Let's learn about Luoyang water mat first!
Luoyang Water Banquet is a famous traditional banquet in Luoyang, Henan Province, which belongs to Henan cuisine. It is called water mat because most dishes bring soup.
There are 24 dishes in the banquet, including 8 cold cuts, 4 big dishes, 8 Chinese dishes and 4 table dishes, which are cold and hot, well-known, sweet and salty, sour and spicy. The order of serving is elegant. First, eight cold dishes are served as appetizers, and each dish is three meat dishes, totaling 16. Guests are invited to drink three rounds before serving hot dishes: four hot dishes are served first, and two Chinese dishes (also called tin foil dishes or seasoning dishes) are served on each hot dish, which is euphemistically called "serving food into the palace"; Finally, four dishes were served, including an egg soup, also called Fujian soup, to show the table was full.
Sixteen hot dishes are divided into four tables, eight big pieces and four sweeps.
How do you feel when you see this?
To tell the truth, this is not detailed. Is it already complicated? That's right! There are so many dishes in Luoyang water mat that many people have never eaten a water mat completely, including myself.
Usually on the draft table, we usually order several dishes, such as peony phoenix tail, cloud-covered fermented bean curd, sliced pork soup, fake sea cucumber, Luoyang boiled water, eight-treasure rice and so on. Because there are too many orders, we can't finish them.
After all, Luoyang water mat is full of flavor. Most dishes are mainly sour and spicy, and spicy means spicy with a heavy Chili flavor. Therefore, people in different regions have different tastes and different degrees of acceptance of Luoyang water mat.
Of course, although Luoyang's water mat practice is unique, it has not left Luoyang as a whole, but many dishes, such as sliced soup and eight-treasure rice, seem to be eaten in many places outside Luoyang.
In fact, China has a vast territory, vast territory and abundant resources, and distinctive regional characteristics. Wherever we go, we can taste the local special food, which adds to the fun of traveling. How boring it would be if KFC and braised chicken rice were everywhere!
(Li)
Traveling on the road, I went to Luoyang, found a restaurant in the city, and prepared to eat. I didn't know until I asked, water mat is the most beautiful food in Luoyang. After seven turns and eight turns, I found the flagship store of Shuixiyuan. Near noon, there are many people in the shop. What is the water mat like? Does it taste good? In order to taste the first beauty in Luoyang, we chose to stand and wait.
When ordering, I didn't understand the meaning of "water mat" until I listened to the waiter's introduction. We couldn't help laughing after using it. The water mat says that hot steamed vegetables are all soup dishes, and soup is water; The dishes are served one by one, just like running water.
Although Luoyang's water mat has its own characteristics, it is not as exquisite as the eight major Chinese cuisines. It doesn't conform to the traditional food culture in China. This kind of water mat is also in the boundary of Luoyang, which is recognized by local people. But it's hard to get out of Luoyang.
I have been to Luoyang twice and eaten water mats. I'd better go to an old-fashioned boutique. It's really uncomfortable, but the beef soup in the shop tastes good. One reason is Lido, where there are not so many dishes. Two reasons are that there is too much soup, and other places are not used to it. The three reasons are the sour and spicy taste, which is not used in other places. Many items have gone out, such as braised pork, crispy meat, braised pork ribs, braised fish, braised elbow, lotus root soup, eight-treasure rice, Four Joy Meetballs, egg soup, seasoned chicken and so on.
First, because the merchants who are playing authentic Luoyang water mats all over the street are constantly smashing their jobs by cutting corners, and they don't know it yet. Second, Quanjude, the dog ignored the blow, but was it delicious? I can feel my conscience and say: generally speaking, it is not as delicious as the roast duck steamed stuffed bun in the vegetable market downstairs of my house, but why is Quanjude famous at home and abroad, but it has been ignored by dogs? Because it has a long history, ancient people seldom eat, so they think it is best to have a dog. But now, when a normal person can live with big fish and meat every day, it is very common to keep a dog, and so is the water mat in Luoyang. You only have one name, but you still spoil it yourself. Who do you think will buy your account?
When it comes to Luoyang water mat, how many foreigners will give a sour and smelly evaluation? You can go to Meituan and other apps to check. Excuse me, Luoyang people, are your water mats really sour and smelly? Everyone knows that. Except Chili noodles and vinegar, it has no other taste and is not delicious. How can you leave Luoyang? Like Qishan Shaomian, Qishan Shaomian only eats noodles instead of soup. After eating, I know I can't eat sour noodles, so I can't drink soup. Ethnic minority cuisines are not in line with the popular tastes in China, such as spicy food or seafood. The ingredients are too regional to be popular dishes, and even Luoyang is full of things that can't be eaten. Therefore, it is even more impossible to popularize it nationwide.
The reason why Luoyang can't get out of Luoyang is that the urban catering management industry has not been extended to other places. Although it is a local dish in Luoyang, it takes 24 courses to eat a water mat. Besides, foreigners who are all soup and water may not get used to it, and the technology is very complicated. No one may have tasted it elsewhere, so only in Luoyang do they know about Shuixi.
Let alone Zhengzhou in the distance. Have any readers eaten authentic Luoyang beef soup in the provincial capital? Even if it is a minority, it is estimated that even Luoyang soup restaurant is rarely seen. Most of them are under the signboard and rubbing the name of Luoyang. In fact, what they drink has nothing to do with Luoyang!
The beef soup is still like this, not to mention the "exquisite" water mat.
Why is the water cushion "delicate"? Luoyang water mat is one of the oldest famous banquets in history, which has a history of thousands of years.
The menu of Luoyang water mat consists of the first eight dishes (cold dishes), four tables, eight pieces and four eyes, with a total of 24 dishes. After eating a hot dish, there is another one, just like running water. This is the subtlety of it. It's really troublesome to eat all the water mats. Unless someone gets married or attends a crowded party, you won't have a chance to eat them all. Therefore, the investment in this restaurant is very large, and the cost of expanding outward is also very high.
Moreover, many friends came to Luoyang to eat a mat, and after eating it, the evaluation was not good. They are all too sour, too spicy and too numb. Generally speaking, the taste is not used to it! This is related to the cold weather and no fruit production in ancient Luoyang. Therefore, folk meals are mainly soup, and they like hot and sour to resist dry and cold.
Luoyang water mat is the most authentic, really different. Wu Zetian gives you a toast, saying that ostentation and extravagance is true, and that it is really not delicious. Not as good as some small restaurants on the street. Foreign tourists especially like to go here. After eating, they smacked their lips and thought, this Luoyang water mat is so much!
I really hope that Luoyang water mat can be carried forward, and half the fame of Sichuan cuisine and Hunan cuisine will be satisfied. If we only rely on Luoyang's own people to inherit it, I'm afraid the Luoyang water mat will be too cold to withdraw from the historical stage after a hundred years.
It's not that I can't get out, but that I haven't left at all. In the field of commercial development, Luoyang is weak.
At first, everyone thought: Luoyang water mat came from the people, and no one expected it to come from the Tang Palace. After the reform and opening up, that is, several years after the Peony Fair was held, the Luoyang Municipal Government realized the problems existing in the development of tourism in Luoyang. At that time, it was just for everyone to see: peony flowers, Longmen Grottoes, Guanlin and Baima Temple, and nothing else. What to eat, what to drink and where to live. What tourism products do you take with you?
Starting with "really different" hotels, expanding water mats in Luoyang and gradually expanding tourism products ... It should be said that it is good, but conservative Luoyang people resent it and think that water mats in really different hotels meet the tastes of foreigners and break the tradition.
At that time, it was a good thing for the government to promote and support the development of traditional tourism. The bad thing is that the roads in the old city are so congested that several traffic policemen have to help on duty there every year.
Now the market economy cannot rely entirely on the government. The government is right to advocate support. Those rich bosses should see the reputation of Luoyang Shuixi before they can expand in other places. They don't have to coordinate to help you anymore, do they? Outsiders also like Luoyang water mat. We have all done research, and it is not easy to eat culture and the atmosphere of Tang rhyme.
Compared with other cities, the development of industrial science and technology in Luoyang in recent years is relatively slow, and the tourism industry is also slow, which makes people angry. Other people's things are still not well done, such as city walls.
I'm not being sarcastic, I'm talking about practical issues. I am from Luoyang, and I love my hometown. Say slow is not good, say good: steady development. Livable cities are the prospect of the future. Compared with other cities, it is no longer interesting. Only by calming down and developing its own characteristics can Luoyang get out of the predicament. I've seen it, and so have everyone. It's still a little slow in recent years, and there is still some "meat". Let's get to know each other.
On the way back to my hometown, I saw the push about Luoyang water mat, and I felt quite disappointed after reading some answers. I tried to answer it myself. Please correct me if there are any shortcomings, and thank you in advance!
First of all, what is a water mat? Water mat means serving food like running water, not because all dishes have water. Water mats are more common at wedding banquets. As Luoyang with a strong cultural atmosphere, how can there be only water and no meat at the wedding banquet? The real water mat is not only rich in meat and vegetables, but also full of weight. Friends who have questions just need to go to the water mat in rural Luoyang to understand.
Second, how did the signboard of the water mat break? In my opinion, it is mainly the market. Everyone can rub this golden signboard, and many store materials can be saved. If you can pit more tourists, you will pit more, and there is no cost. Over time, the reputation is getting worse and worse, how to go out?
Finally, the process of making water mats is complicated, and it is necessary to start preparing ingredients very early. Another most important thing is that there are many people in the draft, and basically hundreds of people start to feel like running water. This plate has just been finished, and the next one will arrive in three minutes. By the way, ask the waiter to take away the empty plates. . .
Next time I have the opportunity to shoot a video of a water cushion, so that everyone can have a more intuitive feeling.
I was lucky enough to go to Henan for a week during the Spring Festival. Before going, other people in the family said that we couldn't get used to Henan food in Guanzhong, so we made a drop on the road. The driver happens to be from Luoyang. During the chat, the driver's master said that the food in our customs was delicious, and it was definitely not used to it in the past.
I went for a few days, because during the Chinese New Year, generally speaking, the food was not as bad as I thought. Many famous shops are closed because of China New Year. Even if there is no blood relationship, many people just order some dishes, or they can only order a fixed set meal, not according to their own wishes.
Now let's talk about the water cushion. According to what I know and eat, the water cushion is a steaming bowl. Except for a few cases such as Luoyang swallow dishes, most of the materials are very common. The difference is that these steamed bowls have a little more soup, and then they are a little bit sour and a little more pepper. Even children who don't eat spicy food can't accept it.
The above is my understanding of the water mat. With all due respect, this is purely personal.
When it comes to famous representative cuisines, people first think of eight cuisines, namely Sichuan cuisine, Shandong cuisine, Guangdong cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine, Zhejiang cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Hunan cuisine and Anhui cuisine. In fact, in addition to these eight major cuisines, there are many traditional famous cuisines, but they are ranked outside the eight major cuisines for various reasons.
For example, Luoyang Shuixi, which belongs to the Henan cuisine department, is particularly famous in Luoyang, but if it is to be ranked nationwide, it can be said that it is unknown.
All visitors to Luoyang must have a Luoyang water mat to be perfect. After all, it is one of the oldest famous banquets in history.
Speaking of Luoyang cuisine, I have to say Luoyang water mat.
Luoyang water mat has a history of 1300 years. Luoyang water mat has been handed down to this day, with 24 dishes. The ingredients are not fried, but cooked by steaming, boiling, stewing and stewing. It's delicious. More interestingly, every dish has cultural allusions.
Its serving procedure is: first put four meats, four vegetarian dishes and eight cold dishes on the mat, and then serve four big dishes, each with two Chinese meals, which is called "taking the court". The fourth dish is beet sweet soup. Then the staple food, then the four dishes on the table, and finally the egg soup in Fujian. Luoyang people call it "boiling soup". Seeing this dish means that everything is ready and you can go.
Luoyang water mat originated in the Tang Dynasty and is said to have a certain relationship with Wu Zetian. It is said that Yuan Tiangang, a famous astrologer in the Tang Dynasty, looked at the stars at night and predicted that Wu Zetian would become emperor in time. However, suffering from secrecy, Yuan Tiangang designed this famous banquet. It indicates that Wu Zetian has been emperor for 24 years. There are 24 dishes in Luoyang water mat, and Wu Zetian has just died for 24 years. This Luoyang water mat has soup and water, and dishes are served one after another, which also means that Wu Zetian's accession to the throne is a matter of course.
Luoyang is surrounded by mountains, with little rain all the year round. In order to adapt to this dry climate, people make hot and sour water summer sleeping mats with radish and cabbage. First, they can keep out the cold. Second, radish and cabbage are cheap and everyone can eat them. Because of this feature, Luoyang water mat has been spread to the Tang Dynasty.
24 dishes, 8 cold dishes, 4 big dishes, 8 Chinese dishes and 4 table dishes. These 24 dishes are cold and hot, soup and water, meat and vegetables. After eating a meal, one meal after another, an endless stream, like running water. Because of this meaning, it was named water mat.
Luoyang Water Banquet is undoubtedly the representative of Luoyang, but this famous banquet with a thousand-year history has never left Luoyang. Many people didn't know such a famous banquet existed until they arrived in Luoyang. So what caused this result?
Mainly related to the catering management in Luoyang. Although Luoyang water mat is a famous banquet, there are few hotels operating Luoyang water mat in other places. Think about eating 24 dishes at a meal. This restaurant also has a lot of investment, and most people simply can't afford to expand. Over time, people who can make Luoyang water mats have stuck to the water and soil in Luoyang, and this traditional banquet with a thousand years of history has also lost the opportunity to get out of Luoyang.
It's a joke to think of Luoyang so smelly!
At the end of April last year, I had the opportunity to attend a business meeting in Zhengzhou. After the meeting, I spent May Day in Henan. I have also seen some delicious food in Henan-I really can't use the word delicious food. Breakfast in Huimian, Hu spicy soup, noon in Huimian, jiaozi, evening in Huimian, jiaozi, midnight snack in Huimian, jiaozi, this is the local catering culture in Zhengzhou. Of course, I also went to several restaurants that can order food, ordered the Yellow River carp, and several local dishes in Henan. I am disappointed that almost no dish is delicious.
Later, I went to Dengfeng Shaolin Temple and stayed at Luoyang Dongshan Hotel for two nights. I ordered a dish in Luoyang water mat, peony swallow, which is more than 70 yuan of radish soup. Fortunately, I didn't order a whole set of Luoyang water mats, or I spent more than 1000 yuan to turn my face on the spot.
People in Henan are very poor. Nothing delicious has been handed down from the imperial capitals of so many dynasties. Compared with the historical imperial capitals Xi, Nanjing and Beijing, it is really a cloud mud.