What is food?

According to the newly compiled Mandarin dictionary of the Ministry of Education, the definition of gourmet is very simple and clear: "delicious food."

If we look at this definition, a bowl of braised pork rice and a bowl of rice Pork noodle soup, as long as it is made well enough, can certainly be called a "gourmet dish". On the other hand, a cup of boiled shark's fin in plain water is bland and tasteless, so naturally it cannot be considered a delicacy. Therefore, whether this bowl of braised pork rice is a delicacy has nothing to do with whether it is served in the wrong gold and silver dragon boat, or whether it is sitting in a Japanese garden with dry landscapes. It certainly has nothing to do with the Georg Jensen silver tableware in your hand. It doesn't matter either.

This definition is applicable everywhere, but it is simple and clear.

However, this may not be the same as what most people imagine.

So, what if we look at food from a more macro perspective of "elevating "food" to the realm of "beauty"?" pMerriam-Websterp says "beauty" like this: thepqualityporpaggregatepofpqualitiespinpappersonporpthingpthatpgivespleasureptopthepsensesporppleasurablypexaltspthepmindporpspirit.

Obviously, "beauty" is a spiritual or spiritual effect.

Since it is the function of the mind, it is subjective, not objective. That's personal, not group. In other words, if we personally feel that something is beautiful, that is enough. We don’t need to follow others’ teachings step by step.

Therefore, when we think the sycamore flower is beautiful, it is beautiful.

When we think the yellow chrysanthemums all over the mountains and plains are beautiful, then it is beautiful.

Delicious snacks

Xiao Long Tang Bao

Kaifeng Xiao Long Guang Tang Bao has a history of a hundred years, and the founder is Huang Jishan. The current state-owned bun shop on the first floor operates a famous flavored pastry.

Ingredients:

5 kg of pork shank meat, 5 kg of finely ground oil, 1250 g of soy sauce, 400 g of cooking wine, 150 g of minced ginger, 150 g of MSG, 55 g of salt, 100 g of sugar, 35 g of sugar.

Preparation method:

1. Grind the pork hind leg meat into stuffing, put it in a basin, add soy sauce, cooking wine, minced ginger, monosodium glutamate, salt, and sugar. Use 4 liters of warm water in winter and 3.5 liters of cold water in summer. Add it to the stuffing in 5 to 6 batches and stir it into a stuffing that is neither thin nor thick. Finally, add small grinding oil and mix well.

2. Pour the noodles into a basin, add 2.5 liters of water (hot water in winter, warm water in spring and autumn, cold water in summer), and mix the noodles evenly. When kneading the dough, do not pour the water in all at once. Add a little water first to form dough ears, and then slowly knead the water into the dough pieces evenly. Repeat three times to change the surface from soft to hard. Then dip your hands into water and knead the dough into a dough that is neither soft nor hard.

3. Transfer the mixed noodles from the basin to the chopping board, knead them repeatedly, and add dry noodles appropriately according to the softness and hardness of the noodles. Repeat several times, roll into strips, and cut into 15 grams. For heavy dough, roll it into a thin slice with thin edges and thick middle, wrap it with 20 grams of filling, and make 18 to 21 pleats.

4. Put the raw buns into a small cage with a diameter of 32 to 35 cm, and steam them over high heat. The steaming time should not be too long. If the steamed buns are too long, the bottom will fall off easily and the soup will run out. Steam them as you eat and serve them on the table. Serve with balsamic vinegar and garlic cloves.

Product features:

Thin skin, big filling, soup and oily filling. After the finished product comes out of the cage, it looks like a lantern when lifted up and like a chrysanthemum when put down.

First Floor Steamed Buns

This is Kaifeng’s famous First Floor Steamed Buns from ancient times. It is characterized by its thin skin and fresh fillings. It is a soup dumpling. The skin is not steamed from fermented flour, just like dumpling skin, but it is smooth and the filling is fresh and delicate. Paired with mature vinegar, the taste is more unique.

Ma Yuxing's "Tongzi Chicken"

Tongzi Chicken is a famous specialty dish of Kaifeng. It uses local high-quality Jun hens and is simmered in century-old soup. Golden in color, fat but not greasy, fresh and crispy. "Ma Yuxing" is a famous old traditional food store in Kaifeng. Its full name is "Halal Ma Yuxing Chicken and Duck Store". It was first opened in the third year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1864) by Ma Yongling on the southeast side of the Drum Tower. Tongzi chicken was one of the main varieties he operated.

The "Ma Yuxing" bucket chicken is round and perfect in shape, goose yellow in color, oily and shiny, fat but not greasy, salty, tender and crispy, with a hint of lotus fragrance. It has become a must-have famous dish at Kaifeng cocktail banquets. Roasted chicken was called "睝鸡" in the Northern Song Dynasty.熝 means simmering and roasting. During the Northern Song Dynasty, there were many famous restaurants selling chicken in Tokyo (Kaifeng), competing with each other, and their production techniques were extremely high.

Three fresh lotus cakes

Three fresh lotus cakes, shaped like a lotus flower in bud, are fragrant, crisp and delicious. They are a famous traditional pastry in Kaifeng. Three fresh lotus cakes are made of refined flour, white sugar, eggs, lard, and flour in proportions to make dough; date paste, hawthorn cake, honey, and essence are made into fillings, and the dough is stuffed into high piles and round shapes. Finally, lightly prick three times with a knife to expose the filling, peel the eggs and bake in the oven. The refined and processed three-fresh lotus cake has an elegant and lifelike color and a lifelike image. Eating it makes people feel relaxed and happy, and they feel like they have swallowed the fairy fruit.

Five-spice rabbit meat

When it comes to the spiced rabbit meat in Kaifeng, many outsiders will praise it. Spiced rabbit meat, unique craftsmanship and well-braised. Generally, rabbits weighing more than 1.5 kilograms are used. First, open up the hare, peel off the internal organs, air-dry it for seven days, soak it in cold water, then chop it into pieces, boil it in boiling water, wash it, and put it in a pot in layers. When placing, leave a round hole in the middle, then mix the peppercorns, anise, cumin, amomum villosum, apple, cardamom, cloves, rock sugar, flour sauce, white sugar and other auxiliary ingredients in proportion, put them into the round hole and mix in the old soup. , cook over high fire for one hour, then cook over slow fire for another hour, take it out after cooling and serve. The finished product has a fragrant aroma, no grassy smell, and a salty, crispy and long-lasting taste.

Kaifeng Tao Si Bao

Tao Si Bao is a traditional dish in Kaifeng, which can be called "a unique dish in Henan cuisine". "Taiwan Four Treasures" definitely combines the strong, fragrant, fresh and wild flavors of chicken, duck, pigeon and quail into one. The four whole birds are layered with each other, and each one is complete without a single bone. Whenever a few dishes are served at a banquet, this dish is served in a blue and white fine porcelain soup basin. What is displayed in front of the diners is the whole duck, which is complete and floating in the soup. It has a bright color and a mellow aroma. After eating the first layer of delicious duck, a fragrant whole chicken came into view; after eating the chicken, a delicious whole pigeon appeared in front of him, and finally a complete body and belly was revealed in the pigeon's belly. Quail stuffed with diced sea cucumber, shredded shiitake mushrooms and magnolia slices. One dish has a variety of flavors, neither fat nor greasy, refreshing and delicious, with a long aftertaste. The set of four treasures belongs to the Yamen sect, which is exquisitely made and very particular about the color, fragrance and shape. It is labor-intensive and time-consuming to make. The technique is not good enough, nor can the heat be controlled well. The most complicated part is deboning, which requires full concentration, just like artistic sculpture. Use the neck opening to pick out the bones one by one, keeping their original shape. Although the skin in some places is as thin as paper, it still has to be filled with water without leaking. After deboning, the four birds' bodies are wrapped around the body and the legs are wrapped around the legs to form one whole body. Tao Si Bao was created by Chen Yongxiang, a famous chef in Kaifeng in the late Qing Dynasty. Chen once served the "Imperial Dinner" for the Empress Dowager Cixi. There are more than 300 kinds of famous dishes in the Chen family, and the "Four Treasures" is one of its pearls. Currently, the three brothers Chen Jinghe have inherited the ancestral business and carried forward this dish.

Baked Carp Noodles

"Kaifeng Baked Fish Noodles" is one of Kaifeng's traditional and still famous dishes. Baked noodles are also called dragon whiskers noodles. According to "Ru Meng Lu", during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the second day of the second lunar month in Kaifeng was called "Dragon Heads Up", and "dinner guests ate dragon beard noodles and gave them as a festival gift". At that time, "Dragon Beard Noodles" were made. Just boil it with water and then change the baking method. Therefore it is called "baked noodles".

Baked Carp Noodles is a traditional and famous dish in Kaifeng. It is prepared from two famous dishes: "Sweet and Sour Fish" and "Baked Longxu Noodles". Legend has it that Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty stayed in Kaifeng when she was on the run. A famous chef in Kaifeng Prefecture offered "sweet and sour braised fish" and "baked noodles".

After Cixi saw this, she said on a whim that the carp was lying quietly on the plate, probably asleep, and it should be covered with a quilt to prevent it from catching cold. Then he took up his chopsticks and covered the fish body with "baked noodles", and "baked carp noodles" became a delicacy from then on. It is characterized by jujube red color, soft and delicious flavor; the baked noodles are as thin as hair, fluffy and crispy.

The carp baked noodles are carefully selected and carefully made. It is made from carp (weighing about one kilogram) produced in the Yellow River from Heigangkou in Kaifeng to the east end of Lankao. This kind of fish has a pure flavor, is delicious and tender. After preliminary processing, the carp is folded into a corrugated pattern on both sides, then put into a hot oil pan and deep-fried; then add sugar, vinegar, ginger juice, and chopped green onion.

Chrysanthemum hot pot

Chrysanthemum hot pot was popular in the palace of the late Qing Dynasty and was introduced to Kaifeng with a history of nearly a hundred years. Since the city flower of Kaifeng is chrysanthemum, the source of raw materials is unique. It is mainly based on fresh fish (divided into "four fish" and "eight fish"). Add chicken soup to the hot pot and bring to a boil. Wash the white chrysanthemum petals, tear them into shreds and sprinkle them into the soup. After the fragrance of chrysanthemums has penetrated into the soup, put the raw meat slices, raw chicken slices, etc. into the pot and cook them, then dip them in the sauce and eat them. The taste is fragrant and unique, and it is regarded as the best in hot pot families.

Dajing dates

Dajing dates are a traditional specialty of Kaifeng cakes and are well-known. Dajing jujube was called "polygonum flower" in ancient times. It is made from high-quality glutinous rice, powdered sugar, maltose, vegetable oil, etc., through several processes of making, frying, pulping, and mixing with powdered sugar. The finished product is cylindrical, golden yellow, with white sugar on the outside, plump in appearance, moderately expanded, and a mesh-like internal structure with no holes or hard core. It is crispy, fragrant and delicious, melts in your mouth and rich in nutrients. It is a delicious pastry suitable for all ages.

Stewed Noodles

Use good lamb bone soup with wolfberry, adenophora and many medicinal herbs!

Double Ma Fire

This is a famous snack in Kaifeng. Make more breakfast and late night snacks. Eat with oil tea.

Ingredients: 2.5kg of flour, 1kg of vegetable oil, 5g of aniseed noodles, 500g of sesame seeds, 50g of salt

Preparation method:

1. Make sesame seeds: Soak the sesame seeds in cold water until the skin can be removed by twisting them with your fingers. Remove and drain the water, pound with a stone mortar or wrap it in a rag and rub it. Remove the skin of the sesame seeds and turn them into sesame seeds for later use.

2. Make puff pastry: Put the pot on the fire, pour 600 grams of oil, heat until 80% hot, and remove the pot from the fire. Add 1.5 kilograms of flour, stir evenly with a shovel, spread it out on the chopping board to cool, add salt and aniseed flour, and knead it into a crispy dough with your hands.

3. Making dough: Pour another 1 kilogram of flour on the chopping board, make a small hole in the middle, add 400 grams of vegetable oil and about 500 ml of water, mix evenly and knead until it forms a dough.

4. Shaping: According to the proportion of 40% skin surface and 60% puff pastry, wrap the puff pastry with leather, roll it into a 1 cm thick long piece, fold it along the length and then roll it thin, repeat Two or three times. Finally rolled into a roll. Divide into 50g portions, roll into balls one by one, and flatten with your hands. Take another dough piece as big as a jujube, dip it in oil, wrap it in the middle, and use a rolling pin to roll it into a round cake with thick sides and a slightly thin middle. Brush both sides of the round cake with water and stick sesame seeds on it. More sesame seeds are stuck on the front (ie smooth side) and less on the back. Do it one by one and put it on the chopping board.

5. Baking: Put the pan on the fire, wipe it clean, and bake it until it is seven-mature. Apply a layer of oil with a brush. Place the back of the prepared cake (the closing side) downwards and place it on the pan. Bake on the sub. Turn over when the underside turns yellow. Brush oil on the griddle, and bake the sesame cake while turning it on the griddle, until it bakes into a uniform golden color. Then put the cake into the oven and bake it. Bake the back side first and cook until the cake is reddish-yellow.

Product features: Crispy taste and five flavors.

Sesame Wings

When you go to Kaifeng, you have to eat authentic Henan cuisine - this is Kaifeng Prefecture for thousands of years! The ingredients used in Henan cuisine are generally home-cooked, and the best part is the seasoning and heat. Sesame wings are actually marinated chicken wings wrapped in egg sauce, dipped in sesame seeds, and fried in oil. The fried egg sauce looks like cicada wings. Such beautiful and delicious dishes are rare in Henan cuisine.

Sweet potato puree

Everyone who has eaten Qixian sweet potato puree will praise the uniqueness of Qixian people.

The main raw material of the famous sweet potato puree is our common sweet potato, which is also called "white potato", "sweet potato" and "sweet potato" in some places. Its production method is very particular. You need to boil the sweet potatoes first, peel off the outer skin, remove the inner silk, wrap it with a clean white cloth, roll it into a puree, then pour the white sugar into the pot to turn into syrup, add sesame oil and sweet potatoes. , stir continuously until it becomes a persimmon red mud shape. After putting it on the plate, add hawthorn dices, rose slices, green and red silk, and osmanthus sugar in layers and serve. This dish is sweet, refreshing and appetizing, bright in color and rich in nutrients.

Peanut Cake

Kaifeng is rich in peanuts, and the peanut cake made with peanuts as raw materials has unique local characteristics and has long been famous. This product uses selected peanut kernels as the main ingredient, supplemented by white sugar, maltose, etc. It is made through the processes of boiling sugar, rolling sugar, filling with peanut dough, and cutting into shapes. The finished product is flaky, multi-layered, with a fine network and strong looseness; it is crispy, sweet and sharp, and melts in the mouth, making it popular among the masses.

When we think Lin Chiling is beautiful, she is beautiful.

When we think our girlfriend is beautiful, she is beautiful.

If you can’t see the beauty of Picasso’s paintings, if his paintings can’t make us feel mentally happy and comfortable, then just say it directly, there is no need to imitate other people’s nods. . freepwill is God's greatest gift to mankind.

The blooming flower-like kaiseki ryori can be a gourmet meal, the frugal and simple Shojin ryori can be a gourmet meal, the bright and green water spinach stir-fried quickly over a high fire can be a gourmet meal, and the three or five friends can be together on the roadside after a day of physical work. Why not eat a bowl of dry noodles at a stall with some dried tofu and kelp and a bottle of Taiwanese beer?

If you put a person who has never had Western food in a three-star Michelin restaurant with a crowd of well-dressed people, will the panicked protagonist still think that it is delicious food? If you go out for a social dinner with a disgusting senior executive and face the customers who are looking at you with evil intentions, which woman will think that the meal is delicious?

I often jokingly say: "Who you go to eat with is always more important than where you go to eat."

Many times, just because the person is right, the food is the best. Extremely delicious. Just because people are gone, things that were delicious back then are now like chewing gum.

Of course, it’s not just people. Our sense of taste changes with age. The same taste will be evaluated differently depending on our eating experience. The delicious food in childhood may not still be delicious when we grow up and see more. Just like the scientific Peter Pan and Iron Man that I was addicted to when I was a child, even I find it funny when I watch it now.

So obviously, this is all subjective from beginning to end. If we can afford that restaurant, if we like the taste and atmosphere, and if we like the food, then it is gourmet, regardless of whether it is a bento ordered from outside, or whether it is a train. Of course, you don’t need to mind whether you are pGourmandp or pGourmet. English can have English characters and meanings, but Chinese can also have its own philosophy.

The point is, which pair of glasses do we wear to view our food?