I am a Shaoxing lover. As the name suggests, I am the type of person who goes to Shaoxing to eat and drink every once in a while.
When I first went to Shaoxing, my impression of Shaoxing was very stereotyped: a Jiangnan water town full of small bridges, flowing water, awning boats, and black felt hats; The hometown of famous people...
But after I visited Shaoxing a few more times, I discovered the vitality here: the rich and diverse Shaoxing old-style dishes, the "notorious" Shaoxing three smells, the developed The local economy, the fresh and delicious local dishes, and the Shaoxing rice wine that is “hidden in the smile”...
This ancient city in northern Zhejiang and the old capital of the country of Yue, the more I visit, the more I like it, and the more I taste it, the more I can taste it. After feeling the taste, I came up with this guide to Shaoxing food with all kinds of private goods.
Strictly speaking, the old city of Shaoxing is an area of ??less than 10 square kilometers extending around the moat, centered on the hometown of Lu Xun and the Jiefang North Road City Square. There are Fushan, Tashan, and Jishan here, as well as the former residences of celebrities, as well as a variety of old-school Shaoxing dishes.
What is Shaoxing cuisine most famous for? Four words, pickled mold and drunken stink. To be more concise, it can be combined into one word, that is "stinky".
The smell of Shaoxing is the best in the world. Among them, Shaoxing people named the three smelliest foods as the "Shaoxing Three Stinky Foods". Everyone has their own opinions on what the three stinky things are. The three most popular ones on the market are: stinky tofu, stinky amaranth stems and mold.
A friend of mine told me that as long as he hears the words "stinky amaranth stem", he will feel sick in his heart. This reaction is of course a bit exaggerated, but I absolutely believe that most friends will have the same reaction as Jiasheng in "Pincheng Ji" if they try it for the first time.
Stinky amaranth stalks are made by adding salt to washed amaranth stalks and putting them into a jar to ferment. In the old days of Shaoxing, every household in Shaoxing would have such a stinky jar in their yard, which mainly contained pickled vegetables. of stinky amaranth stems. Shaoxing stinky tofu is made from the brine of stinky amaranth stems. Miao Qianzhang is more of a physical attack - it doesn't smell bad from a distance, but when you smell it up close, it is full of the pungent smell of "ammonia"
bilibili
If you are in Shaoxing City If you want to eat three smelly dishes, the most enjoyable place should be Dinglaixing Hotel. The restaurant occupies a T-junction near Shusheng's hometown, with a row of tables inside and outside the alley.
Dianping Free KK
The dishes are simple and clearly displayed - what you see is what you get, just look at the ingredients and order.
Shao Sanxian, in a simple way, is fish balls, meatballs and river shrimps boiled in chicken soup, followed by stir-fried kidneys with scallion oil, stir-fried goose intestines with leeks, stir-fried mushrooms with pickled vegetables and other small stir-fries that test the heat and knife skills. I’ve passed the test. It’s hard to justify eating Shaoxing food without a bowl of rice!
Dianping’s Deep Water Shell
Basically the whole alley is full of stinky smells - steamed stinky amaranth stalks, stinky tofu, moldy steamed pork patties and an egg yolk , the stinky tofu is dense, the amaranth stalks suck like jelly, and the mold is extremely fresh, fresh and smelly, and it will be unforgettable after one bite. As a warrior who eats everything, my experience is that mold must be salty! If it's not salty enough, it won't be able to suppress the smell. Only when the smell and saltiness reach a balance can the freshness burst out.
Dianping loses weight by eating
Note that people in Shaoxing eat very early - if you are like me and are used to having dinner at 7 or 8 pm, when you arrive in Shaoxing Be sure to arrive early, as many dishes will be gone at 7 o'clock! It’s almost 8 o’clock and we’re ready to close! And, there is almost no midnight snack!
For the second stop, we came to Keqiao District of Shaoxing to see a Shaoxing that is completely different from the public perception - Keqiao is the center of China's textile foreign trade, and the Keqiao Trade Market is home to it all year round. With a large number of foreigners, there are also some secret halal and Indian restaurants. Keqiao is home to wealthy people and has famous golf courses and racing circuits in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.
I went to a local friend’s private club on the top floor of a building. The design from 20 years ago was exquisite and restrained, tasteful and classy.
It’s still the old saying: “When people are rich, they naturally pay attention to food and drink.” In Keqiao, there is a farmhouse restaurant that I will never forget, called Shangwan No. 1, located in Xialu, Keqiao District. town.
At the door is a luxury car. As soon as we walked in, we saw two ordinary self-built villas in the countryside, and all the ingredients were on sale.
The shop’s signature items are braised large intestine and braised pig’s trotters. The appearance is simple and the cooking is simple - it is sold in a pressure cooker, but the taste is really good. There are no adjectives, it is just fat, fragrant and sticky in the mouth.
There are also stir-fried chicken, goose with shrimp oil, pickled vegetables, mushrooms and bamboo shoots, etc. All the ingredients are placed on the plate. You place your order, and the chef cooks the ingredients next to the fort. Good, the seasoning is precise, and it’s so close to the kitchen that it’s hard to think it’s delicious.
The most surprising thing is a plate of eggs, which are bigger than chicken eggs and bigger than duck eggs. When I asked the store, I found out that they were goose eggs, and they were goose eggs!
What are wedding eggs? They are often referred to as "hairy eggs" and "thriving eggs", which often refer to eggs that cannot hatch chicks, and a goose egg is as big as three chickens.
When I opened it, hey, it was still a "Quanxi" - basically there was no egg white and yolk, and it looked like a goose. Even though I didn't even frown after eating three stinky things, I was still shocked. Jump.
I bravely took a bite and it was indeed fresh, a fusion of umami, like drinking goose soup. Take another sip of rice wine and feel relaxed.
Before I left, I saw the store owner farming in the vegetable field next to me. The vegetable field was not big, so I went up to the boss and asked the boss if the vegetables we were eating were grown in the backyard. Unexpectedly, the boss replied to me: "Business is so good, how can this order of food be enough for you! We eat these dishes ourselves."
Boss, I want to eat the staff meal!
For locals in Shaoxing, Keqiao may be the backbone of the local textile industry; but for people across the country, another specialty of Keqiao is more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and that is Shaoxing rice wine.
In my opinion, the essence of rice wine is the art of fermentation, and the Shaoxing people’s preference for the pickled, moldy, and smelly taste is also related to their love for rice wine.
This year, I was lucky enough to visit Tapai Winery and experience the old skills of the chef in the canteen of Tapai Winery:
Wine-soaked black date preserves, full of rice wine The black dates and candied fruits exude a peculiar aroma, a bit like chocolate.
Steamed taro with stinky amaranth stems, so glutinous! There are also moldy beans with stinky tofu. Moldy beans and stinky tofu, one is soft, one has a slight texture, one is concentrated, and the other slowly spreads in the mouth. They both have the smell of beans, but they are different. At this time, it must be paired with two mouthfuls of rice.
Then there is the home-pickled soy bream. Remove the internal organs from the raw bream, marinate it directly in soy sauce, and then hang it in a ventilated place to dry for two days. After drying, put it in a steamer and steam it out. This is a great dish to go with rice, especially the bream head. The fish skin has a little bit of colloid saltiness, so you can eat it and enjoy it.
Finally, let’s have a bowl of Dried Vegetable Soup. Dried vegetables are what we call molded dried vegetables. Shaoxing people dry vegetables every winter. They usually use mustard or mustard heads to dry them. If they are more luxurious, they will also dry them with some winter bamboo shoots, which is called dried bamboo shoots.
The so-called dried vegetable soup is simply to boil the dried vegetables in water, sprinkle a handful of shrimps and a handful of green onions and it is ready to serve. Tapai Winery’s dried vegetable soup is filled with homemade gnocchi, which is even more addictive.
Earthy? Some people from Shaoxing said after reading it: "Isn't this just local food and home-cooked food?" It's true, but even in Shaoxing, how many people can you find who make their own sauces for bream and pickle their own three-smelling fish?
After the meal, friends from Tapai Winery took us to visit Tapai’s brewing workshop - soaking rice, steaming rice, dissipating heat, making lees, dropping vats, raking... every year starting in September , the winery began to get into busy work, and a batch of winter winemaking will be busy until at least the next spring.
It is said that Tower Pai is the only brand in Shaoxing that still insists on hand-made wine. We drink their leading wine every day, as well as their single-year hand-made winter wine brand Winter Fun without adding caramel color, which is refreshing. , has acidity and thickness, and can be appreciated like wine.
If you are in the urban area, you can also try Dahu Restaurant near Lu Xun’s hometown. The three smells are also very authentic; there are also Xiaozhang Carrot Fish on Baoyouqiaozhi Street and Xiangnongzhuang near the train station. . Friends who have environmental requirements can try the Yu Family Courtyard in Kaiyuan Hotel next to Dayu Mausoleum.
Shaoxing Kaiyuan Dayu Hotel
If you are interested in snacks, there is a "one-stop service" near Cangqiao Zhi Street - freshly fried stinky tofu, shrimp cakes, You can try Zhen Dabi Cake and Gao Laotai Cream Pancake. Cream Xiaopan is a Shaoxing specialty dessert. There is no cream in it, but it is made with beaten eggs and flour. It can be called "Shaoxing style egg tart".
Dianping Alex Crab
Unfortunately, my original beloved Shuigouying Pan-fried Dumplings have disappeared. The fried dumplings, boiled dumplings, and scallion noodles at that restaurant didn’t seem to be very sophisticated, but they were so simple that I couldn’t bear to part with them. This tells me that if I want to eat, I have to enjoy it in time. When I want to eat something, I must eat it as soon as possible, because you never know when you will run out of food.
Chen Xiaoqing, the chief director of Flavor World, once said: "There are only two cultures alive today: one is dialect and the other is food.
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Shaoxing, a city that has left a profound mark on Chinese history, is now surpassed in glory by Hangzhou and Ningbo on both sides. But when we look back at the impact of Shaoxing cuisine on the surrounding areas, You will realize its greatness: almost all of Ningbo and the suburbs of Hangzhou taste Shaoxing food.
I sincerely recommend everyone to come to Shaoxing on a weekend and eat Shaoxing food. Drinking Shaoxing rice wine. I started eating and drinking at noon and walked around Shaoxing City while half drunk and half awake. After this trip, all the fatigue from work was wiped away.
We have also written about delicacies in many other places. You can view them by replying to the corresponding keywords in the backend of the official account:
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2. Beijing - Is Beijing really a food desert? What a joke! !
3. Roast duck - Which Beijing roast duck restaurant is the best? Recommendations for roast duck at all price points ~
4. Spicy Mix - Saving the three northeastern provinces depends on spicy mix
5. Suzhou - Suzhou people queue up in long lines to cook it Is winter wine delicious?