In dishes, we often see or eat some dishes called chop suey, chop suey or jambalaya. Such as: halal chowder, hibiscus chowder, shredded pork chowder, braised chop suey, assorted seafood, braised assorted vegetables, creamy assorted vegetables, etc. The most famous dish is "assorted seafood". There are also fried chicken offal that we often eat, also called fried chicken offal, husband and wife lung slices. The earliest name was also called cold beef offal. The hot pot that everyone often eats is actually called hot pot hodgepodge, that is, all kinds of vegetarian rice are cooked in a pot of soup, and each takes what he needs and eats it separately.

I remember that in the fifties and sixties, every autumn and winter, there was a stove in front of the house and a radish mixed with beef offal in a casserole, also called roast beef offal, also called soup pot radish. It's spicy and delicious, no matter whether it's vegetarian or not, it's always tempting for us poor dolls who just learned.

/kloc-in the winter of 0/986, Deng Xiaoping's family went back to Sichuan to stay in Jinniu Hotel, held a reception banquet at noon, and specially told the chef, by the way, don't cook other dishes at night, just stew all these dishes in a pot at noon. When the master heard it, he was blindsided and didn't know what to do. Xiaoping added: "This kind of chowder has all kinds of meat and vegetables, and it tastes complete and delicious." The chef in the kitchen has to do this. In the evening, they cooked a pot of hodgepodge, and the Xiaoping family ate it with relish.

Besides, in Chengdu in the old society, it was difficult for the poor to make a living, and they could not eat rice or meat. However, the restaurant in the mansion is a luxurious banquet for the rich, who are drunk and spend money like water, and their minds are full of fat. After the banquet, leftovers can be piled up in several vats. Then burn a big pot and add some seasoning, which is called braised chop suey The restaurant asks handyman to carry it out and sell it on the street every day. At that time, the four-door bridges in Chengdu were regularly sold along the river, especially the Dongmen Bridge and Jiuyan Bridge. Of course, it is naturally the poor and short-term workers, helpers, drivers, porters, beggars and the like who queue up to sell every day. This kind of leftovers are vegetarian dishes with full flavor, such as "moon meat" with only one curved skin, "perforated fish" with bare skeleton and "big chicken" with only smooth skeleton. However, for the poor, it is a kind of enjoyment, so the people call it "fairy dish". For the poor, it is a rare taste to eat such a rich "oil".

In addition, there used to be a small restaurant outside the fourth gate of Chengdu, which burned a large pot of pork, dead pork, dead cats and dogs, and even live mouse meat. In short, most animals' meat is taken from their internal organs. The soup in the pot is tumbling, and black floating foam is piled up, but it is still very fragrant. Also known as braised chop suey, it is specially sold to the poor and even "toothache". Customers are crowded at noon every day, and they eat more standing than sitting. There are also some poor literati or clerks who wear gowns and hats and buy them home in vats, so that the whole family can have a "full meal". People also jokingly call it "twelve-phase dish", which means there are twelve genera of animal meat from mice to pigs.

This kind of chop suey created by the people naturally became a popular dish and was accepted by the chefs in the restaurant. After several generations of chefs' practice, it became the first dish of the banquet, and was renamed as "Assorted Meat" and "jambalaya" with more than ten kinds of raw materials. That doesn't count. If seafood is added to meat mixed food, it will be transformed into "seafood mixed food", which can be subdivided into sea cucumber mixed food, squid mixed food and so on according to the different seafood raw materials added. Many of them have also become the signature dishes of famous shops, such as round milk soup hodgepodge, hard rice braised assorted dishes, hibiscus restaurant hibiscus hodgepodge and so on. There is also a very affordable mass banquet in the Sichuan banquet, which is called a hodgepodge because it is the first course.

I once read an article called "Li Hongzhang Chowder", which said that "Li Hongzhang Chowder" is very popular and famous in European and American Chinese restaurants. Its raw materials are very rich, including chicken, sea cucumber, fish, cooked ham, oily fish belly, squid, water-borne yuba, scallops, mushrooms and magnolia slices. Actually, it's similar to seafood jambalaya or seafood jar meat.

Chowder, chop suey, assorted foods, simply put, are all kinds of ingredients with different tastes and flavors mixed together to make a beautiful dish. Although there are no strict regulations on the compatibility of various ingredients, they are also established. Like shredded cooking, it is mostly made of shredded pork belly, shredded cooked ham, shredded cooked chicken, shredded winter bamboo shoots, shredded loofah skin, crispy meat and crispy skin. Stew with clear soup. Braised jambalaya is mostly made of pork belly, pig heart, pig tongue, pig throat, cooked chicken leg meat, water-soaked tendons, water-soaked mushrooms, clean winter bamboo shoots, lettuce, carrots and fresh soup. In addition to assorted seafood, the materials used are much more complicated. Besides braised assorted seafood, pork tripe, heart, tongue, throat and tendons are also used, as well as shark's fin, fish tripe and abalone.

Whether it's a hodgepodge or a assorted food, the attraction of this so-called hodgepodge lies in its extraordinary delicacy. Its fragrance is different from delicious food, and it tastes relaxed and free, delicious and healthy. In today's words, chowder and assorted foods can be regarded as an unconventional and creative "surrealist" delicacy in cooking.

Sichuan province annals? Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Editorial Committee of Sichuan Annals; Sichuan cultural person; Sichuan writer.