During the Republic of China, there were some schools of Hunan cuisine in Changsha. One school is the "Zuan School", which was founded by Cao Jingchen, the chef of the famous Tan Yankai (the word Zuan) in Hunan from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, and was named after Tan Yankai's word Zuan. Tan Yankai, a native of Chaling, was a scholar in the 21st year of Guangxu (1895). After the Republic of China, he was awarded the rank of general of the army. He once served as governor of Hunan, commander-in-chief of Hunan Army, and president of the Executive Yuan of Nanjing Government. This man is a gourmet, who loves food like a life, so all the chefs hired by Tan Fu are the temporary choices in the Hunan drinking industry, such as Cao Jingchen and Tan Xiting, who later opened Yuloudong Restaurant. Li Liuru, a close friend, recorded in his book Sixty Years' Changes that Tan Fu had to spend two loads of Chinese cabbage to cook a "heart-cooked dish", which shows that he was never tired of eating refined food. Tan Yankai likes to eat dog meat best. At that time, a doggerel was widely circulated among Changsha people, which vividly described the grand occasion of the dog banquet held by the University of Tan Fu: "I had a dog banquet today, but all the gentlemen came. The serving bowl falls from the top of your head and the jug of wine is sifted to your ear. " Cao Jingchen created many exquisite dishes for Tan Fu, whose representative is "Zuan shark's fin". "Zuan shark's fin", also known as "braised shark's fin in red", changes the traditional method of braised shark's fin in red soup to stew with chicken, pork belly and shark's fin, so that nutrients such as protein, fat and inorganic salts in the ingredients can slowly melt into the original tasteless shark's fin during the simmering process, thus changing the phenomenon that the traditional cooked soup is delicious but the wings are tasteless, and it is soft, waxy, smooth, pure and delicious. After this dish was made, Tan Yankai feasted and praised it. Later, the cooking method of this dish gradually spread to the society, and chefs in various restaurants followed suit, so it became a must-have dish at senior banquets, and Quyuan Restaurant, a century-old shop in Changsha, was the most exquisite. Cao Jingchen also created many dishes for Tan Yankai. In the 19th year of the Republic of China (193), after Tan Yankai died as the president of the Executive Yuan of the Nanjing Government, Cao Jingchen returned to Changsha and opened a health paradise in Pozi Street. He cooked all these dishes in the famous brand of "Zuan Cuisine" and made great publicity, so his business was booming. The most famous Zu 'an dishes are Zu 'an shark's fin, Zu 'an tofu, Zu 'an raw fish, Zu 'an bamboo shoots and mud, among which Zu 'an tofu is also unique. This dish takes steamed stuffed bun and tofu as the main material, mushrooms, scallops, fat chicken, pork belly, cooking wine, pepper, onion, ginger, chicken oil, soy sauce and starch as the auxiliary materials. The main and auxiliary materials have been treated by boiling, steaming, teasing and burning, but the final product is only tofu and Tricholoma, which is light red and soft and fragrant. Its exquisite, ingenious and luxurious production (just making 2 pieces of tofu will cost 1 grams of chicken and 5 grams of pork, which will eventually be discarded) can really be compared with the cooking of eggplant (eggplant) in A Dream of Red Mansions. See the 41st chapter of A Dream of Red Mansions. During the Anti-Japanese War, Lin Sen, Chairman of the National Government, went to Sichuan by car from Nanjing and passed through Changsha. At that time, Zuo Xueqian of the Municipal Chamber of Commerce hosted a banquet in Jianyuan to welcome him with "Zuan cuisine", which won him a good reputation. Jianyuan and "Zuan cuisine" were even more famous. In Changsha fire in 1938, Jianleyuan was destroyed, but the cooking skills of "Zuan cuisine" survived.