Fuzhou people do not like to use white wine or red wine when hosting banquets or drinking at home, but use local green and red wine.

Essentially speaking, this kind of astringent and sweet wine, like Jiangsu and Zhejiang rice wine and Japanese sake, is a filtered wine brewed from pure rice. The difference is that sake grinds off the protein on the surface of rice grains to make it clearer; rice wine uses the Maillard reaction of proteins and sugars during the "fried wine" process, and even adds a certain caramel color to create a bright yellow color and obtain A subtle umami flavor.

As for the green and red wine, red yeast rice is added to the glutinous rice and distiller's yeast at the beginning of brewing, which brings natural red pigment, so the wine body is bright red. This is what Su Shi wrote in his poem "Fujian wine is as red as pills when poured at night".

Like rice wine, green and red wine also has lees after filtering. People in Jiangsu and Zhejiang make rice wine grains into marinade, which is used for drunken chicken, drunken meat, drunken shrimp, drunken edamame, drunken chicken feet, and drunken pig tongue. This is the famous Zaobo Tou.

However, green and red distiller’s grains are more widely used in Fuzhou’s food spectrum. People in Fuzhou say that red glutinous rice injects the soul into Fuzhou cuisine.

The wild spirit of rivers and lakes

The Eastern Fujian area south of Wuyi Mountain has been isolated from the civilization of the Central Plains since ancient times, but it faces the turbulent Taiwan Strait. It is different from the conservative moderation of traditional Chinese farming culture, and closer to the extroverted and brave marine civilization. Today's large number of overseas Chinese from Fuzhou are proof of this. Of course, this Jianghu atmosphere is also reflected in Fuzhou’s red mustard vegetables.

Red glutinous rice and fried clams are the most common Fuzhou food. Stir-fry the red glutinous rice grains, green onion, ginger, garlic sugar, etc. over low heat until fragrant, then add the clams and stir-fry over high heat until the wok is sizzling.

Clams have thick shells and small meat. They are not eaten elsewhere and do not know how to eat them. However, Fuzhou people use red glutinous rice to give them new meaning. The small clam meat is filled with the aroma of wine and is suitable with porridge or wine. The marinade at the bottom of the plate of red glutinous clams can also be used to dip vegetables and cook rice noodles. My favorite is to use it to dip fried dough sticks. It’s really a must-have.

The red fermented snails also have a similar taste to clams, with more juicy juice, and the large pieces of snail meat are more enjoyable to chew.

Red glutinous rice with water is also good, especially fried intestines made with large intestine or small intestine. The lees juice can effectively remove the odor of fatty intestines and react with the protein in the meat to enhance the umami flavor. In the end, the small intestine is tender and refreshing, and the large intestine is crispy and glutinous. Once you eat it with chopsticks, you will feel a satisfied sigh. In the eyes of the people around you, this is the old Fuzhou style.

Red glutinous rice small intestine

Crab cake is a unique Jianghu side dish in eastern Fujian, and red glutinous rice is also indispensable. The crab is a small freshwater crab that can be caught on the banks of the Minjiang River. Rinse it with clean water, remove the tail and chop it into pieces, fry it in an oil pan until the meat is crispy and the shell is crispy, then add red glutinous rice grains and salt. This is the crab cake that Fuzhou people can't miss as a late night snack with porridge. Like most Jianghu dishes, crab cakes have an unassuming appearance, but a spoonful of it is astonishingly delicious.

Home-cooked flavor

Overseas, Fuzhou people should be regarded as one of the most united overseas Chinese groups. Penang in Malaysia, Singapore, San Francisco in the United States, Melbourne in Australia, Vancouver in Canada, almost all overseas Chinese areas have Fuzhou guild halls and Fuzhou halls.

This is the family culture that runs through the hearts of every Fuzhou person, and red glutinous rice also plays the most important role in Fuzhou’s home cooking.

Red glutinous rice is a good match for pork. The pork belly and ribs cooked with red glutinous rice are bright red in color, delicious and beautiful.

Pork pickled with red grains and salt is called badou meat. The aroma of wine and meat are intertwined. It is a delicacy that Fuzhou people often entertain guests. The best way to eat it is with crispy bread. When you eat it, Fuzhou people call it "guangbingzaorou". The rich juice from the meat seeps into the cake, and the rich aroma of wine lingers in your mouth. It is an unforgettable taste experience.

Red marinated chicken is also a home-cooked dish that Fuzhou people are very particular about. The preparation and taste are similar to Shanghai marinated chicken, but the bright red skin color has an advantage. The chicken is delicate and the skin is tight and crispy. It is a delicacy that you can enjoy privately at home, and it is also a dish that can be used to entertain guests.

Fuzhou is close to the sea and is also a yellow croaker producing area. The locals call the large yellow croaker "Melon Fish". The meat of the melon fish pickled with red rice grains and salt is tight, and the garlic-like fish meat has clear and chewy layers. It is a top-quality home-cooked dish. The method is also very simple. Simply wash off the excess salt and glutinous rice and put it in the steamer. Only steaming is the most respectful way to treat red fish.

In addition, Fuzhou people also use red rice lees to cook bamboo shoots, mix bracken, cook noodles, make sour garlic, and even pickle peaches with red rice lees at home. This is a unique way to eat Lingnan fruits as famous as longan and lychee dipped in soy sauce.

Red Bamboo Bamboo Shoots

Fuzhou version of dark cuisine: lychee dipped in soy sauce

Of course, the Szayang Lamb may be the most important of the many red-buttered home-cooked dishes. . There is nothing special about the method: buy a good piece of lamb belly, add red glutinous rice grains and cook it in a large pot. But for the old Fuzhou people, the appearance of the sheep represents the warmth and belonging of Chinese New Year, reunion, etc. Its meaning to Fuzhou people is similar to that of Poon Choi to Cantonese people and crispy pot to Shandong people. Egg dumplings are as important to Shanghainese, bacon and sausage are to Chongqing people, and dumplings are to Northeastern people. For old Fuzhou people, celebrating the New Year without a pot of glutinous rice would probably make the New Year feel lonely.

It is the warmth of the New Year that comes from the cold spring weather. Paired with a pot of home-brewed green and red wine, it can make the New Year's Eve dinner for the whole family lively.

Enter the hall

The heirloom of poetry and calligraphy is probably another major regional culture in Fuzhou.

Lin Zexu, Shen Baozhen, Yan Fu, Lin Shu, Lin Huiyin, Bing Xin, Chen Jingrun, Xu Jiang... a series of cultural celebrities from Fuzhou have illuminated almost half of China's modern cultural world.

Fuzhou’s red mustard vegetables also have an extremely bookish flavor.

If the Buddha Jumping Over the Wall, which is based on slow kung fu, is the top pick of Fuzhou cuisine, then the second place on the list is the fragrant snail slices. No matter whether it is an old-school or new-school Fuzhou restaurant, as long as the cook is good at it, they will make it. It is placed most prominently in the recipe.

The fragrant snails produced in Changle have thin yellow shells, tender meat, fresh and crisp taste, and white color. The chefs are very skilled in cutting the snail meat into thin slices of even size, and add hot water to boil. Pick it up immediately. The control of this blanching skill, if it is more, it will be cooked, if it is less, it will not be crispy, it all lies in the hands of the chef.

Slightly marinate the conch slices, set up a wok, add oil to the winter bamboo shoot slices, lightly stir-fry the garlic, minced ginger, and red rice grains, and use green and red wine to blend the flavor of the pot. Use shiitake mushrooms and winter bamboo shoot slices to increase the richness of the taste, and finally return the pre-blanched conch slices to the pot. The whole process was smooth and smooth, which most tests the skills of the school chef.

The conch slices served at the end were dyed carmine red by the red grains, and the aroma of the wine was intoxicating. The celery, black fungus, and yam that were paired with it made the bright colors of emerald green, white jade, and carmine red. The collision in this plate is pleasing to the eye.

Red eel is also a preserved dish of Fuzhou cuisine. Peel the eel and cut it into small pieces, marinate it with fish sauce, ginger and rice wine; then wrap it in flour paste and fry it until it is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and fragrant; Finally, add the fried eel segments into a sauce made with red rice grains, sugar, five-spice powder and fish sauce, stir-fry and simmer.

The fried skin will soften during this process, absorbing the aroma of wine from the red lees, and finally become crispy and delicious. This is an eel dish that is more flavorful than Japanese kabayaki.

What many people don’t know is that lychee meat, another famous dish in Fuzhou, in addition to the sweet and sour taste, can also be fried and stir-fried with red glutinous rice. The process is similar to red glutinous rice eel. In addition to the sweet and sour taste, it also has a more winey and salty taste. In the eyes of many old Fuzhou residents, lychee meat colored with red grains is the real lychee meat.

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If the delicacies and seafood in Buddha Jumps Over the Wall represent the hospitality of Fuzhou people, which is the backbone of Fuzhou cuisine, then the red glutinous rice must be the essence of Fuzhou cuisine. The vegetables become the flesh and blood of Yingying Beauty.

A spoonful of red lees in a dish, the bright red color and the fragrant taste are enough to make a long-distance traveler burst into tears.