During the Song Dynasty, Su Dongpo went to Yongxiu, Jiangxi, and cured the child of a local farmer. To show his gratitude, the farmer specially kept him for dinner. During the dinner, Su Dongpo recited a poem: "The fragrance of grass pearls is in my heart". Hearing this, the farmer who was cooking in the kitchen thought that Su Dongpo was teaching him how to get to cook the meat-"Everything cooked with grass is fragrant", so he quickly put pork and straw tied with meat into the pot to cook, which became Dongpo's elbow.

2. beggar chicken

Jiaohua Chicken, also known as Changshu Jiaohua Chicken and Braised Chicken, is a traditional dish in Changshu, Jiangsu Province. It is to wrap the processed chicken with soil and lotus leaves. The production materials are fresh and tender lotus leaves, yellow mud and live chickens.

The production method of beggar chicken is similar to the "cannon dolphin", one of the "eight treasures" in Zhou Dynasty. "Cannon Dolphin" is a dish made by wrapping suckling pigs with clay, grilling and further processing. Its color is bright Bordeaux, fragrant, crisp and tender, crisp and tender at the entrance and unique in flavor.

Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a beggar who begged along the way and came to a village in Changshu County. One day, he happened to get a chicken and wanted to kill it for cooking, but there was neither cooker nor seasoning. He came to the foot of Yushan Mountain, killed the chicken, took out its internal organs, coated it with yellow mud and firewood, simmered the coated chicken in the fire, peeled off the mud shell when it was cooked, and removed the chicken feathers and mud shell together to reveal the chicken.

About 100 years ago, according to this legend, the "Mountain View Garden" restaurant in Yushan Resort in the northwest of Changshu County, refined the chicken by removing the rough and selecting the fine.

3. Dongpo meat

Dongpo meat is a wonderful flower in Hangzhou traditional cuisine, which is characterized by bright red color, thick and mellow juice, crisp but not broken meat and crisp but not greasy taste. Speaking of "Dongpo Meat", there is another interesting story. Su Dongpo, a writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, offended the emperor in the second year of Yuanfeng (AD 1079) and was demoted to Huangzhou. He often cooked by himself and "tasted" with his friends.

After Song Shenzong's death, when Su Dongpo was transferred to Hangzhou as an official again, the West Lake was already flooded with weeds. He mobilized tens of thousands of migrant workers, cleared farmland, dredged lakes and harbors, and built a long dam with dredged silt, which was later called Su Gong Dike. In order to praise Su Dongpo's merits, ordinary people gave Su Dongpo pork during the Spring Festival as a token of their intention.

When Su Dongpo received the pork, he told his family to cut it into cubes, cook it with his own cooking method, and send the wine to every household according to the roster of migrant workers. However, when family members cook, they interpret "sending with wine" as "burning with wine". However, the braised pork cooked is more crispy and delicious, and the foodies are full of praise. Since then, it has been named "Dongpo Meat."

4. stinky tofu

Wang Zhihe is from Yuan Xian, Anhui. In the eighth year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1669), he went to Beijing to take the exam and failed the list. Due to lack of money, he lives in Anhui Guild Hall of Mutton Hutong in yanshou temple Street outside Qianmen. For the next exam, while studying, he took out his grinding bean curd craft, a village, to make a living. On one occasion, Wang Zhihe's tofu was not sold out, and it was midsummer. Afraid of spoilage, he cut the tofu into squares, mixed it with spices such as salt and pepper, and preserved it in a jar.

Then I left it behind and didn't remember it until autumn. When he opened the cylinder head, the tofu turned green and smelled bad. He tasted it and gave it to the neighbors in the guild hall. After tasting it, it's amazing. Wang Zhihe suffered repeated defeats and wars, so he died and became an official, and began to concentrate on stinky tofu.

In the seventeenth year of Kangxi (AD 1678), he set up a workshop in yanshou temple Street and hung up the signboard of "Wang Zhihe Soy Sauce Garden", which became famous in Beijing for a while. At first, stinky tofu was just a good food for poor workers, and it was eaten with cakes attached to steamed bread, which had a unique flavor. During Guangxu period, stinky tofu not only entered the government gate, but also entered the palace menu.

The use of stinky tofu makes it worth a hundred times. Some celebrities also write poems in praise. Sun Jiading, the champion of the late Qing Dynasty, once wrote a couplet praising: "The food line is Wan Li Road, and the heart is raised with me"; "Sauce with dragon's foot peony, garden with chicken's foot hibiscus". Today, Wang Zhihe's stinky tofu is exported abroad, and foreigners call it China's cheese.

5, preserved eggs

Preserved eggs are also called preserved eggs and Hu eggs. According to legend, hundreds of years ago, on the shore of Taihu Lake where ducks gathered, there was a couple named Li who opened a small teahouse and also managed some side dishes and braised eggs. The couple have no children, only one daughter, named Xiujuan.

One day, the weather was fine and sunny, and the Lakers' tourists suddenly increased. The teahouse was full of guests, keeping the family busy. In a hurry, Xiujuan didn't see two duck eggs rolling into the ashes of the kitchen. A month later, it was discovered by a neighbor who came to borrow ash to grow vegetables. He called his master to have a look. Protein not only did not flow, but also condensed together, revealing a transparent luster. Throw it into your mouth, it is fragrant and soft, and it has an unspeakable taste.

Everyone tasted a piece and was full of praise. Eggs are delicious. What is a good name? Xiujuan said happily: "Look at so many patterns on the egg, just for luck, just call it an egg!" " Since then, Lijia Teahouse has been making eggs, attracting customers from far and near. Later, because the egg came from Taihu Lake, it was also called Taihu Lake Egg. When it was introduced to Beijing, a businessman surnamed Chen in Zhangxinzhuang, Tongxian changed raw buns into soaking, and preserved eggs were made into bright colors. The center of the yolk is like caramel, which is called Beijing egg or sugar preserved egg.