There are several kinds of eight bowls classified by region, such as Anhui Eight Bowls, Hefei Eight Bowls, Zhengding Eight Bowls, etc. I am familiar with the practice of Zhengding Eight Bowls, which consists of four meats and four vegetables. The first bowl, cucumber mixed with pork head, or cucumber mixed with pork liver. Shoot cucumber, add pork and liver, and mix with garlic. The second bowl, mustard cabbage chicken. Blanch Chinese cabbage slices, cool them, add cooked chicken, and mix with mustard and vinegar.

Among the four courses, pork is the first to be braised. Choose five flowers and one piece with a slightly thicker skin. After plucking the wool, scrape and wash it, cut it into square chunks, cook it until it is 80% ripe, and then take it out of the pot. Drain the water and apply soy sauce to color it. Then put a layer of honey on the skin of the meat, hot oil, and fry the skin face down until the sauce is red. In the north, it is called braised meat, and in Sichuan, it is called salted boiled white. The practice is slightly different from place to place, but the principle and direction are the same. The meat is deoiled by steaming, and finally the effect of being fat but not greasy is achieved. Generally speaking, the method is as follows: first, the meat is cooked thoroughly, and the second step is to color the skin.

First of all, it is cooked with fine pork belly for 67-70 years, and cooled in the air. Stir-fry the pork belly in an oil pan, color it, take out the pan, change the knife to cut it into very thin slices (with the skin broken), put it down in a big bowl, and mix the chopped winter vegetables or pickles with brown sugar, soy sauce and seasoning. The eight small bowls refer to: fried fish fillets, stewed shrimps, family photos, sweet-scented osmanthus fish bones, stewed slippery fish, shredded Sichuan pork and so on. The eight big bowls are: fried shrimps, stewed shredded chicken, stewed egg soup and crab roe, sea cucumber balls and ingot meat.

Burn white. Burning white is divided into sweet and salty. The well-made white glutinous rice is not greasy, and the aroma is overflowing. With pickles such as sprouts, dried plums and salted vegetables, the taste is particularly strong and appetizing. There are two key points in making boiled white. Eight bowls are rich and delicious, all of which are very hard dishes. Eight bowls mainly focus on cooking techniques such as grilled, braised, sauced, roasted, stewed, fried, steamed and stir-fried. The eating habits of each place are different, and the eight bowls made are also different.