If you want to eat "Assorted Hodgepodge", let's first understand the historical origin of the Assorted Hodgepodge, from which we can also see the cooking method and ingredients of this dish.

The origin of "chowder"

"Chowder" is a famous traditional delicacy that has been made in China in ancient and modern times. This dish has a "mixed" selection of ingredients, including animals and plants, both high-end and ordinary, meat and vegetables, and a mixture of meat and vegetables. The dish is diverse, dazzling, and soft in texture. , tender, crispy, smooth, with beautiful color, aroma and taste. It is a favorite delicacy for people regardless of official or folk banquets.

"Chowder", as the name suggests, is a dish made from a mixture of several raw materials. Its preparation has a long history and there are many rumors. In the history of Chinese cooking, the first person to invent "chowder" was Lou Hu from the Qilu Clan, whose courtesy name was Junqing. He was a native of the Han Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and worked as a Jingzhao official. At that time, Lou Hu often visited the homes of Wang Tan, Wang Gen, Wang Li, Wang Shang, and Wang Feng, the maternal uncles of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who were all named "Five Hous" at the same time, so he created the delicacy "Five Hous Mackerel". Mackerel is a chowder cooked with fish, meat and delicacies from the mountains and seas, that is, "Wuhou Chowder". Volume 2 of "Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing" contains: "The five princes are incompatible with each other, and guests are not allowed to come and go. Lou Hu and Feng Bian pass the food among the five princes, and each gets his own taste and competes for the unique meal. The guards combine to form a mackerel, and they are known as the five princes in the world. "Hou Ze, I thought it was a strange flavor" was later used to refer to delicacies, which has a wider influence.

It is said that during the Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei, a famous anti-Jin general, was framed and died by the traitor Qin Hui. At that time, there was a chef in Fuzhou who specially used a variety of raw materials to cook a dish named "Chowder". Once, the government received a high-ranking official from Kyoto, who specially tasted the famous chef's "chowder" dish. When the guest officer asked what the name of the dish was, "chowder"? The chef responded boldly: "The kid doesn't know much about literacy. He only heard people say that zongzi is made from hybrids, and braised is cypress from Qin Hui. The radical of wood is replaced by the radical of fire." Although this high-ranking official from Kyoto heard this, he felt He was frightened, but he didn't know whether it was because he drank too much or because he hated Qin Hui. He just yelled with bluff: "Get out!" From then on, the word "chowder" spread from Fuzhou to other places.

It is also said that during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, during the Lantern Festival, the whole country celebrated the Lantern Festival with great festivities. It's very lively when Jin Dadan is called. On this day, the emperor rose up and came out of the palace with instructions. The queen, prince, ministers and others accompanied him and went to the streets to watch the lanterns and enjoy themselves with the people. When they returned to the palace late at night, the emperor, empress, and prince all felt hungry, so they ordered the eunuchs to pass on the meal immediately. Because the original imperial meal was already cold, the imperial chef was caught off guard, so he had to put all kinds of delicious cold meats into the pot together, stew them into steaming dishes and serve them in basins. Because of the complex multi-flavor, mellow and delicious taste, Emperor Ming was particularly happy, that is, The messenger asked, "What's the name of this meal?" When the imperial chef saw the emperor's family dining together, he responded wisely: "This is a 'family portrait.'" Emperor Ming was overjoyed and happily decided on this name, which has been passed down to this day. "Family Portrait", that is, "Assorted Hodgepodge".

It is also said that in the late Qing Dynasty, that is, in the 21st year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty in 1896 AD, the Qing government sent Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Hongzhang to Russia to attend the coronation ceremony of Nicholas II, and then went to the United States as an envoy . One day, Li Hongzhang hosted a banquet for senior American officials with Chinese food. The food was delicious and was full of praise. When an American official asked about the name of the dish, the inexperienced translator answered that it was "chop suey." So Westerners called the delicious Chinese dish "chop suey," and it spread throughout the United States. Since then, the transliteration of "chop suey" has appeared in English dictionaries. Even restaurants opened by overseas Chinese in Chinatown in the United States have often been renamed "chop suey" restaurants. Then, on the food menus of chop suey restaurants, everyone has the words "Li Hongzhang Chop Suey" written in big letters. As expected, "Li Hongzhang Chop Suey" This is how the name "chop suey" became popular. Chop suey and chop suey are two names for the same dish, so it is also called "Li Hongzhang chop suey". Mr. Zhang Boju of the Chinese Museum of Literature and History also wrote an article on "Li Hongzhang's Chowder", saying that it is "famous abroad. There is such a dish in every Chinese restaurant in Europe and the United States."

"Chowder" is a famous and popular dish. There are many legends about its origin, and it can be said that there are many records in historical books. Because of its delicious taste, it is very popular among people, so it is generally made in various places. The more famous ones include Anhui's "Li Hongzhang Chowder", Hubei's "Jia Fu" (Assorted Chowder), Sichuan's "Braised Chowder" and Guizhou's "Baked Chowder". Due to different recipes and preparation methods, the flavors are different, and they are all written for the banquet. The fame of "chowder" is also mentioned in the Qing Dynasty novels "The Scholars", "Three Heroes and Five Righteousnesses" and Lu Xun's "Collected Letters to Zeng Tianshe".

It seems that "chowder", a famous dish that has been popular in both refined and popular tastes since ancient times, can be widely passed down to this day. It is not only rich and delicious, but also contains perfect ingredients. The implication is that it is very popular and loved by diners at home and abroad.

The famous traditional chowder dish of Chuxiang and Hubei Province - Family Portraits, commonly known as "Assorted Chowder", this delicious delicacy introduced to the people from the imperial cuisine of the Ming Dynasty has become a common first dish in local festive banquets , after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was also listed as a famous Chinese dish of delicacies. This cuisine uses the "four delicacies" among the "eight delicacies", namely sea cucumber, abalone, fish maw, and shark's fin as the main ingredients, and uses chicken breast, mandarin fish meat, mushrooms, mushrooms, fresh shrimps, and pork trotters as ingredients. The specific preparation method is: put the wok on a high fire, put in an appropriate amount of cooked lard and heat it to 60% heat. First, oil the squid fillets and shrimps separately and drain them out. Then blanch the prepared sea cucumber, fish maw, tendons, chicken breast slices, shiitake mushrooms, and mushrooms in a pot of boiling water over high heat, and then rinse with water.

Then, add cooked lard in a wok, add onion and ginger juice, stock, refined salt, and MSG and bring to a boil. Pour in various raw materials and simmer until flavorful, thicken the sauce, and drizzle with chicken oil.

This family portrait dish is famous all over the country and in Jiangcheng because of its high-grade ingredients, fine preparation, variety of dishes, crisp, tender and smooth, rich fragrance and high value.

Look around and find a recipe for a "vegetarian" assorted hodgepodge:

Vegetarian assorted hodgepodge

Ingredients:

1-bubbles Open shiitake mushrooms, cut into shreds and squeeze out water

2-Frozen carrots (no need to peel or cut)

3-Frozen green beans (no need to pick or cut)

4-Meat slices (lazy people can use ham slices, which are easier to cut, or buy ham dices, which don’t need to be cut)

5-Starch water (chestnut flour water is better)

If you use ham, see steps 3, 5, and 6

1-Put a small amount of soy sauce and cooking wine into the meat slices, and add one-fifth of a tablespoon of corn starch to one or two pieces of meat. , stir evenly

2-Put an appropriate amount of oil and fry the meat slices

3-Wash the pot, add an appropriate amount of oil, heat it up, put in all the vegetable ingredients and fry until cooked. Use ham, put it in together at this time, and add an appropriate amount of salt

4-Add the meat slices and stir-fry them

5-Slowly add the chestnut flour water and stir well at the same time. If it's too thick add some water.

6-Simmer over high heat for one minute, stir-fry constantly, and remove from the pot