In the new era, in the development of cuisine on the innovation lane, theory will play a guiding role. If the understanding is vague and the theory is backward, the direction will be wrong! In this paper, we briefly describe the ten key theoretical points of Hui cuisine, which cannot be avoided, but have been ignored for a long time. Demonstrate it, the purpose of the industry to achieve the truth of understanding, academic clarity, philosophical clarity, so as to revitalize Hui cuisine, leading the "eight cuisines".
The first dish of the imperial diet during Qianlong's southern tour: fat chicken Huizhou tofu
1. Concept entanglement and involution
The major cuisines of the mainland are mostly named after the abbreviations of provinces and municipalities directly under the central government, such as Beijing cuisine, Shanghai cuisine, Suzhou cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Zhejiang cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Sichuan cuisine...... Wait a minute. Even Northeast cuisine is subdivided according to the abbreviation of provinces and regions, called Liao cuisine, Ji cuisine, Heilongjiang cuisine, and Mengdong cuisine. Only Anhui, which should have been called "Anhui cuisine", but the dove occupies the magpie's nest and wants to be called "Hui cuisine".
Why? Hui cuisine is a golden signboard, with a long history and a thick culture, Anhui cuisine is its own, and it can raise its value and borrow a boat to go to sea.
Since it was occupied, the real Huizhou cuisine has been distorted or squeezed, becoming a representative of the "southern Anhui flavor"[1], the "local flavor of Huizhou" (seen in mainstream newspapers and documentaries), and even unbearable dishes such as "mountain people's dishes", "salty and rotten dishes", "few varieties and ordinary cooking skills".
It seems that if the true body of Hui cuisine is erased, Anhui cuisine can take off the "stand-in" suit and replace Hui cuisine. However, the suit can be worn at any time, but the cultural temperament cannot. Since 1974, when "Chinese Recipes and Anhui Volumes" was written, "Hui cuisine is the abbreviation of Anhui cuisine", half a century has passed, people still have to taste the Huizhou region, still have to interview the "Jixi Hui Cuisine Restaurant", and still think that "Hui cuisine is definitely not the abbreviation of Anhui cuisine". The objective existence of history and culture will not be changed by human distortion.
What to do? Can Anhui cuisine return to its own Anhui cuisine territory? The answer is, it's hard to go back!
Half a century has passed, and the imprint of "Emblem" has been deeply branded into all walks of life. Huizhou merchants have become "new Huizhou merchants", Huizhou cuisine has become "new Huizhou cuisine", and the "Hui" of Huizhou culture has become the "Anhui impression" of the world...... Anhui's cultural business card is inseparable from the "emblem"!
Recall that at the beginning, if Anhui cuisine was determined to be the abbreviation of Anhui cuisine, Anhui cuisine = Jianghuai cuisine (Yanjiang cuisine, Yanhuai cuisine) + Hui cuisine. Now, is the value of Anhui cuisine higher?
Huizhou salt merchant dish: lychee meat
The concept of Hui cuisine is so entangled in involution, and it is difficult to turn back as far and wide as it goes! It is imperative to sort out theories. Only by being clear in theory can we get out of the predicament.
Therefore, it is very important to improve the construction of the concept of Hui cuisine! It is necessary not only to retain "Hui cuisine is the abbreviation of Anhui cuisine", but also to retain the "real Hui cuisine" and continue the context of Hui cuisine. With such a contradictory dimension, there is almost no way out!
The only feasible thing is to use Hui folk cuisine and Huiguan cuisine (commonly known as "Guanzi cuisine") to represent "real Hui cuisine". Because, in history, Hui cuisine is composed of two major systems: Hui cuisine and Hui cuisine. In other words, "real Hui cuisine" = Hui cuisine + Hui cuisine.
This method is to take "real Hui cuisine" as the basic Hui cuisine, Hui cuisine (Anhui cuisine) = Jianghuai cuisine + Huizhou cuisine + Huiguan cuisine. Hui cuisine is also the abbreviation of Anhui cuisine, and the "real Hui cuisine" is still there! History has not been broken, and the context is still flowing.
This construction may also raise questions? said: How can a "Hui cuisine" be divided into two parts, and it should be compared with such a large Jianghuai cuisine in the region?
There will definitely be such doubts, but the logic it holds is a reproduction of the idea of involution when compressing the "real Hui cuisine". If we continue to artificially belittle the "real Hui cuisine", history and reality have proved that it is not advisable! Let's ask, why does Anhui cuisine use Hui cuisine as an abbreviation? Moreover, the number of varieties, cooking skills, business achievements, and cultural connotations of Huizhou and Huiguan cuisine were known for the word "Hui" as early as the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and at the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed as the "first of the eight major cuisines"[2], how can it be comparable to Jianghuai cuisine?
However, this construction method does not work for Hui researchers and "Hui people", and what you get must be harsh! How can a good Hui dish be divided into two? Definitely not the best option. In fact, it is divided into two, and the author is also unwilling! However, with Hui cuisine (Anhui cuisine) = Jianghuai cuisine + Hui cuisine, is it okay? Although enjoyable, the concept and its extension are vague and confusing, and the norm is irrational. As a result, theoretically it will still lead to endless involution, and in practice it will still delay the development of the Huizhou cuisine industry.
To improve the concept of Huizhou cuisine, it is necessary to jump out of geographical limitations, look at Huizhou from a cultural perspective, look at Huizhou cuisine from a historical point of view, and look at Anhui cuisine from a global perspective. In this way, it is not "Anhui cuisine = Jianghuai cuisine + Huizhou cuisine", or "Huizhou cuisine (Anhui cuisine) = Jianghuai cuisine + Huizhou cuisine + Huiguan cuisine". The opportunity of "Anhui cuisine" has been missed, and the opportunity of "Hui folk cuisine + Hui cuisine" can still be grasped.
Huizhou roasted wheat
2. One-sided view of the origin
Tracing the origin of Huizhou cuisine, it is inseparable from the two dimensions of Huizhou cuisine and Huizhou cuisine. The two are self-contained and interrelated. Hui cuisine is the source and foundation of Hui cuisine skills, and Hui cuisine is the innovation and development of Hui cuisine.
In that year, Hui cuisine galloped through the Yangtze River Delta and Huanghuai Town, leading the major cuisines in the country, and Huiguan cuisine was the main force. The Huiguan cuisine pedigree is full of innovative information, and the dishes are as bright as the stars, which not only strengthens the Huizhou cuisine family, but also gives birth to foreign cuisines.
The recipes taught by the master and apprentice record its history. Qianlong's "Beiyan Food List" retains its "Hui" name of the dish. The famous crab roe soup bun, formerly known as "crab meat emblem bun"; The famous lion's head, formerly known as Hui-style meatballs (formerly known as "big meatballs" and "sunflower meat"...... Huiguan cuisine can be called a cultural treasure of Chinese food.
Nowadays, research and propaganda ignore it, believing that the historical Huiguan cuisine is "alienated" because it is operated in other cities, and it does not belong to Huizhou cuisine. With a shake of his hand, the Huiguan dish was abandoned!
In the practice of cooking, it has gradually moved away from it, and people have little desire to study, excavate, and inherit. Relying only on the master-apprentice channel, the number of dishes that can be passed on is not only rare, but the skills are also lost or distorted.
Therefore, they all focused on Hui and custom dishes to alleviate the embarrassment of the total number of dishes. Luckily, Hui cuisine is gifted enough to take on this task, and it has finally enriched the menu and the table.
However, such a result is a combination of pros and cons. The biggest drawback is that it misleads Hui cuisine to the "one-way street" of local cuisine.
Its drawbacks have long been revealed. The first group of people to deny Huizhou cuisine came up with the theory of "Huizhou cuisine skills are mediocre", and the reference is the local cuisine of Huizhou. In recent years, Huizhou cuisine has been made into "southern Anhui flavor", and "there are not many representative dishes", and the reference is still the local cuisine of Huizhou.
Hui Cuisine: Green Snail Duck (cooked at home)
In this case, theoretical research can only focus on the local cuisine of Huizhou. Although there are many achievements, there is very little literature research, and none of them dig deep into the food history of Huizhou.
Hui folk cuisine, based on Chinese food, has an independent and complete pedigree, and the holographic condenses the genes of the fusion of the Central Plains and Wu Yue Chu diet, and has a prominent cultural status.
In terms of research methods, of course, it can be grasped in multiple dimensions. However, from a scientific perspective, it must be Huizhou historiography and Huizhou sociology, in order to grasp the relationship between population change, social evolution and food customs, and conduct a full investigation from the perspective of historiography. Thus, it is necessary to avoid "substituting time periods for the whole" and "replacing the whole with parts".
In terms of argumentation tools, of course, theoretical reasoning can also be used. However, only by combining literature research, social investigation, empirical analysis and logical reasoning can we grasp the evolution history and development law of Hui cuisine, reveal the essential characteristics of Hui folk cuisine, and the accurate orientation in Chinese food culture. In this way, "reasoning out of thin air" and "subjective assumptions" are avoided.
In the history of food development, the highlight of Hui folk cuisine is the huge cultural energy it carries, which is its incomparable advantage and its unique endowment. Researchers need to thoroughly understand the history of Chinese cuisine, and explore and dig deep in the integration of Wuyue and Central Plains cuisine, Huanghuai and Yangtze River basin cuisine, and southern and northern cuisine, in order to reveal the historical information and time-space code contained in the skills of Hui and folk cuisine.
From a sociological point of view, since ancient times, "the major affairs of the country are in worship and Rong" ("Zuo Chuan, Cheng Gong, Cheng Gong Thirteen Years"). Huizhou folk, especially advocating sacrifice, a variety of rituals, can be called a masterpiece. Sacrifice the name, worship the ancestors and gods. The content of the sacrifice must be feasted, drunk, danced, and entertained to entertain the gods. People drink and eat in it[3]; Sacrificial offerings, shared by man and god. In large-scale sacrifices, there are many rotational offerings (those who offer sacrifices take turns year by year), and between the worshippers, the current year and previous years, a competition mechanism for the advantages and disadvantages of the sacrifices is formed, and more banquets are set up at each sacrifice, and the dishes offered are extremely exquisite and luxurious (see "Historical Hui Cuisine"). This kind of sacrifice should be the endogenous driving force for the formation and development of Hui folk cuisine.
Obviously, in the current research, Huiguan cuisine should reverse the decline and clean up the source, and Huiguan cuisine should go out of the "time period" as far as the eye can see, and trace the source of the whole process.
Hui Cuisine: Sichuan Soup Knock Meat (Cooked at Home)
3. Insufficient rescue of vulgar food
Hui folk cuisine is also divided into two categories: dishes and food points.
Cuisine skills, including single item cooking and ingredient production. Cooking, known for its fire skills, such as dry pot stew, dry stewed meat, fried kidney flower (or belly shreds), fried river shrimp, fried belly slices, small fried meat, stir-fried pepper, pickled Du (炟) fresh. The ingredients are known for fermentation, such as ham, umeboshi, edamame, stinky mandarin fish, pickled cabbage, and pork in sauce.
Food, multi-flour food, there are rice flour, flour, bud (corn) powder, sorghum (sorghum) flour, fern root powder, kudzu root powder, wisteria (wisteria) root powder and other varieties, known for fermentation, steaming and baking, such as shell cake, baked cake, insect kiln, mochi, wine leaven bun, wine fermented cake, wine lady cake, sweet rattan cake, donkey rolling, horse rolling, meat cake, glutinous rice rattan cake, Jixi tart bun.
The Huizhou cuisine family, self-contained, and foreign-looking, thanks to the cultivation of Huizhou society. Huizhou's location is unique, from the late Neolithic period to the Yin Shang Dynasty, the two major civilizations of Liangzhu culture and Wucheng culture have become its neighbors. 2,300 years ago, the Warring States period entered from Wu to Yue and then to Chu, entering the "Huaxia" era that was different from the "barbarians". Since the Han and Jin dynasties, for more than 2,000 years, if the world is a paradise, the society is peaceful, "remote, and rich"[4], this is probably the case of the whole country.
The happy people of Huizhou, according to the literature, have "Shanyue people" (see "Later Han Shu Lingdi Ji"), "Dayue migrants" (see "Yue Jue Shu Ji Wu Di Biography"), and there are Wang clans from Jiangbei and the Central Plains who migrated from the Jin, Tang and Song dynasties.
Therefore, although Huizhou is located in Wuyue, the diet is not limited to Wuyue, the local Wuyue diet, and the Central Plains diet from the Huanghuai River Basin and the Wuchu diet from the Jianghuai River Basin, have completed the cross-border integration. This kind of crossover is unique, and it is almost unconditionally completed. Hui folk cuisine was born in this way on the land of China.
Hui cuisine, with such a high starting point, is the fundamental reason for its future fame. There are many confusions among people, such as why Hui cuisine is the size of a state and county, why can it lead the cuisine of the province and region? For example, why can Hui cuisine become the representative of southern food in history? Here's the answer!
With the evolution of society, Hui cuisine will continue to develop. However, the inheritance of Hui folk cuisine still depends on three conditions, immediate festival sacrifices, commercial needs, and home-cooked food. However, the food spots in the seasonal sacrifices have been washed away by modern civilization, and they have gradually become simpler; Commercial and home-cooked diets have also been affected by historical food shortages, some of which have been simplified, and some of which have lost their skills.
Hui custom roasted hoof (cooked at home)
For example, the water-stained cake is made into pork and tofu balls, the dry pot stew is made into braised pork, the braised flour is made into spiced rice cereal, and the fermented buns (cakes and cakes) are made into yeast fermentation and rice wine. For example, steamed pork in a dry pot, beef rotten boiling, pig head paste, steamed buns with pine hair, tea legs, fire fire, fire meat, etc., it is difficult to find a trace. Among the "Four Ways of Tea" for the Chinese New Year, sweet tea (the bottom soup is rice wine Niang) and clear (green) tea, which have been retained to this day because of their simplicity; The legendary Guizi Tea (Chicken Tea) and Grits Rice Tea (salty, fresh or sweet) are difficult to see because of their cumbersome skills. The ingenious Takako tea is also replaced by the easy-to-use "salted boiled egg" and "five-spiced tea egg".
At present, when people are rich, the spiritual demand for food is opened, and the taste containing cultural etiquette and the essence of fire power has become a pursuit. Hui folk cuisine, excellent cultural quality, since ancient times in education in food, in the celebration of food, the dish contains ancient rites and ancient rhyme, and is known for the fresh taste, is ushering in an unprecedented huge development opportunity. But now, it is not fully presented to the world, and some have been or are being lost, and need to be rescued and excavated; Some skills are inaccurate and need to be corrected and improved; Some bad money drives out good money, which requires Kuangzheng technology.
The vulgar food with complex craftsmanship is the vulgar food that is easy to lose in the inheritance, and it is also the vulgar food with high cultural value. It is the focus of theoretical research and industrial development.
4. The source of the emblem is cut in half
The traceability of the Huiguan is mostly based on the same document, namely "The History of the Jixi Noodle Restaurant Industry". For the history of the emblem, it is a top and precious investigation report. The authors are Cheng Benhai and Shao Yiqun, who are from Jixi, and were published in the monthly magazine "Weiyin" founded by Huiren in Shanghai in the thirteenth year of the Republic of China (1924).
From the end of the Qing Dynasty to the first year of Xuantong (about 1850-1909), the earliest source of the establishment of the Huiguan in Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Han is it. And "the Hui Pavilion began at the end of the Qing Dynasty" said, and the earliest source is also it. Its preciousness is self-evident.
However, this precious document also has historical limitations, that is, the investigation only covers the "Jixi Noodle Restaurant"; At the same time, due to the influence of information resources and traffic conditions, historical traceability is also insufficient. From this, we have come to the regrettable conclusion that the upper limit of the time covered by the investigation is the upper limit of the beginning of the emblem. Especially for Su Hanghan, the tracing of the origin of this investigation was difficult to fully at that time.
In fact, Huiguan went to the Yangtze River Delta towns to do business, and it began in the middle of the Ming Dynasty at the latest. At that time, Hui merchants led the world and had become a monopoly. At that time, salt merchants and wood merchants were located in the first line of Hankou, Nanjing, Yangzhou and Suzhou, and the transportation was frequent. If there is no emblem hall, it is not historical.
Hui folk dishes: pickled tuk (炟) fresh
Even if you want the source of the document, the emblem hall that is clearly recorded can be traced back to the early Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. The "Hui Bao Shop" on Hexia Street in Yangzhou appeared in the early years of Qianlong. At the same time, "there is a Hui noodle restaurant in Yangzhou". Jiaqing, Nanjing Qinhuai Riverside restaurants gathered, "Benyi Pavilion" and "Xinshun Pavilion" are two well-known Hui Pavilions, they both have the famous dish "Hui Yuan". By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Nanjing's "Xinshun Pavilion was still a famous store in Jinling" (see "History of Hui Cuisine").
At that time, the business characteristics of the Hui Pavilion were that "restaurants are mostly attached to noodle restaurants", which means that the façade on the first floor is a noodle restaurant, and the inside and upstairs are operated for simple banquets. This traditional "Huiguan label" continued until the early days of reform and opening up.
However, the business model of "restaurants are mostly attached to noodle restaurants" is far from being unique to the early Qianlong period, and it was popular in the capital during the Northern Song Dynasty. According to the Tokyo Menghualu, there are "tea (shops)" all over the royal street. This kind of shop is one that sells both food and noodles. To the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, "Fencha (Shop)" was renamed and renamed "Baozi Hotel", which was recorded in "Menglianglu" and "Capital Jisheng", and still served both meals and noodles. Interestingly, there are also records of crystal buns, butterfly noodles, plum blossom buns, roasted fish white and other famous foods, which are still preserved in today's Hui cuisine.
These histories are the origin of Hui Pavilion and the business history of Hui cuisine, and without studying it, it is not enough to inherit the culture of Hui cuisine, nor is it enough to recognize the culinary essence of Hui cuisine.
5. The cooking concept is cold
Since ancient times, Hui chefs have made a move, and there is a conventional evaluation standard, which is "the finished dish should be simple"; Famous teachers and apprentices teach each other, and there is a secret cooking heart, which is also "the finished dish should be simple".
Once, I have been taught or visited many Hui chefs, who are the generation that became famous during the Republic of China, and have left such an unforgettable experience!
The word "Jane", the essence of the words, indeed embodies the value pursuit of Hui cuisine and Hui kitchen.
However, over time, there have been many inaccurate interpretations of this "Jane", and some directly understand Hui cuisine as a simple dish and a home-cooked dish, and even think that it is simple to study Hui cuisine.
So what is "simple cooking"? The meaning of "finished dish" is the "color, shape, meaning, and quality" of the finished dish; "Jane" means simple and natural. This kind of "finished dish" is a kind of pursuit of landscape artistic conception, which is very consistent with the identity of Hui cuisine as a literati dish.
It can be seen that the ancestors of Hui Kitchen have cultural roots. It also proves that in the cooking and creation of Huizhou cuisine, the literati did participate in it, and the Huizhou literati cuisine recorded in the "Yangzhou Painting Boat Record" is not groundless. Among these cultural heritages, mackerel noodles, hibiscus eggs, pine cone meat, hydrangea meat, lotus tofu, etc., are the best footnotes to the word "Jane".
When looking at a cuisine, cooking theory is crucial! As for the cooking theory, first of all, it depends on whether it has core values. The "finished dishes should be simple" of Hui cuisine, which can be counted!
The core concept of cooking is at the "head" of the theory of cuisine, and it is the most important thing to play a leading role.
Famous Huiguan dish: money shrimp cake
The cooking concept of Hui cuisine should be determined by its cultural matrix, Hui Xue. As the mantle of Confucianism, Huizhou Science has led Huixue for more than 1,000 years, and it follows Confucius's theory of "fineness" ("Analects of the Township Party"), that is, "not tired of eating, not tired of fine"; It also follows Mencius's theory of "righteousness, merit, and virtue" ("Mencius"), that is, the dietary idea of eating righteousness, eating gong, and eating virtue.
"Fine" is the "ceremony" of cooking, and it is the pursuit of value concepts, and "righteousness, merit, and virtue" are in the same vein. "Zheng", that is, the original taste and positive taste of the ingredients; "Gong", that is, the payment of labor and the payment of the purchase of the guest correspond to the harmonious state; "Virtue", that is, the solemn behavior process of fine treatment of ingredients and fine cooking ingredients (i.e., cooking etiquette), generally speaking, is to take fine cooking as a cooking norm and cooking etiquette.
"Cooking should be simple" is the vivid practice of Confucius and Mencius's "fine" food thoughts. The sages of Hui Chef took "fineness" as the guide in cooking and sought the "way" of cooking, so that the idea of "simple dishes" was formed.
"Simplicity" is the embodiment of the idea of "fine", the practical operation of the pursuit of "fine", and the "way" of "fine" cooking.
Zhu Zi said, "The way to learn is simple and easy...... and indulge in a shallow and useless place, but it is difficult to hear" ("Zhu Zi's Complete Works III: Answer Cheng Yunfu"). Yang Jian, a physicist in the Southern Song Dynasty who was recommended by Zhu Zi, also said, "Building the road is easy to simple and close to ordinary, so it is called the mean" (Cihu Poems, Volume 6). The "fine and mean" characteristics of Hui cuisine are so closely related to the "Tao" of science through the word "Jane"!
So, in the hearts of Hui Chef's predecessors, what does "Jane" look like? Mr. Tang Guanfu, a celebrity chef in Shanghai who has returned to retirement and is a mentor and friend of his father's chef, has an explanation, "No matter how complicated the cooking (process) is, the cooking should be simple and skillful." It can be seen that "simple" is to simplify the complex, to simplify the dishes, and to be ingenious.
Behind the word "Jane", there is such a law, it is not easy for people to understand it, and even misunderstood as simple and casual, which is contrary to the simple and natural "color, shape, meaning, and quality".
Therefore, I think it needs to be refined to better serve the development of Hui cuisine in the new era. The purpose of refining is to make "Jane" closer to the modern context, so it is proposed to call it "Cooking Fresh and Simple". This title is easier for people to understand, and the industry can pay more attention to it, and has been demonstrated in the two books of "Cultural Hui Cuisine" and "History of Hui Cuisine".
"Cooking fresh and simple": "fresh", that is, the original taste, the pursuit of the original taste; "Chi", that is, the extreme, exquisite, the pursuit of fine, to the taste, pay attention to the etiquette of cooking and eating; "Simple", that is, simple, the pursuit of simplification in skills and simplicity in finished dishes, natural.
"Cooking fresh and simple" is the philosophical realm of Hui cuisine cooking, and it is also the value norm of Hui kitchen's behavior. In any case, ordinary seasonal vegetables and poultry should be carefully selected, applied according to their aptitude, and chased to the taste. No matter how rare the delicacies of the mountains and seas, rivers and lakes are presented, they should all be natural, simple, simple and elegant dishes. This is worthy of Hui kitchen and Hui cuisine!
Hui Cuisine: Fried Bell (Cooked at Home)
6. Ambiguous cognition of features
The "threefold" (heavy oil, heavy color, and heavy fire power) of Hui cuisine is quite well-known and has left an important influence on the diet of Hankou and Shanghai. It is the style of Hui cuisine all the way, representing the characteristics of Hui cuisine of "thick oil red sauce, fire and natural flavor".
It is a pity that the cognitive ambiguity also appears because of it, and people think that it is the core feature of Hui cuisine, and regard it as a label for Hui cuisine, and directly paste it on the face of Hui cuisine. All Huizhou dishes are controlled by "threefold". Some cooks cook the dishes salty, spicy, old and black, thinking that this is a characteristic of Hui cuisine. Its negative impact should not be underestimated!
"Three" only represents a part of Hui cuisine, not the whole of Hui cuisine. What can represent the whole of Hui cuisine is the core feature!
The core feature of Hui cuisine must reflect the characteristics of the essence of each dish, which can reflect the commonality of all dishes of Hui cuisine, and can also reflect the commonality of all cooking methods of Hui cuisine. What is common is the whole. This characteristic comes from culinary practice and is rooted in the mother culture of Hui cuisine.
The ideological basis of the dietary theory of Hui cuisine is the "fineness" and "righteousness, merit and virtue" of Confucius and Mencius; The basis of the technique is Yi Yin's "Theory of Extreme Taste" (see "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period: The Original Flavor"). They are all Confucian ideas inherited by Huixue, and they have taken root in Huixue.
Of course, the food ideas of Confucius and Mencius and Yi Yin belong to the Chinese food family, not exclusive to Hui cuisine. However, Hui cuisine is different from other cuisines, ensuring that it has completed a comprehensive and thorough inheritance.
Hui cuisine has the characteristics of literati cuisine. In the ancient sacrificial ceremonies, in the Huishang gardens of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the literati were deeply involved in the food and cooking, food and refreshments. Some dishes are made by literati, and some chefs cook according to the ideas of literati.
Hui cuisine has a great endowment. Following the continuous migration of the population into Huizhou, the Wuyue diet and the Chu diet in the pre-Qin period were closely connected here; The Central Plains diet of the Han, Jin, Tang and Song dynasties, and the food of Jiangsu and Zhejiang came here to integrate into life. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Yangtze River Delta food entered the emblem pavilions all over the towns and towns, and it was integrated in the wok.
After combing, you should understand, right? Hui cuisine is a complete and systematic carrier of Chinese food culture, which retains the essence of Chinese food. Among them, Yi Yin's "eight noes" theory has become the cooking method of Hui cuisine chefs, and it has been regarded as the guideline for generations!
"Eight nos" are "long but not bad, cooked but not rotten, sweet but not grunting, sour but not cool, salty but not reduced, pungent but not strong, light but not thin, fat but not greasy". In the whole process of Hui cuisine, they are everywhere.
Fire power, fire is the original flavor, "not bad", "not rotten" and "not greasy". The taste, fresh and fragrant, sour, spicy, sweet and salty is moderate, and the meanness is harmonious. Shape, fine taste, elegant, natural, idea. Such a technique is not only a pursuit, but also a norm, depicting the thousand-year-old road of Hui cuisine inheritance. As a result, the core style of Hui cuisine is constituted and the core characteristics of Hui cuisine are formed.
However, for a description of the characteristics of a cuisine, the language must be refined. This is a well-known truth, but how to refine it? I proposed that the sixteen-character characteristics of "original, only fine, extreme fresh and fragrant, sour and spicy mean" were summarized into four words as "fine and mean", and they were also interpreted and demonstrated in "Cultural Hui Cuisine" and "Historical Hui Cuisine".
"The original taste, but the essence is fine, the fragrance is extreme, the sour and hot is modest", which is the reproduction of "fine" and "taste". Such a style can be called tailor-made for Hui cuisine! From here, the "whole" of Huizhou cuisine can be seen at a glance, and the "commonality" of Huizhou cuisine is clearly understood. This wholeness and commonality, once integrated into the Chinese food family, it will become the "personality" of Hui cuisine. This style is worthy of the core characteristics of Hui cuisine!
On the journey of Hui cuisine, although it has experienced ups and downs and encountered market shocks, it has also been tempted and disturbed by spicy, spicy, sour, spicy, sweet, sweet and sour, and turbid fragrance.
Stinky mandarin fish
7. Representative technique unwon
There is a set of valuable experience in the cooking of Hui cuisine, which can be summarized as: taking materials according to nature (food properties), taking art according to materials (cooking skills such as knife skills and fire skills), and taking taste due to art (taste of finished dishes). Chefs who have received the true tradition can change even if they handle the same ingredients and perform their dishes, and they are called "one material and one flavor". Such as pork belly ingredients, fried pork belly with the middle layer (inner and outer skin layer peeled), simmered pork belly with the inner layer, fried belly with the outer layer, the whole belly is made of meat belly, glutinous rice belly, spiced belly, smoked belly, mixed belly, sauce belly, bad belly, stewed belly silk (block), boiled double crispy, stewed fried belly, etc., make the best use of the material, thousands of colors, Hui cuisine stunt can be seen in the tip of the iceberg. The inheritance of highly prized cooking skills is also influenced by external factors, some of which are becoming more and more popular, while others are gradually forgotten due to neglect. However, it is not due to the defects of the cooking itself, but due to external factors, such as cooking utensils that cannot keep up with the changes of the times, the need to simplify cooking in the rhythm of life, or the loss of skills, or the need to reduce costs...... Wait a minute. And what about the cooking itself? It is clever and intelligent, and the value of the finished dish is also rare. At one time, they were all representative techniques of Hui cuisine. As long as the cooking ideas and principles are maintained or improved, and then the cooking utensils are modernized and catering, they are still the wonder of the world. If you want to give an example, you can look at the following four methods, I call it flavor enhancement technique, tea vegetable technique, dry pot technique, "Sichuan" flavor technique, it is worth excavating and promoting.
Yipin pot (ten-story pot commonly known as "ten-story building")
Flavor enhancement technique. Such as pickled fresh group flavor, drunken flavor, air-dried fragrance, are all common and wonderful methods, and they are still sought after. Pickled fresh group taste, with pickled ingredients with fresh cooking, the flavor is peculiar, the famous pickled Du Xian, gold and silver hoof, in addition to this, there are meat roasted fish, bacon roasted fish, ham roasted mushroom, etc., a hundred dishes. Drunk drunk and fragrant, first use sake lees to marinate meat and then cook, commonly with red lees marinated animal meat, white lees marinated fish and poultry, the famous dish swallow bamboo shoots and meat on the Qianlong imperial meal during the southern tour. Air-dried and fragrant, is to marinate the poultry and fish, clean the blood water and then dry it into the dish, there is a fragrance, wind meat, wind fish, wind pig tongue and so on are more well-known. Tea dish techniques. Hui cuisine is famous for its discernment of fresh and dried tea leaves, red and green tea soup, adding fun, and is famous for shredded chicken in Shiyu (fresh leaves), Dongpo meat in tea sauce, beef in tea sauce, tea eggs, tea legs (ham that is kept fresh and then dried after being lightly pickled with tea powder), and tea smoked. Nowadays, matcha food has become a trend, but it is limited to rice cakes, zongzi, baked cakes and other food points, and there is little application in dishes. Fresh tea is used in finished dishes, fragrant and greasy, full of vitality, and more worthy of research and innovation.
Dry pot technique. Roast meat only add ingredients without adding water, simmer with a boiling fire, or simmer over a boiling fire (called boiling over a fire), boil out the moisture and oil of the meat itself, the finished dish is fresh and mellow, soft and glutinous, healthy and healthy, dry pot stew (boiling fire), dry stewed meat (boiling fire) is its masterpiece. This technology is suitable for any poultry and animal meat, and it is of great value for research and promotion. "Sichuan" flavor technique. In the old recipes of Hui cuisine, there is the name "Sichuan", which is quite interesting. Such as Sichuan pig's head, Sichuan balls, Sichuan chicken soup, Sichuan noodles, Sichuan Yuanzi techniques remain in the famous dish water-stained cakes, and Sichuan noodles have also become the famous food of Hangzhou Laohui Pavilion Kuiyuan Pavilion. However, this "Sichuan" is a Huizhou cuisine cooking technique, not a "Sichuan flavor", and it is still preserved in the folk diet of Huizhou. The "Sichuan" technique first appeared in the literature, and it was a restaurant in the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and this "Sichuan" was not "Sichuan flavor". Sichuan, since ancient times called Ba (Ba country), Shu (Shu country). It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that the Sichuan Xingzhongshu Province was set up, and the abbreviation of "Sichuan" appeared. In the fourth year of Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty (1001), there were four roads in the Bashu Gorge (Yizhou Road, Zizhou Road, Lizhou Road, Kuizhou Road), so it was called "Sichuan". However, please note that this "Sichuan" is already a complete "abbreviation", which refers to the four roads of the Sichuan Gorge, and the word "four" cannot be missing. At that time, if you ask people where is the "river"? Must be confused! The answer to wait for must be a rhetorical question, what does "Chuan" mean? Therefore, we can only ask where is "Sichuan"? I understand that I am asking about the four roads of the Sichuan Gorge. At that time, Tang and Song poems and travelogues were also called Ba and Shu. Therefore, the meaning of "Sichuan" recorded in "Tokyo Menghualu" is obviously different from "Sichuan". The meaning in the book is "rice" made by the cooking technique "Chuan", which is called "Sichuan rice". "Sichuan" technique, existing in Hui cuisine, with two pots at the same time to cook a dish (rice, noodles), one pot first boiled refreshing or fragrant, and then worn to another pot at the same time to burn the material into the flavor, the two pots are seamless, such as Sichuan noodles, Sichuan rice, there is the meaning of "crossing" the other pot from this pot. The ancient meaning of "Sichuan", in the "Kangxi Dictionary", the "Interpretation of the Name" is noted as "wear also", and the "Shuowen Jie Zi" is noted as "Tongye", and it can also be seen that the source of "Sichuan" technology flows.
Qianlong Hui Pavilion Famous Food: Mackerel Ham Noodles (Cooked at Home)
8. The definition of Hui cuisine is inaccurate
The concept of Hui cuisine is involuted, which is inevitably reflected in the definition of Hui cuisine. Those who advocate "Anhui cuisine" believe that it is the general name of the flavors of southern and northern Anhui. Those who advocate "Huizhou cuisine" believe that it is "Huizhou local flavor". Each has its own words, clearly defining two different cuisines, and it has been so embarrassing! The concept is about the scope of application of Hui cuisine. Definition, on the basis of the concept, to explain the essential characteristics of Hui cuisine. However, these two propositions do not reveal the essence of Hui cuisine, and only use "flavor" to talk perfunctorily, which still stays in the "concept" stage, so it cannot be regarded as the "definition of Hui cuisine". The definition of Hui cuisine is the most important thing in the theory of Hui cuisine. Whether the definition is scientific or not directly reflects the scientific nature of the theory of Hui cuisine, and is also related to the establishment of the image of Hui cuisine, the building of the brand of Hui cuisine, and the influence on the innovation and development of the Hui cuisine industry. In the previous article, the concept of Hui cuisine and the characteristics of Hui cuisine were discussed. In terms of connotation and extension, Hui cuisine = Jianghuai cuisine + Huizhou cuisine + Huizhou cuisine. In terms of essential characteristics, it can be summarized in four words, that is, fine and mean. With such a clear definition, it is not difficult to define Hui cuisine. However, before the definition, it is also necessary to clarify a major historical fact, that is, when the eight major cuisines were produced in the late Qing Dynasty, Hui cuisine at that time only included Hui cuisine and Hui cuisine. That is to say, the current definition can neither deviate from history and "Huizhou", nor can it be limited to "Huizhou" and ignore "Jianghuai". To understand the "Huizhou" in Huizhou cuisine, similar to the "Huizhou" in Huizhou culture, we should not only focus on "small Huizhou", but also pay attention to "big Huizhou". That is to say, the Hui cuisine in the Hui cultural system is formed and developed in the "Great Huizhou", and all the surrounding areas affected by the radiation of Huizhou cuisine and the restaurants in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River affected by Huiguan cuisine are all covered. However, there is a difficulty here, "Great Huizhou" is an academic concept, and using it to directly define Huizhou cuisine will cause ambiguity, and the way is that the connotation and extension of "Great Huizhou" can only be reflected in the definition. Only by clarifying these related factors can we scientifically and accurately define Hui cuisine. Huizhou cuisine is extended, and the area dominated by Huizhou and Huiguan includes Jianghuai and Yangtze River Delta. The essential attributes of Hui cuisine are fine and modest. The definition is finally self-explanatory, that is: Huizhou cuisine is a fine and mediocre food flavor dominated by Huizhou and Huiguan. In the definition, "Huizhou" covers Huizhou and Huizhou cuisine, "Huiguan" covers historical Huizhou and contemporary Huiguan, and Jianghuai flavor is included in contemporary Huiguan. The scope of influence, the historical emblem is all over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the contemporary emblem is also involved in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
The connotation and extension of the definition are in line with the concept of "Hui cuisine = Jianghuai cuisine + Huizhou cuisine + Huizhou cuisine". The essential characteristics in the definition condense the core characteristics of Hui cuisine that distinguish it from other cuisines, that is, "original taste, but fine, exquisite and fragrant, sour and spicy and mean." "Because, the concept and definition of Hui cuisine have always been caught in the whirlpool of involution, and my proposal of such a definition will also attract criticism. Among them, the most intense must be the grievances for "Jianghuai cuisine", thinking that a "Huizhou" can stand shoulder to shoulder with "Jianghuai cuisine"? How can a "Hui Pavilion" cover both "Huizhou cuisine" and "Jianghuai cuisine"? In fact, I have asked this rhetorical question in my heart. The answers you need are in history! When Hui cuisine is chasing deer restaurants and covering the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, when leading the ten-mile foreign restaurant industry and dominating the "eight major cuisines", where is the "Jianghuai cuisine"? Since Hui cuisine can be compared with provincial (regional) level Cantonese cuisine, Suzhou cuisine, Shanghai cuisine and other cuisines, why can't it be side by side with "Jianghuai cuisine"? What's more, the current "Jianghuai cuisine" is a part of Huizhou cuisine, which has been hidden in Huizhou cuisine and Huizhou pavilions.
Emblem shortbread (home-made)
9. Humanistic dishes are asleep
He likes to cook well, and he is familiar with the dishes, which is the empathy of the chef. But diners need to change their tastes, so they can only go elsewhere to find taste, and it is difficult to become "repeat customers". The reason for this is that it is not easy to change the cooking process, and the main reason is the lack of innovation resources. At the same time, there are many humanistic dishes, or silent in the old literature, or quiet in the old recipes, and there are few chefs who go to ask about it. Theoretical research should pay attention to it, excavate the culture of Hui cuisine, and sort out ancient dishes and techniques. Its work is not only to trace the history, but also to continue the history, so that the invisible dishes show their faces and present to the world. Although the dishes in the old documents and recipes live in history and people don't know what they look like, the cooking has been passed down to this day. Our research focuses on mastering cooking, replicating it, and allowing it to travel back to the modern era, which can be regarded as the creative transformation and innovative development of food culture. Since ancient times, there are no outdated dishes, only outdated cooking skills! In the face of old dish names, it is often difficult to start, because the culinary mystery is not understood. There is an ancient adage in the Hui Pavilion, the dishes are ever-changing, and the cooking is ever-changing. That is to say, the dish does not stick to a certain appearance, and the technique must be reasonable, regular, and in line with the food trend. This ancient adage is also the experience of resurrecting humanistic dishes. The "Hui" dish of the Qianlong period can be called the "national treasure" of Hui cuisine. For example, Hui-style fried meat: simmered meat with sea cucumber, simmered hoof (elbow) with sea cucumber, simmered pork with winter bamboo shoots, and large meat balls (simmering, steaming, and frying), totaling six types; There are also Huizhou medicine stewed meat (Huizhou cuisine five spices are known as "Hui medicine"), Huizhou sea cucumber (good at flavoring), Huizhou meat balls (fat and thin half cut into cubes and then mixed with dices), Huizhou sesame balls (meat balls wrapped in black sesame seeds), Sichuan stewed tofu ("Sichuan" method remains in Huizhou dishes), garlic boiled chicken thighs (commonly known as frogs as water chicken), Shuangdong mullet fillet (commonly known as winter bamboo shoots and ham for double winter), Shuangdong simmered duck pieces (deboned), etc., all carry precious humanistic information. The ancients had a taste for food, a source of techniques, and a ...... of ingredients for Hui cuisine One by one, there is a lot of information contained in it. Among them, the Hui-style fried pork has a large 㓠 meat ball, "㓠" is a special word in the Huizhou dialect, the meaning of "chopped ingredients", the sound of "hairpin", different from "chop", this dish is the original version of the lion's head, since ancient times there are steaming, simmering, frying three forms. Nowadays, it is common to braise it after frying, but it is rare to hang the juice after steaming and simmering in the broth, and even fewer people know that the lion's head is a Hui dish. There are also three kinds of sea cucumber dishes, and its flavor is unique in Hui cuisine. For example, the five spices of Hui medicine and the "Sichuan" technique of Hui cuisine can prove the source of the characteristics of "original flavor and extreme fresh fragrance" of Hui cuisine. In addition, the ancient dishes full of elements of Huizhou cuisine can also be called the treasure of Huizhou cuisine. Such as ham round, braised puff pastry (dry meat skin fried crispy and then stewed), wine simmered meat (amber meat), gourd duck (deboned eight treasures), muddy duck (duck mush), winter melon duck (simmered), milk chicken (deboned and simmered), poached fish (deboned filling), mushroom and bean noodles, stone ear hammer chicken (stone ear simmered hammered chicken), bamboo shoots and crab roe, ham and fish dumplings, winter bamboo shoots simmered tea leg, pine flower fish and sheep, four things bird's nest soup (commonly known as winter bamboo shoots, ham, chicken breast, soybean oil skin or chicken skin for the four things), deer tendon squirrel fish, substitute bear paw (crab paste and other alternatives), Fake monkey brain (pig brain, etc.), vegetarian bird's nest, etc. They were popular in restaurants during the Qianlong Dynasty, and if they are taken to today's dining table, they are not inferior. Among them, squirrel fish, together with the lion's head, created the history of the emblem hall and became one of the "four famous dishes" of the master. Winter melon duck is the same as the famous dish of winter melon fish. Songhua fish and sheep are pine flowers that are picked and eaten into the Hui customs, and they actually encountered the fresh fish and sheep of the Hui vegetables. Fake monkey brain, bear's paw, fish tofu, chicken tofu are the most impressive legends of Hui cuisine. For example, winter bamboo shoots, puff pastry, four things, three silks, tea legs, etc., the name is engraved with a strong Hui folk sound. Their value should no longer be dusted down. At present, we are innovating cooking, looking for Hui dishes in the stock of Hui customs, renovating the existing colors, gathering together, and panning for gold in the sand. However, there are so many "golds" in the sand, so some people introduce the fierce spicy and nasal fragrance, and as a result, the "original flavor" of Hui cuisine is lost, and the roots and veins are lost. The Hui merchants and Hui pavilions of the Ming and Qing dynasties penetrated the market wine alleys of the Yangtze River Delta towns, and the Hui food customs and Hui cuisine skills that flowed to the local folk were recorded in the literature and taken for granted. These dishes are born with the original code of Hui folk cuisine, and the information of innovative dishes is implanted in the business of Hui Pavilion, and the humanistic value is extremely high. Therefore, the Hui cuisine in the old literature and old recipes is a rich mine with huge gold content. The key is that the dishes recorded in the literature are complicated, such as "Diaoding Collection", "Suiyuan Food List", "Qing Barnyard Banknotes", etc., which also cover the diet of the north and south. Therefore, there must be a measuring scale, which is: common food traditions, unique ingredients, typical techniques, etc. Take it, screen one dish after another, and finally dig out the "gold" of Hui cuisine.
Doing "old recipe" research, you need luck. The "old recipes" in the family collection are likely to be kept secret. If you have it, you also need to extract the essence from the rough, remove the false and retain the true, and leave the essence.
Dry pot stew (cooked at home)
10. Innovation experience is annihilated
In the endowment of Hui cuisine, the characteristics of inclusiveness and innovation are particularly dazzling. Since ancient times, Hui cuisine has always been on the road of integration. Innovation also does not stop, walking between the two major platforms of sacrifice and feasting.
Huizhou sacrifice, I don't know when the competition mechanism was introduced, Saiqiong bowl, sacrificial dishes, a dazzling array of tribute food, the table is "display", under the table in the "competition", with the number and style of the tribute lord's "piety".
Huishang Garden, Huiguan Pavilion, Ming and Qing Dynasties to the Republic of China are famous in the Yangtze River Delta, the garden will be elegant banquet and drink, Huiguan invites diners, and the new taste and new meaning of the cuisine are spelled.
It can be said that the innovation of Hui cuisine is spelled out from sacrificial dishes, Yahui dishes, and restaurant dishes. It is injected into the muscles and bones of Hui cuisine, and flows into the blood of Hui cuisine, and the vitality of Hui cuisine is strong and unshading.
People say that artistic innovation is natural, and lawlessness is Dafa. In a certain sense, cooking is also an art, and its innovation must also follow the "Tao" (the most concise and profound law of things), and also achieve the "impossible" (the state of integration). In practice, there is indeed a way. It boils down to "style, shape, taste".
"Style, shape, taste" is the cooking experience of the first generation of Hui chefs in the Republic of China, which is an important achievement in the early nineties of the last century.
It not only summarizes the process of cooking, but also clarifies the key nodes and techniques in the process.
In fact, it is everywhere in today's cooking. Or apprenticeship, or admiration, "style, shape, taste" are the only way for every dish, the ancients were like this, and they still are. The gap lies between "enlightenment" and "unenlightenment".
With this guidance, Hui chefs can be infinitely innovative. Among them, a wonderful idea of cooking is called "lining". It means that the combination of ingredients should complement each other, the sword and fire skills should complement each other, and the plate decoration shape should complement each other. Stir-frying the bottom plate (using vegetables and fruits to set off the main dish at the bottom or around the plate) is a trick of "lining", which is the creation of Hui Kitchen, which flows into the major cuisines and is still used today.
"Lining" integrates "style, modeling, and taste". Its appearance time should be earlier than that of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty. Because, the "Northern Yan Food List" compiled at this time not only recorded a large number of Hui dishes, but also clearly recorded the "lining" method of Hui dishes.
Undoubtedly, this is a set of systematic cooking theories, which is a major creation of the ancestors of Hui Kitchen. We must attach great importance to and cherish this kind of creation!
If such an important innovative "Taoism" is to be interpreted in the modern context, it can be summarized as the "three stresses," that is, "talking about the style of dishes, the types of dishes, and the types of dishes." The meaning of the inner meaning remains the same, and the information revealed is clearer.
The "three stresses", as a summary of the innovative experience of Huizhou cuisine, covers the entire cooking process, prompts the key nodes of the finished cuisine, clarifies the essentials of Huizhou cuisine skills, and is the image of Huizhou cuisine cooking.
"Talking about cuisine", that is, paying attention to the eating properties and combination of ingredients, the structure of flavor and the creation of flavor. "Talking about the type of dish", that is, pay attention to the freshness, fragrance, and modeling skills. "Talking about dishes", that is, paying attention to the image and artistic conception of the dishes.
The "three stresses" are closely related and mutually causal. In the operation, the ingredients are dry and fresh, and the names of the dishes are elegant and vulgar; The color of the dish is suitable, and the shape of the fire knife is mutually helpful; The cooking method is original and the combination is natural. It is an innovative idea, but also a culinary art, the image is straightforward, and the science works.
This pursuit of cooking is the result of the perseverance and forging of Hui chefs from generation to generation, and it is also the most essential innovative experience of Chinese cuisine. [ENDS]
"New Hui Cuisine, New Hui Kitchen" entries
Annotations:
[1] Anhui Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, "China Hui Cuisine Standard", 2009.11
[2] Shao Qijing, "Shi Shuo Hui Cai", 2022.10
[3] The food and wine sacrificed have been "blessed by God", and people who eat them again will receive "the blessing of God", which is called "drinking blessings and eating girch"
[4] Shi Kefa (late Ming and early Qing Dynasty), Shi Kaichun (Qing), ed., Shi Zhongzheng Gongji and Huizhou Gentry Book, Qianlong of Qing Dynasty
Author: Shao Qijing