In the old days, the snacks in Nanjing were the most popular around Confucius Temple. There are no less than twenty families, large and small. For example, Xinqifang Pavilion, Kuiguang Pavilion, Yuelai Pavilion, Jiang Youji, Xueyuan, Yonghe Garden, Liufengju, Wufengju, Deshunju, Longmenju, etc. are all famous snack restaurants.
Dried shredded silk and sesame seed cakes. There are many types of snacks that Nanjing people like to eat. Such as xiaolongbaozi, ramen, pizza, scallion pancakes, tofu dumplings, soup noodle dumplings, vegetable buns, butter sesame cakes, sweet bean paste buns, shredded chicken noodles, spring rolls, sesame cakes, beef soup, xiaolongbao dumplings, pressed noodles, crab roe noodles , long fish noodles, beef pot stickers, braised dried eggs, braised tea eggs, sugar porridge lotus root, etc. Among them, dried shredded silk and sesame cakes are one of Nanjing people’s favorite popular foods. The common people cannot live without it, and dignitaries often use it to change their taste. Therefore, all the restaurants in Nanjing at that time also sold dry silk and sesame cakes. When you go to a teahouse to eat, you always serve dried silk noodles first and then eat other things. There are no teahouses that specialize in clear tea.
Nanjing dried shreds are a unique production method. The dried shreds are tender but not old, dry but not broken. They are specially made by the tofu shop. They are finely cut, fragrant with sesame oil and seasoned with soy sauce. Excellent quality (locally known as "three volts and autumn" soy sauce). The original Nanjing dried shreds include vegetarian soup, boiled pork and meat and oil shredded pork. After the Republic of China, new varieties continued to increase. In the mosque, you can find shredded roasted duck, dried shredded Kaiyang, etc.; in the meat restaurant, you can find shredded spring bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, dried crab roe, dried chicken, etc.
In addition to selling dried silk, it also sells sesame cakes. At that time, Nanjing sesame cakes were most popular for their "crab shell yolk". It is shaped like a crab and colored like a cooked crab shell. This kind of sesame cake uses refined white powder as raw material, so that the alkali is moderate, the water temperature is constant, the dough is carefully kneaded, the fillings are exquisite, and the heat in the oven is appropriate, so the quality is extraordinary. Braised dried pork and braised eggs are Nanjing snacks, as well as braised dried pork and braised eggs with tea. Braised dried tofu is thin slices of fried tofu cooked in water. Add a few pinches of soybean sprouts to the pot for their subtle fragrance and umami flavor. The most important thing about braised tea eggs is freshness, and the most important thing is "first-born eggs." The store washes, boils, and shells the fresh eggs, and makes a few shallow cuts on the egg whites to let the flavor through. Add ingredients to the pot and cook them over a slow fire, and the cooking time should not be too short.
Sugar porridge and lotus root. It is another common food in Nanjing snacks in the past. Every night, after the cries of fried rice, sugar, boiled water, fried yuanxiao, jingdang dumplings, tea eggs, etc., Kuma Kuma will be heard. "Sugar porridge - lotus root!" shouted. This porridge is made from ordinary glutinous rice. It has a thick rice soup and clear grains. Put brown sugar in the porridge, then enlarge the lotus root segments. When eating, cut the lotus root segments into thin slices and mix them into the porridge. The lotus root will be lavender, the slices will be dark brown, and the rice grains will be light green. This is Nanjing’s sugar porridge lotus root that is popular among all ages. It is reasonably priced, moderately cool, fragrant and sweet. Therefore, it has long been popular with local people as a bedtime snack no matter in spring, summer or autumn.
Authentic Nanjing-style snacks
Nanjing’s geographical location, neither south nor north, has created extremely complex tastes for Nanjing people. Here, almost all delicacies from all over the world are popular: Hangzhou cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Thai food, Indian food... However, no matter how rich the imported dishes are, there are a few authentic side dishes that are always the favorites of Nanjing people. : Ducks that are dismantled and eaten (duck head, duck neck, duck wings, duck liver, duck blood soup), mysterious widow noodles, Qinhuai snacks and the most simple shredded tofu and sesame cakes. When you come to Nanjing, these are the authentic flavors that you must try.
Dried shredded tofu + sesame cakes: authentic ancient taste
"The beautiful land of Jiangnan, the imperial capital of Jinling". In 229 AD, Sun Quan established his capital in Nanjing. Over the next thousand years, Nanjing became Kyoto several times and became a famous historical city with rich cultural connotations. Zhuge Liang sighed and said: "Zhongshan has dragons and pans and stones and tigers perched on it. It is truly the house of an emperor." In this "house of an emperor", the dried tofu that Nanjing people never tire of eating is dried tofu, which is available in almost every restaurant. For sale, the ones sold around Confucius Temple are the most authentic. Listening to the wind, watching the water, and chewing soft dried silk in the quaint teahouse is indeed a unique experience. Most of the dried shreds are cooked in chicken soup and served in white porcelain bowls, giving them a warm and fragrant nephrite texture. Shopkeepers who are good at doing business often choose shallow small bowls, with only enough dried shreds for you to pick up one chopstick - not to skimp on the price, but to let you savor this bite carefully and have endless aftertaste. Snacks are snacks after all, and must not be treated as meals - that would be tantamount to forcing a well-off young lady to work as a nanny doing menial work. But just this one bite is enough to make you suffocate for half a minute.
In addition to shredded tofu, Nanjing people also love to eat sesame cakes. There are generally two types of sesame cakes: butter sesame cakes and ordinary sesame cakes. The latter can be eaten with fried dough sticks or dipped in sesame oil.
About eating duck: Authentic Quanxi Taste
In Nanjing, the most local specialty is the salted duck. The word "plate" is used very well, and it can quite describe the appearance and texture of this pickled product. Nowadays, not many people in Nanjing like to eat salted duck. The popular salted duck here tastes more fresh and tender than salted duck. You can see stalls selling salted duck everywhere in the streets.
Salted salted duck was very famous in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At that time, it was very salty. In Nanjing dialect, it is "salty to death, beat the salt seller to death." On the one hand, this is convenient for long-term storage, and on the other hand, it is also suitable for eating. One duck leg is enough for you to eat two bowls of rice. Nowadays, salted duck is mainly served as an appetizer.
In addition to salted duck, there are also "four pieces of duck", namely braised duck wings and duck feet. It's a bit hard to chew, but because it's "living meat" from moving parts, it's very chewy.
The dried duck gizzards are a must-have. Some Nanjing girls are so greedy that they even eat thinly sliced ??dried duck gizzards as snacks, which are more delicious than plum blossoms.
Nanjing people seem to have a connection with ducks, and they eat ducks in so many ways. Even if duck is used as the only ingredient, it is very easy to cook a whole duck feast. Among the many snacks, duck blood vermicelli soup occupies the dominant position. This duck blood is more delicate and soft than pig blood, and it simply melts in your mouth.
Widow’s noodles: authentic indigenous flavor
The most prosperous place in Nanjing is Xinjiekou. There is a small shop in Xinjiekou that is famous for selling widow noodles. Widow's noodles may sound unlucky, but business is very good. The store is small, with only enough space for a few tables, and it is always full of people waiting to be seated. Many times, the queue of customers has to be dragged out to the street, even stretching dozens of meters away. Although they were queuing, everyone seemed very patient. It seemed that just to eat this bowl of noodles, it was worth standing in the wind for half an hour. They were really persistent.
In the long queue, many people are white-collar workers in office buildings in Xinjiekou, as well as salespeople in commercial buildings. Tired of eating lunch boxes and not used to American fast food, they turned into a busy alley and had a bowl of hot noodle soup to satisfy their hungry stomachs. But as soon as I ate it, I became addicted, so it spread from ten to ten, and the widow's noodles became popular. The name of the widow's noodle also shows how good it is: how homely and friendly it is. It can be seen that the "vulgar" becomes "elegant" when it comes to home.
When I walked into the store, I saw a blackboard hanging on the wall, with the names and prices of more than ten kinds of noodles written in chalk, including shredded pork noodles, beef brisket noodles, vegetable boiled noodles, Yangchun noodles, etc. . It is said that the most authentic one is skin belly noodles. Pidu is a specialty of Nanjing and is difficult to eat in other places. Pork skin is dried in the sun, fried in a pan until it becomes fluffy and soft, and then cut into strips for cooking. Pidu noodles are braised and used as toppings for noodles. When noodles are cooked well, they can really satisfy your cravings better than any other big dish. Widow noodles are a very typical folk product. Although it is a snack, it is soaked in the indigenous flavor of Nanjing.
Confucius Temple Snacks: Authentic and Elegant Taste
The Qinhuai River can be said to be the cultural birthplace of the ancient city of Jinling. The two sides of the river from Dongshuitou to Xishuiguan are 4.2 kilometers long. Since then, it has been a place where prominent families gathered, merchants gathered, literati gathered, and Confucianism flourished. It is known as the "Golden Powder of the Six Dynasties". From the Six Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the prosperous scene of the Qinhuai River has been praised by literati of all ages. Confucius Temple is located on the north bank of Qinhuai River. It was originally a place where Confucius was worshiped. Confucius Temple is the common name of Confucius Temple. Here, you can find the most elegant snacks in Nanjing.
The snacks and snacks of Confucius Temple are exquisite in the selection of materials, fine in workmanship, beautiful in shape and unique in flavor. They may have originated from the Qinhuai Painted Boats of that year. Kuiguang Pavilion’s five-spice tea eggs and five-spice beans, Yongheyuan’s Kaiyang dried shreds and crab shell yellow sesame cakes, Qifang Pavilion’s assorted vegetable buns and duck fat crispy sesame cakes, Liufengju’s tofu and scallion pancakes, and Jiang Youji’s beef Soup and beef pot stickers, Zhanyuan Noodle House’s thin-skin dumplings and red-soup fried fish noodles, Lianhu Dessert’s sweet-scented osmanthus-filled Lantern Festival and five-color cake dumplings, etc. Almost every old Nanjing can tell you these tricks effortlessly. The name of the snack comes. Order an elegant Yuhua tea and eat a fragrant snack here, and you will immediately feel that exquisite flavor permeating your bones.
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Recommended famous local products in Nanjing
Salted duck gizzards: beautiful appearance, tight meat, fragrant, tender, fresh, crispy and non-greasy. It is fragrant and refreshing when eaten, has toughness, and becomes more fragrant the more you chew it. It also has the function of appetizing and aiding digestion. It can be served as a hors d'oeuvre at banquets or as a snack during travel. Cooking salted duck gizzards is simple. Soak it in water until soft, put it in a pot of cold water, bring it to a boil, and then simmer it for one hour.
Salted duck: According to legend, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Hou Jing rebelled and surrounded Taicheng. The officers and soldiers of the Liang Dynasty spent all their sleep and food in order to defend the city. It was early autumn, and people in Nanjing would wash the white ducks, add salt and seasonings, cook them, and then tie dozens of ducks into a bundle. By the time they were delivered to the city, the ducks were already dry and flat. When the soldiers opened the bundle and cooked, the duck smelled fragrant. They all said happily that the pressed duck was so delicious that they might as well call it salted duck. Known as "the flavor of the Six Dynasties, the best product of Baimen", the salted duck has a complete set of traditional methods from selecting ingredients, making to cooking. After cooking, let cool and cut into pieces. The skin will be white and the meat will be red. The texture will be tender and fresh, with an endless aftertaste.
Salted duck: also known as sweet-scented osmanthus duck, it is one of Nanjing’s most famous specialties and has a history of more than a thousand years. Salted duck can be made all year round. It is cooked and sold now, bought and eaten now. The curing period is short and it should not be stored for a long time. The duck skin is white and the meat is tender, fat but not greasy. It is fragrant, crispy and tender. The color and taste are especially good around the Mid-Autumn Festival. Because salted duck is usually made during the season when sweet-scented osmanthus blooms, it is also known as “osmanthus duck”. "Baimen Cookbook" records: "In the August period of Jinling, salted duck is the most famous, and everyone thinks that the meat is fragrant with osmanthus." It seems to have become a habit to go to the street to buy a bowl of salted duck during festivals or when guests come to your home on weekdays. The secular etiquette of Nanjing people.
Yuhua Tea: This tea is named after it is produced in Yuhuatai outside Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing. With its elegant tea name and unique quality, it stands out among the many green tea varieties in my country and is quite charming. The appearance of Yuhua tea is like pine needles, thin, tight, round and straight, with straight and straight edges, exposed white hairs and dark green color. The color is clear and bright, the taste is fresh and sweet, the aroma is light and elegant, and the bottom of the leaves is green and evenly bright. After brewing, the tea color is green and clear, with a sweet aftertaste. It has the effects of quenching thirst and refreshing the mind, digesting food and diuresis, treating asthma and expectoration, and removing troubles and tiredness.
Eight unique Qinhuai snacks in Nanjing
Nanjing snacks (Jinling snacks) have a long history and many varieties. They have been passed down since the Six Dynasties, with more than 80 varieties. Famous snacks include meat and vegetables, sweet and salty, and come in various shapes, especially Qinhuai Bajue (eight snacks). After tasting Qinhuai snacks at Confucius Temple, former Vice President Rong Yiren wrote a banner: "The snacks are delicious", which also means "Eat delicious snacks".
The first attraction: Yongheyuan’s Huangqiao Shaobing and Kaiyang Dried Silk
The second attraction: Jiang Youji’s beef soup and beef pot stickers
The third attraction The best: Liufengju’s tofu dumplings and scallion pancakes
The fourth best: Qifangge’s duck pancakes and assorted vegetable buns
The fifth best: Qifangge’s sesame oil Noodles topped with shredded dried shreds and chicken
The sixth wonder: Osmanthus-filled dumplings and five-color cakes from Lianhu Cake Shop
The seventh wonder: Silver-smoked fish from Zhanyuan Noodle House Noodles and thin-skin dumplings
The eighth highlight: Kuiguang Pavilion’s spiced beans and spiced eggs