"Don't laugh at the farmers' wine, and leave enough chickens and dolphins in good years." More than 900 years ago, what Lu You described in "A Tour of Shanxi Village" is a portrayal of the Spring Festival diet of farmers' families in the Southern Song Dynasty. It can be seen that the New Year's Eve dinner is played by pigs, chickens and other meat birds with a long history.

Roasted pork strips, red-cooked chicken pieces, oily meat, stewed elbows, roasted mutton, braised fish, braised meatballs, eight-treasure rice ... These folk dishes once had a resounding name: Eight Bowls.

Speaking of eight bowls, most children in the post-80 s and post-90 s cities don't know. For middle-aged and even elderly Datong people, eight bowls have gradually become mottled memories in their minds.

In the past, restaurants did not use round tables as they do now, but paid attention to the use of the Eight Immortals table, where eight people sat on each table and served eight courses of cold, eight courses of meat and sixteen courses.

The so-called eight bowls refer to a banquet with strong folk flavor, which consists of barbecue strips, braised meatballs, red-cooked chicken pieces, braised elbows, sauce bones, oily meat, braised fish and eight-treasure rice. In short, it is composed of eight dishes, which contain eight sea bowls, so it is called "eight bowls".

There are many opinions about the origin of the Eight Bowls, some of which were compiled by Zhao Yun, a famous star of the Three Kingdoms, and some were invented by Su Dongpo, a writer of the Northern Song Dynasty, but they are not supported by historical materials and classics. There are many versions of Eight Bowls all over the country, among which Zhengding Eight Bowls, Muslim Eight Bowls, Beijing Eight Bowls, Lanzhou Eight Bowls and so on are famous.

The eldest brother shared eight bowls, which traced back to the source and first prevailed in the middle of Qing Dynasty. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, all trades flourished and the catering market was unprecedentedly prosperous, among which "Man-Han Banquet" was held.

Leading the catering industry. The Manchu-Han banquet is divided into the upper eight treasures, the middle eight treasures and the lower eight treasures. Because of its simple ingredients, the eight bowls are listed as "inferior eight treasures" and are called "eight bowls" by the people.

In the old days, the practice of eight bowls was divided into thickness and thickness. Take the eight bowls in Beijing as an example: the thin eight bowls refer to fried fish slices, stewed shrimps, family photos, osmanthus fish bones, stewed slippery fish, shredded Sichuan pork, Sichuan meatballs and pine nuts; The eight bowls are: stir-fried shrimp, stewed shredded chicken, stewed egg soup with crab roe, sea cucumber balls, silver ingot meat, clear soup chicken, braised chicken, home-cooked roasted carp and so on.

At that time, the eight bowls concentrated on all cooking techniques such as steak, stew, sauce, roasting, stew, stir-frying, steaming and stir-frying. In the Qing Dynasty, there were frequent commercial exchanges between Datong and Beijing, and the eight bowls of Beijing gradually spread in Datong Square and became the main banquet form at people's weddings. But the eight bowls of Datong don't copy the eight bowls of recipes in Beijing. At that time, Datong (now Inner Mongolia) had many business contacts with the outside world, absorbed some dishes from the northwest "eight Muslim bowls", such as roast mutton and beef, and combined with local specialties, formed a unique "eight Muslim bowls".

Eight bowls of New Year's Eve complex

Although the eight bowls are getting farther and farther away from our modern life, they are becoming more and more blurred. However, during the Spring Festival, it is always difficult for Datong people to give up their love for the eight bowls.

During the Chinese New Year, my parents always set up a stove and make some barbecue strips, red-cooked chicken pieces and fried meatballs. Young people who are not good at cooking have to stroll to the supermarket to buy some semi-finished products, almost eight pieces. Because leaving these dishes, it is difficult for Datong people to find the unique flavor of the ancient city beyond the Great Wall that lasted for a hundred years.

"eight bowls" menu

The boss has eight bowls. What are the eight courses? There has been a long debate in the catering industry, and there are several versions. In the winter of 2009, food lovers in our city organized an "eight bowls" seminar and invited a group of old chefs such as Ji Shungui (who won the CCTV "Man-Han Banquet" in 2003) to participate. I have the honor to consult a famous chef.

According to reports, the menu of Datong's "Eight Bowls" changes according to different ages. But cooking techniques are basically boiling, frying, roasting and steaming, according to strict procedures and working procedures. Its skills mainly focus on the selection of materials, the mastery of knife and heat, and the selection of ingredients. For example, it takes more than two or three hours to chop the meat strips and steam them in a steamer later. The dishes made by this method are well-made, well-selected, economical, fat but not greasy, suitable for all ages, with good color, fragrance, taste and shape, taking into account the characteristics of northern cuisine, rich in nutrition and exquisite in eating.

"Eight bowls" is an indispensable delicacy in big brother's life. Birthdays, weddings, funerals and children's full moons are all indispensable. Because in the old days of Datong, unlike there are so many hotels and restaurants now, most people are poor. When they meet weddings and funerals, they set up greenhouses at home and in the village to entertain relatives and friends. Today, this method still exists in some counties and rural areas of our city. Following the 1980s, the recipes of Datong Eight Bowls basically included eight categories: barbecue strips, red-cooked chicken pieces, braised meatballs, oily meat, braised elbows, braised mutton, braised fish and eight-treasure rice.

After 1990s, with the appearance of eight cuisines, namely, Cantonese cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Zhejiang cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine, Hunan cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine, the traditional eight bowls gradually disappeared in the vast array of cuisines. More importantly, with the prevalence of modern healthy eating concept, more and more people no longer covet the "eight bowls" with more meat and oil.