Characteristics of imitation food
Imitation cuisine is imitation palace cuisine, that is, reformed palace cuisine. It is a unique branch of Beijing cuisine, and its characteristics can be summarized in the characters of "rare, precious, quaint and weird". It is particularly exquisite in color, quality, taste, shape and utensils, and it also has a royal and elegant temperament and is rich in craftsmanship. Because of its demanding materials, complex technology and high price, it is difficult to spread in the market and among the people, although it has a long history and has never jumped out of the palace circle. After the Revolution of 1911, in 1925, some scattered famous chefs gathered in Beihai Park and set up an imitation food restaurant. Since then, imitation food, which is famous for its court flavor, has been popular for a while and soon became "outstanding". At present, the "Listening Hall" in the Summer Palace, the "Imitation Restaurant" in Beihai and the "Imperial Restaurant" in Shenyang are famous at home and abroad for cooking Qing Palace dishes. There are about 800 kinds of imitative dishes, one-third of which are famous dishes. It is characterized by fine workmanship, beautiful appearance, fresh and mellow taste, softness and lightness, with particular emphasis on skillful modeling and elegant naming. The representative dishes of imitation food are: sea red fish lips, pork tenderloin, pregnant mandarin fish, phoenix crawling nest, matchmaker's self-preparation, goldfish duck's feet, fish offered at the palace gate, lotus prawns, panlong yellow croaker, toad abalone, fried tenderloin, phoenix spreading its wings and so on.
[sea red fish lips]
"Sea Red Fish Lip" is one of the representative dishes of Beijing Fangshan Restaurant.
According to the production method of Qing Palace Imperial Diet, the cooked fish lips are cut into strips, and seasonings such as chicken soup, Shaoxing wine, onion, ginger and refined salt are repeatedly steamed and simmered to remove the fishy smell of the fish lips to a soft and elastic degree, and then the sauce made of crab roe, Shaoxing wine, refined salt, monosodium glutamate, chicken and duck soup and red oil (carrot soaked in oil) is poured.
The dish is ruddy in color, smooth in fish lips and fresh and mellow in crab flavor.
[pork tenderloin]
This dish is one of the representative dishes of Beijing Fangshan Restaurant. It is said that it was created by the chef of the imperial dining room of the Qing Dynasty, imitating the "purse" worn by the princes.
The preparation method is: spread the egg into skin with a hand spoon, wrap it with stuffing made of diced pork tenderloin, diced mushrooms and diced blue slices, then spread the egg paste on the surface, decorate it with minced ham and rapeseed, make it into a "purse" shape, and fry it in 40% hot oil.
It is characterized by golden crispy skin and soft, tender and delicious meat stuffing.
[Matchmaker self-matching]
This dish is one of the representative dishes of Shenyang Imperial Restaurant.
Imitating the production method of imperial cuisine in Qing Dynasty, peel prawns, leave the tail, remove the sand line, slice them from the back, pat them flat, pickle them with refined salt, monosodium glutamate, pepper and Shaoxing wine, roll them into a semi-circular shrimp box, hang them with egg paste and decorate them, fry them and put them around the plate with a smooth tomato fillet in the middle.
Eat two dishes at a time, with beautiful shape, crisp, tender and delicious.
[fish offered at the palace gate]
This dish is one of the representative dishes of Shenyang Imperial Restaurant. It is said that when Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty went south to "Gongmenling" and ate "belly flower fish" in a small hotel, he changed the dish to "fish at Gongmen". This dish is also a two-course dish.
The preparation method is: a large mandarin fish is selected and divided into three sections, and the head and tail sections are made by dry burning and placed at both ends of the fish pond. Take clean fish in the middle section, slice it into square slices, marinate it with seasoning, fry it in egg paste, put it in the middle of the head and tail to form a "palace gate", and pour white sauce, which looks like a fish jumping out of the palace gate.
[Panlong Yellow Croaker]
"Panlong Yellow Croaker" is one of the representative dishes of Shenyang Imperial Restaurant.
Use a large yellow croaker, cut from the back, head to tail, and remove the spine and chest spines. Put a cross knife on the fish noodle, pickle it with seasoning, hang the egg paste, roll the tail to the left and right, fry it in hot oil, put it in a big disk, pour the sweet and sour juice on it, and put a fried "poached egg" on the top of the fish head. Shaped like a dragon, it is bright in color and crisp and sweet.