maw, pheasant, peacock, ham and dozens of other dishes.
A Frenchman named Ivan who visited Guangzhou wrote about the chefs in Guangzhou in a book "Inside Guangzhou": "Our chefs are famous throughout the empire. Where else can we create brainless ducks, Such exquisite food as hollow five-spice minced meatballs? "
Modern cultural celebrities, Lu Xun, Guo Moruo , Yu Dafu, Ba Jin, Zheng Zhenduo, Hu Shi, Xu Guangping, Wu Mi , Jiang Menglin, Xu Zhimo, Ji Xianlin , Shu Tan, Tang Lu, Sun , etc. all have experiences or written records about eating Cantonese food. Most of them have been to Guangzhou. Xu Zhimo wrote about eating Cantonese food overseas.
II Inheritance and innovation to achieve the three major lines of Cantonese cuisine
Cantonese people have a saying: "Everyone can eat with their back turned to the sky." In this world, except for people who walk standing, which living thing does not have its back "turned to the sky"? In other words, as long as it crawls on the ground, flies in the sky, or buries in the mud, humans can eat it.
Qu Dajun said in "Guangdong News": "All the food in the world can be found in eastern Guangdong, and all the food in eastern Guangdong may not be available in the world."
This refers to the richness of food in Guangdong. Including pigs, cattle, sheep, fish and chickens, ducks, geese, as well as snakes, raccoons, dogs, cats, monkeys, rats, snails, insects, worms, osmanthus cicadas, dragon lice, centipedes, voles, including almost all Marine life , there is nothing that Cantonese people cannot eat.
Cantonese cuisine pays special attention to the production of condiments. Commonly used food ingredients include ginger, garlic, onions, sugar, salt, soy sauce, rice wine, starch, oil, etc. Occasionally, five-spice powder and white pepper are used, and spicy condiments are rarely used. This can maintain the freshness and original taste of food.
Folk proverb says: "When the autumn wind blows, three snakes are fat, which is the right time to nourish." Cantonese people are famous at home and abroad for eating snakes. They have made dishes with snakes for more than 2,000 years. Among them, "Dragon and Tiger Fight" is also known as "Leopard and Civet". "Three Snakes Braised", "Dragon Tiger Style Stew", "Chrysanthemum Dragon Tiger Phoenix" are traditional Guangdong dishes famous both at home and abroad.
Dim sum is a beautiful food scene in Cantonese cuisine. Among the three meals a day, Cantonese people place snacks in a very important position, and salty and sweet snacks are arranged at the end of the banquet. In the festival food arrangement, there are not only seasonal fresh fruits, but also exquisite seasonal snacks.
Cantonese cuisine uses fine ingredients, many and clever ingredients, beautiful decorations, and is good at innovating in imitation. There are many varieties. In 1965, the "Guangzhou Famous Dishes and Pastries Exhibition" introduced 5,457 varieties.
Since modern times, many famous and representative Cantonese dishes have appeared in the modern Guangdong city centered on Guangzhou. For example, Guiliansheng’s Manchu-Han banquet and fragrant seabass balls, Jufengyuan’s drunken shrimps and drunken crabs, Nanyangtang’s assorted cold dishes and Yipin hotpot, Pinrongsheng’s sesame balls , and Yubolou’s Banzhai Fried rice dumplings, crispy crucian carp from Fulaiju, hanging oven duck from Wanzhantang, Jiangnan Baihua Chicken from Wenyuan, braised abalone slices from Nanyuan, Dinghu Shangsu from Xiyuan, braised large skirt wings from Dasanyuan, Snake King The dragon and tiger stew at Manchu, the Taiye chicken at Liuguo Hotel, the glass shrimps at Yuyuan, the osmanthus wings at Huayuan, the Yushu chicken at Beiyuan, the roasted suckling pig at Wangji, the fish soup from Xinyuanlai, and the sliced skin from Jinling Duck, Guanzhen’s fish maw in clear soup, Tao Taoju’s fried crabs, Caigenxiang’s vegetarian food, Lu Yuju’s skinned suckling pig, Baiyun pig trotters, Taipingguan’s pigeon in western sauce, etc.
The three major Cantonese cuisines are related to their respective places of population migration, traditional living habits and regional distribution, and each has its own characteristics.
The scope of Cantonese cuisine corresponds to "Cantonese", which is the popular area of Cantonese dialect. It is centered in Guangzhou, Foshan, mainly in the Pearl River Delta area, and extends to Zhaoqing, Zhanjiang and other places in western Guangdong. The ingredients are rich, the ingredients are carefully selected, and the techniques are excellent. It is clear but not bland, fresh but not vulgar, tender but not raw, and oily but not greasy. Specializing in stir-fry, it requires the right heat and oil temperature. It is also compatible with many Western cuisine recipes and pays attention to the momentum and grade of the dishes.
Chaozhou cuisine was formed in the Chaoshan dialect area and originated from the Chaoshan area. It integrates the food customs of Fujian and Guangdong and forms its own style. He has an innate diet gene that was born towards the sea. He is good at cooking seafood, with soups, vegetarian dishes and beets being the most distinctive. The knife work is fine and the taste is pure.
Hakka cuisine, also known as Dongjiang cuisine , is distributed in the Hakka dialect area and originated from the Hakka inhabited area in Dongjiang, Guangdong. The dishes mostly use meat, and mountain delicacies are more common. In the early days, there were very few aquatic products, and most of them were river fresh food. The main ingredients Outstanding, it pays attention to strong aroma, heavy oil content, and salty taste. It is famous for casserole dishes and has a unique local flavor.
In the process of development, various cuisines keep pace with the times and continue to develop and innovate. They not only retain their own traditions, but also learn from each other and learn from each other's strengths. Therefore, now people can eat exquisitely prepared mountain delicacies in Chaozhou cuisine, which is famous for seafood. In Hakka cuisine, which specializes in mountain products, you can also taste delicious seafood.
三 Learn from everyone's strengths Guangfu dishes
The word "Guangfu" has rich historical connotations. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the imperial court established the Guangzhou Dudufu in Guangzhou to manage the Lingnan area. In the early Song Dynasty, the Guangzhou Prefecture was established as a first-level local political system. But as far as the Cantonese dialect area is concerned, the formation of "Cantonese culture" has obviously gone through a longer historical accumulation.
Guangfu Cultural District is located in the Pearl River Delta , with a hot climate, fertile soil and beautiful water, and rich products. Since ancient times, diversified economic development has not only retained the mainstream "agriculture-based" social development concept of the Central Plains, but at the same time, it has cooperated with overseas The trade-related “mercantile” economy also continued. This makes Cantonese culture relatively open and inclusive. Correspondingly, Cantonese cuisine also has the characteristics of drawing on the strengths of others.
Cantonese cuisine in the Tang Dynasty paid more attention to improving cooking, knowing how to use ingredients and controlling heat. It began to be more widely affected by the eating habits brought by northern immigrants. In addition, Guangzhou's foreign trade development during the Tang and Song Dynasties, including foreign Arabs settled in Guangzhou. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Cantonese cuisine has continued to absorb the essence of Chinese and foreign cooking cultures, bringing Lingnan food culture into its first golden age.
People in the Qing Dynasty had a poem about Cantonese cuisine:
Snails are not as crispy as oysters, but Jiayu is best in February.
Winter solstice fish gives birth to dog in summer solstice, and delicious delicacies are served at several feasts throughout the year.
Since modern times, Cantonese cuisine has been influenced by Western food and has borrowed many cooking techniques from Western food. "Chinese cuisine is made in the West", or "Western cuisine is made in China", or "Chinese and Western cuisine", which embodies the style of Cantonese food culture. First of all, the value orientation of blending China and the West, while maintaining its own characteristics in inheritance and development.
Cantonese cuisine has formed secondary sub-cuisines in various parts of the Pearl River Delta, such as Nanhai cuisine, Panyu cuisine, Dongguan cuisine, Shunde cuisine, Zhongshan cuisine, Siyi cuisine, Shenzhen Bao'an cuisine, etc. These dishes not only have the common features of Cantonese cuisine with rich, finely selected ingredients and light taste, but also show their respective local flavor characteristics.
The famous Cantonese dishes include: boiled chicken, roast goose, roasted suckling pig, braised pigeon, honey barbecued pork, baked lobster in soup, steamed grouper, Ah Yi abalone , Abalone sauce with ginseng, boiled shrimp, coconut milk rock sugar bird's nest, dry-fried beef river, Laohuo soup, Guangzhou Wenchang chicken , claypot rice , Cantonese braised stuffed duck, steamed pork ribs with black bean sauce, fish head and tofu soup , Pineapple Sweet and Sour Pork, Oyster Sauce Lettuce, Pan-Fried Fuyong Egg, Dinghu Vegetables, Chimney Cabbage, Fish-flavored Eggplant Stew, Taiye Chicken, Sai Crab, Taro Pork, Nan Ru Thick Zhai Stew, Lobster Braised Abalone , Miwang Durian Shrimp, braised shark's fin with vegetable gallbladder, unicorn seabass, oyster king and chicken feet, etc.
Among them, roasted suckling pig is a famous dish in Cantonese cuisine, and braised dog, baked bird, and braised snake soup (commonly known as dragon-tiger fighting) are known as the "three wonders of Cantonese cuisine".
Representative restaurants of Cantonese cuisine that have appeared in modern times include Nanyuan, Beiyuan, Guangzhou, Panxi, Dashanyuan, Taotaoju, etc.
Due to the hot and rainy weather in the Pearl River Delta, Cantonese cuisine even incorporates traditional medicinal elements, among which soups are very distinctive.
A folk saying in Guangfu: "It is better to eat without vegetables than without soup." It has almost become a traditional habit of Guangfu banquets to serve the soup first and then the dishes. The "beautiful soups" in Cantonese cuisine include three snake soup, three shredded shark's fin soup, cordyceps bamboo shred chicken soup, old duck barley soup, coconut chicken soup , watercress and pork bone soup , Bawang flower pork soup, Sauerkraut and jumping fish soup, etc.
Seasonal soups vary with the seasons of the year. In spring and summer, they are mainly used to replenish water and relieve heat and quench thirst. The soup ingredients are simple and use divergent plant rhizomes as auxiliary ingredients. The soup tastes mostly light. In autumn and winter, Chinese medicinal materials are used as auxiliary ingredients and have a rich flavor. .
Cantonese cuisine pursues color, aroma, taste and shape, and is rich in folk aesthetics. It achieves the integration of food and art through the cooperation and coordination of knife skills, cooking, heat, condiments, platters, dish names and food environment. For the realm of beauty.
has a dish called Winter Melon Cup , which is very particular about its shape, color and taste. Its preparation method is: use half an unpeeled winter melon as food and as a utensil, and artistically process the shape to make it into various beautiful shapes. The shape is filled with shredded pork, dried shrimps, lotus seeds, shiitake mushrooms, etc., and is stewed over slow fire until the winter melon is cooked. This production process has now been extended to many fruits, such as papaya cups, pineapple cups, etc.
Cantonese cuisine is very particular about knife skills. Famous chefs and masters can use their skillful knife skills to change the fish into a small chrysanthemum shape, which is called chrysanthemum fish.
Chefs can use their skillful hands and imagination to carve food into dragons, phoenixes, flowers, birds or landscapes, with various shapes and lifelike shapes, and then add them with beautiful and artistic dish names, such as "Eight Scenes of Yangcheng" "Dishes named after "Hundred Flowers Welcome Spring", "Smooth Sailing", "Good Things Make Money", "Lotus Chicken", "Peony Chicken", etc., add a bit of poetry and painting to people's taste and vision. , touch and hearing bring wonderful feelings.
"Eat in Guangzhou, taste in Chaozhou"
Chaozhou cuisine is famous for cooking seafood in the offshore Chaoshan area. The ingredients are mainly aquatic products, mostly fish, shrimp, mussels, clams, etc., striving to be fresh, fresh and authentic. , attaches great importance to dessert making.
Chaozhou cuisine pays attention to various techniques such as braising, stewing, roasting, baking, frying, steaming, pan-frying, stir-frying, soaking, buckling, clearing, rinsing and other techniques. In this way, the dishes made with different techniques are refreshing, crispy, fragrant, smooth and salty. Moderately light and delicious.
Compared with Cantonese cuisine, Chaozhou cuisine has a more prominent feature, which is the pursuit of "taste". There is a saying: "Eat in Guangzhou, taste in Chaozhou", which is about Chaozhou cuisine. More emphasis is placed on quality, freshness and deliciousness.
The specialty dishes of Chaozhou cuisine include roasted wild goose, chicken with bean paste, national dish, pigeon pine, red stewed shark's fin, braised snails in open oven, squid soaked in oil, braised black eels, eight-treasure vegetarian dishes, and snail handles in soup. , dry fried crab tower, pumpkin and taro paste, etc.
Chaozhou cuisine is also famous for its unique sauce dishes, which not only have a wide variety of dishes, but also have reasonable combinations. Commonly used sauces include fish sauce, dark soy sauce, tangerine oil, plum paste, tripe sauce, chili sauce, sand tea sauce, shrimp paste, garlic vinegar, Zhejiang vinegar, white vinegar, salt and pepper, ginger rice vinegar, mustard, chili vinegar, etc. , countless.
Chaozhou cuisine is good at cooking vegetarian dishes with fruits and vegetables as raw materials. As for the vegetables and fruits, they are made from coarse ingredients and finely prepared, which are light, delicious and nutritious, such as Huguo cuisine, water chestnut puree, thick mustard greens, sugar-roasted sweet potatoes, etc., all of which are praised by gourmets. Desserts made from plant ingredients are sweet but not greasy. Representative works include pumpkin and taro puree, sweet lotus seeds, roasted lamb and ginkgo, sweet stir-fried pork, etc. The unique frying process is divided into three types: raw frying, crispy frying and Gillette frying.
Seafood in Chaozhou cuisine is very rich, the common ones are:
lobster. Dishes with lobster as the main ingredient occupy an important position in Chaozhou cuisine. Whether there is lobster in the banquet is often the criterion for evaluating the quality of a Teochew cuisine banquet. The most commonly used are flower dragon, Hong Kong dragon and red dragon, etc. Flower dragon is the best quality. The main way to eat lobster is to cook it raw, and there are also innovative ways to cook lobster in the open stove, such as tofu and raw lobster salad.
geoduck. Commonly known as "elephant trunk clam", it has a sweet taste and crispy meat. There are many ways to eat it. Commonly, it is eaten raw in thin slices with sesame oil and other sauces. Secondly, it can be cooked into soup with Chaozhou specialty sour pickles. You can also cook porridge, soak in oil, stir-fry, etc. Be careful not to overcook when cooking, otherwise the meat will become tough.
snail. This is the most valuable seafood in Chaozhou cuisine banquets. The famous dish "Burned Snails in the Open Furnace" uses snails as the main ingredient. People also like to use the head and tail of the rattle snail to stew soup, while the middle part, called the "snail cup", is often cut into slices and used to "boil" it. The technical requirements for cooking snails in Chaozhou cuisine are very high, especially the knife skills and heat.
grouper. There are many varieties, and Eastern Star Pan is a common seafood variety in Teochew cuisine. The colors of the Eastern Star Spot include blue, red, brown and yellow. Its body is slimmer and longer than the average spot fish, and its head is small.The Eastern Star Spot has a small head, more flesh, and a snow-white color. In Chaozhou cuisine, Eastern Star Spot is often used as raw food for cooking. The skin of the Eastern Star Spot is smooth, and the cooked fish skin is cracked. The snow-white fish meat is quite attractive.
tenant fish. Also known as tofu fish , it is a sea fish that is eaten daily by Chaozhou people. It is snow-white with a slight yellowish color. The whole body of the fish is quite tender and soft. There is only one backbone in the fish body, and its teeth are thin, long, and extremely sharp.
Teochew frozen crab is a very distinctive Teochew-style home-cooked dish. Many people make it for themselves during the Dragon Boat Festival. Put the washed whole crabs into the pot and cook them, then let them cool. Then tear off the gill leaves of the crab, crack the crab shell, chop into pieces and serve. Frozen crab, although it is a cold dish, has an irresistible charm. The cold frozen crab has a sweet and refreshing meat taste, and the crab roe fat is fragrant.
mantis shrimp. One of Chaoshan seafood, the meat is fat and tender, tastes fresh and sweet, sweet and fragrant, fragrant and crispy, and has high edible value. It is as famous as prawns and crabs and is a common cooking ingredient for Chaozhou cuisine seafood dishes. The mantis shrimps in the first month of the lunar calendar are the most plump. Regardless of their size, they are full of flesh and red in color. When cooked, they are red in color, bright in color and attractive in fragrance. They are commonly known as "red-hearted mantis shrimps".
thin shell. It is a shellfish seafood from the Chaoshan area. The shell is green in color. Because of its thin shell, it is called thin shell. The thin-shell meat is also small, but the meat is delicious, nutritious and cheap. It is mainly used as a daily meal for Chaozhou people.
Chaozhou cold food is a popular branch of Chaozhou cuisine, which generally refers to the food served by general Chaozhou food stalls. It takes the civilian route, which is different from the finely crafted and expensive Chaozhou cuisine in high-end restaurants.
The name Chaozhou Dalang originated from Hong Kong and is now gradually accepted by mainlanders. Chaozhou frozen red crab, fish rice, raw pickled mantis shrimp, and "braised goose" are all Chaozhou specialties. Among the home-cooked dishes of Chaoshan people, there are four of them. Steam the fresh seafood, wait for it to cool, then dip it in garlic oil or bean paste (Puning, Guangdong is particularly famous) and eat it. It has a unique flavor, no fishy smell, and is extremely delicious. This practice was accidentally discovered by previous fishermen and has been passed down.
Thick mushroom mustard is a traditional Chaoshan dish. It is made with large mustard greens that are round and cabbage-like. This kind of mustard is native to the Chaoshan area. Winter is the harvest season for mustard greens . Chaoshan people will use it in large quantities to make pickles. Pickles are indispensable in Chaoshan people's lives. They are indispensable for making porridge and cooking.
Wu Hakka food customs reflect strong traditional cultural concepts
Hakka cuisine is as old as the Hakka language. Especially during the Song Dynasty, a large number of Han people from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and northwest Fujian fled to Lingnan via the Meiling Ancient Road to avoid war. , in this process, these people who migrated south as a family group formed a mutually integrated relationship with the aboriginal people of Guangdong, and they were called "Hakkas".
The emergence of Hakka cuisine is closely related to the formation of the Hakka ethnic group. It is highly homologous with the southward migration route of the Hakka people. It is mainly formed in the vast area along the Dongjiang River Basin, represented by Meizhou cuisine and Huizhou cuisine. Therefore, Hakka cuisine is also It is called "Dongjiang Cuisine".
Unlike Chaozhou cuisine, which features seafood, and Guangcai Bona, which is Cantonese cuisine, Hakka cuisine uses raw materials from the mountains and likes to use three birds, namely chicken, duck, goose and livestock meat. There are not many side dishes. Early Hakka cuisine also rarely used river and seafood products.
There is a saying that Hakka cuisine: "It is unclear without chicken, it is not fresh without meat, it is not fragrant without duck, it is not rich without chicken." It is about Hakka cuisine's pursuit of freshness, freshness, fragrance and richness in these dishes. feature.
The biggest characteristic of Hakka cuisine is that it is heavy on oil. Compared with Cantonese cuisine and Chaozhou cuisine, it is a bit salty. There are not many side dishes and auxiliary ingredients, but there are main side dishes and main auxiliary ingredients to highlight a certain flavor.
Because the Hakka people live in mountainous areas, the labor intensity is high and traveling is physically demanding. Therefore, the salt and fat in Hakka dishes are relatively heavy, and have the so-called "salty and fat" characteristics.
Of course, Hakka cuisine has also absorbed the medicinal dietary elements that have appeared since the Wei and Jin Dynasties. There are some health-preserving dishes related to regulating yin and yang, clearing and replenishing, as well as those related to the season.
The traditional Hakka signature dishes are salt-baked chicken, Hakka stuffed tofu, Hakka Poon Choi, pork belly chicken, stuffed bitter melon, pork belly with pickled vegetables, three cups of duck, stuffed oysters, stuffed spring rolls, and Sanjieti soup. , pickled noodles, mugwort cake, radish cake, bowl of rice cake , white chopped river frog, pocket soup, Tingzhou soaked pork loin, fairy jelly, unicorn dumpling, four-star moon, taro buns, taro dumplings, etc.
Today, Hakka cooking techniques are still preserved in farmers' homes or restaurants, and there are still many wonderful manual techniques. For example, make two pigeons with rose wine: Kill the two pigeons, wipe them dry, and spread them in a clay bowl. Place two bamboo chopsticks horizontally under the pigeons so that there is a little distance between the pigeons and the bottom of the bowl to allow the heat to circulate. Take a glass of rose wine. Place the bowl between two pigeons, then put the whole bowl into an iron pot, add a clay pot as a lid, and cook the pot over medium heat. When the pigeons are cooked, there is still half a cup of sake in the cup, but the wine flavor is gone, and it is just pigeon meat wine. It's just fragrant.
This method is only seen in Hakka recipes. Nowadays, in order to save time and simplify it, farmers have created the "Three Yellow Chicken" method on this basis, which is even more simple and wonderful. Take a cup of wine, a cup of soy sauce, and a cup of water, mix them in a pot, use a few bamboo chopsticks to hold a whole slaughtered chicken halfway up the pot, cover and simmer over high heat for half an hour, and you can eat the sweet, fragrant and soft chicken. Delicious chicken.
Hakka food customs reflect strong traditional cultural concepts.
One is frugal and hospitable. Hakka people usually eat frugally and do not indulge in luxury, but they are very generous in hospitality. They pay attention to "six bowls, eight basins and ten kinds".
The second one is Lao Zhili. The Hakka people set up a banquet on the Eight Immortals Square Table, with seats arranged according to seniority. There are many etiquette rules during the banquet. When eating chicken, the chicken head is used to respect the elderly. The upper seat is left empty for the deceased ancestor to show respect. During the banquet, the younger generation serves dishes and drinks to the elders, etc.
The third is the pursuit of good fortune. For example, chicken is served as the first dish of a Hakka banquet. There is a saying that "no feast can be complete without chicken", which not only has the homophony of "chicken" and "auspiciousness", but also takes the meaning of chicken as the bird in charge of good luck in the world. Eating "reunion dinner" during the Chinese New Year and eating glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival are both good omens for "reunion".
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, villagers in Xiasha, Shenzhen called Poon Choi "Xin'an Poon Choi". At that time, Poon Choi was served in wooden basins, with one wooden basin per table, an Eight Immortals table, four benches, and eight people per table. Commonly known as "eating Pen Choi". Poon Choi has a more local flavor than the traditional "Yipin Guo". Poon Choi looks thick and thick, but the cooking method is actually very sophisticated. It needs to be fried, fried, roasted, boiled, stewed and braised, and then put into pots in layers. It is made of chicken, duck, fish, oysters, yuba, radish, mushrooms, pork and more than ten kinds of raw materials.
The way of eating Poon Choi is also in line with the traditional Chinese kinship laws. Each table of diners only eats one Poon Choi, which symbolizes reunion and creates an auspicious atmosphere. Everyone held chopsticks and kept rummaging through the basin, creating an interesting scene.
During the Lantern Festival, Hakka people always eat glutinous rice balls and hang flower lanterns. There are two kinds of glutinous rice balls: salty and sweet, which are a good sign of "reunion". During the Lantern Festival or three days before the Lantern Festival, families who had a baby in the previous year would hang large flower lanterns on the beams in the central hall of their ancestral house and invite relatives and friends to come and have a drink to congratulate them. Generally, one lantern is hung for each son. The more lanterns hung in any enclosed house, the more glorious it will be, indicating that the population is prosperous.
On February 2nd, we eat rice cakes, flowers, etc. to prepare for farm work in the spring.
During the Qingming Festival in March, we eat rice dumplings made from wild mugwort.
On April 8th, we eat glutinous rice dumplings made of rice flour and wheat hulls.
During the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5th, we eat rice dumplings, stuffed bitter melon and stuffed tofu.
On July 14th, we grind tofu, eat duck, and eat fresh peanuts prepared in various ways.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th, people eat moon cakes, fried snails, and fruits such as chestnuts, grapefruits, and berries.
The September Double Ninth Festival snack is Jiuchongpi.
Hakka snacks during the winter solstice in November include radish glutinous rice cakes, cured pork, pickled vegetables, etc.
Since the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, people have been busy preparing food for the New Year and welcoming relatives who have returned from afar.
During the Chinese New Year, we eat glutinous rice made from glutinous rice, glutinous rice cakes, and Hakka dishes such as braised pork and stuffed tofu. Especially on New Year's Eve and New Year's Eve, Hakka people have to rush home no matter how far away they are to have a "reunion dinner" to reunite with their loved ones.
The three major cuisines of Cantonese cuisine are just a division of cultural significance. The entire territory of Guangdong is vast. From a geographical perspective, northern Guangdong is connected to Jiangxi and Hunan, eastern Guangdong is connected to Jiangxi and Fujian, and western Guangdong and Guangxi are integrated. Food Habits also influence each other. In addition, the Pearl River Delta shares the same culture as Hong Kong and Macao, and each region has developed more distinctive food subcultures.
[Creation Notes]
The beginning of the Cantonese Cuisine Culture Experience
I am the son of a farmer, and I did not really break away from rural labor until I was thirty years old.
During my academic career, there were two famous scholars in modern China who had a great influence on my rural complex. One was Fei Xiaotong, who devoted himself to the investigation of rural China. His "Rural China" and "River Village Economy", I studied it in college; the other one is Liang Shuming, who is committed to the practice of rural construction in China. His rural construction practice has always been deeply imprinted in my mind.
Fei Xiaotong’s rural survey started a generation of rural surveys and was generally recognized. Liang Shuming’s rural construction practice has different opinions. But what I think about is not its right or wrong, but its enthusiasm for paying attention to the countryside.
My relationship with Guangdong began in the spring of 1994. At that time, I was studying for a master's degree in ancient Chinese history in the History Department of Renmin University of China in Beijing, and Shen Xiaomin, my undergraduate classmate at Zhejiang Normal University, was studying for a master's degree in modern Chinese history in the History Department of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.
In the graduation season, Shen Xiaomin, Wang Chuan and Wang Xuezhen, who graduated from the History Department of Sun Yat-sen University in the same year, and Zhuo Jianming from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, went to the Beijing Library to check graduation thesis documents and introduced me to Guangdong's Condition.
At that time, there was a saying among the people: From the southeast to the northwest, get rich to Guangdong.
I was born in a poor rural area in northern Jiangxi . At that time, I had a strong yearning for wealth. Therefore, I considered employment in Guangdong as an important direction. In April of this year after my graduation thesis defense, I went straight to Guangzhou. , lived in Shen Xiaomin’s dormitory near the east gate of Sun Yat-sen University. Just as he came to Beijing to share a single bed with me, I also shared a single bed with him.
ate in the public cafeteria on the Sun Yat-sen University campus and had no special feelings about food.
’s first impression of Cantonese food came from Zhuo Jianming’s home. Zhuo Jianming and his wife are famous people in Mao, Guangdong. They are authentic Cantonese and are warm and hospitable.
It was the first time I was invited to a Cantonese home. I was still a student at the time, and I came empty-handed without even bringing any souvenirs such as fruits. The Zhuo couple did not mind this and did not reduce their enthusiasm for hospitality.
While eating, Zhuo Jianming first handed me half a bowl of soup and introduced to me: "Cantonese people have the habit of drinking soup before meals. They will drink half a bowl of soup to appetize before meals."
This is me It was the first time I came into contact with authentic Cantonese food. The deliciousness and joy I felt at that time still leave a deep impression on me to this day.
This is my introduction to Cantonese cuisine.
My experience in Guangzhou was not smooth, with ups and downs, but being in Guangzhou, my feeling and experience of Cantonese cuisine and Cantonese food culture have never stopped...
(more recent For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pai pai.ycwb.com)
Source | Yangcheng Evening News·Yangcheng Pai
Editor | Wu Xiaopan
Proofreading | Li Hongyu
