Huxiang culture Huxiang food culture Hunan cuisine is mainly smooth and fat, and peppers are often eaten as the main course, which is not only salty in the north, but also sweet in the south, and even more spicy and sour with local characteristics. Fragrant, tender, clear and crisp are its characteristics, and the materials used are based on the principle of freshness, low price and good quality. Hunan cuisine pays special attention to the taste of raw materials, with various techniques, such as burning, frying, steaming and smoking, especially "steaming" dishes. The most exquisite thing is simmering, which is original. And the knife skill is exquisite, the shape and taste are beautiful, and the dishes are varied and endless. The special raw materials of Hunan cuisine are lobster sauce, tea oil, spicy oil, spicy sauce, pepper, fennel and cinnamon, which add a lot of color to Hunan cuisine. Hunan cuisine is famous for its spicy taste. Especially worth mentioning is the pepper in Hunan. Hunan people "love" peppers and put them in almost everything they eat. The peppers in Hunan are also very spicy. There are three schools of Hunan cuisine: Xiangjiang River Basin, Dongting Lake Area and Xiangxi Mountain Area. 1. The schools of Hunan cuisine in Xiangjiang River Basin and their flavor characteristics: extensive materials, fine production, special attention to the skill of the knife, clear colors, and mostly sour, tender and fragrant tastes. Representative dishes: fire whitebait, Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish, spicy chicken, duck feet soaked in belly, elbow in sauce, etc. Yuloudong: "Spicy chicken soup makes people often remember Yuloudong". Three outstanding men in cattle: "Three outstanding men in cattle" was once prominent in Lihesheng restaurant. The so-called "three outstanding cattle" refers to: "a hundred pages of hair cattle", "braised beef tendon" and "stewed beef brain" When Tian Han, a famous playwright, was in Hunan, he had special feelings for Li Hesheng's beef restaurant. One day, when Tian Han was drinking with Deng You Garden, a famous person in Xiangxiang, Deng Jiuhan blurted out a couplet: "Muslim joint venture to open beef restaurant". Tian Han replied: "Boss Li is kind enough to pay for drinkers in Hunan". Just set in the word "Li Hesheng", Li Daxi brought a pen and inkstone and asked Tian Hanshu to give it as a souvenir, which was passed down as a beautiful talk. Xiaoxiang restaurant: braised abalone in red. Yuloudong Yuloudong Restaurant is a state-owned sophomore catering enterprise, the only state-level super-class restaurant in Hunan Province, and a century-old well-known store with a long reputation and reputation in Sanxiang. Yuloudong Restaurant was opened in 194 (the 3th year of Guangxu reign), originally located in Jiefang Road, Changsha, and originally named as Yulouchun. In 192, it was renamed as Yuloudong by Tan Xiting, the chef of Tan Dujun, Hunan Province. It is characterized by its unique dishes and points, and has now developed into a headquarters of Yuloudong in Changsha, a branch of Wuyi East Road and a branch of Dong Tang. In the late Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guangjun, the grandson of Zeng Guofan in Hanlin, went upstairs to have dinner, leaving a well-known saying that "spicy chicken soup soaked the belly, which often reminds people of Yuloudong". Yuloudong Restaurant has become one of the birthplaces of authentic Hunan cuisine because of its strong cooking technology and unique corporate culture, and has always enjoyed the reputation of "Whampoa Military Academy" of Hunan cuisine. As an outstanding representative of Hunan cuisine, Yuloudong has won gold medals in the national cooking competition in nearly 2 varieties, such as "Chai Ba Mandarin Fish", "Hairy Beef Veneer", "Dragon Boat Boarding", "Braised Pork in Maojia", "Tortoise in Dongting" and "Goldfish Playing Lotus". Among them, "Sauce Elbow" won many national gold medals. Flavor snacks include hot pot, medicated diet, barbecue, steamed vegetables, stewed dishes, Hunan snacks, porridge and vegetarian snacks, with 32 varieties. Headquarters address: No.1 Yuandayi Road, Changsha. Nanyue vegetarian diet began in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and it was introduced into Nanyue area with Buddhism. It pays attention to color, fragrance, taste and shape, and also pays great attention to nutrition, and is rich in vitamins and protein. Nanyue vegetarian food usually has the so-called "Yipin Xiang", "DuDu Mei", "Sanxian Tang", "Four Seasons Qing", "Wudeng (stew) party", "Liuzilian", seven floors, eight bowls, "Jiuruyi" and "Ten Scenes". There are two kinds of "Ten Scenery", one is "Ten Scenery Vegetarian Stewed" and the other is "Ten Scenery". Nanyue vegetarian food can't be found in hotels and streets, and can only be enjoyed in more than ten temples at the foot of the mountain. Among them, Zhusheng Temple is the most famous, and the fragrant kitchen in the temple can be a vegetarian meal for more than a thousand people every day. 2. The genre of Hunan cuisine in Dongting Lake area and its flavor features: The methods of stewing, roasting, waxing, stewing and steaming are used. The dishes are often heavy in color and thick in oil, and the taste is mainly salty, spicy and soft. Representative dishes: Xiaoxiang Five yuan gui, Wuling Shuiyu Skirt Leg, Dongting Wild Duck, Qinglong Playing Pearl, Butterfly Floating in the Sea, etc. Fish Banquet: According to legend, when Emperor Qianlong visited the south of the Yangtze River in the Qing Dynasty, he passed through Yueyang and was full of praise after tasting the fish banquet, hence the name "Baling Fish Banquet". Representative dishes include "Junshan Scarab", "Crispy Crucian Carp" and "Tiled Carp". 3. The representative dishes of Hunan cuisine schools and their flavor characteristics in the mountainous areas of western Hunan: steamed bacon, stewed meat with cold mushrooms in Chongyang, fried loach fish with coke, spicy bullfrog legs, etc. Hunan smoked and roasted wax banquet. The overall flavor characteristics of Hunan cuisine: spicy, sour and wax. "Jiangxi people are not afraid of spicy, Sichuan people are not afraid of spicy, and Hunan people are not afraid of spicy." 2. Huxiang-style snacks 1. Traditional snacks eat zongzi and dragon boat races in the New Year. Every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, there are customs of eating zongzi and dragon boat races all over China. One night after Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River, people in Qu Yuan's hometown suddenly dreamed that Qu Yuan was back. As before his death, his face was slightly sad and haggard. The villagers were so happy that they rushed forward to pay tribute to him. While returning the gift, Qu Yuan smiled and said, "Thank you for your kindness. The people of Chu are so clear about love and hate that I will die without regret if I don't forget me." Let's not talk about the old room. When everyone found that Qu Yuan's health was much worse than in the past, they asked with concern, "Dr. Qu, have you eaten the rice we sent you?" "Thank you", Qu Yuan was grateful at first, and then sighed and said, "What a pity. The rice you gave me was eaten by fish, shrimp, turtles and clams. " After listening, the villagers were very anxious: "How can we not let the fish and shrimp eat it?" Qu Yuan thought for a moment and said, "If rice is wrapped in bamboo leaves and made into corn with sharp corners, the aquarium will think it is water chestnut and will not dare to eat it." The following year, during the Dragon Boat Festival, villagers wrapped a lot of corn with bamboo leaves and threw them into the river. However, after the Dragon Boat Festival, Qu Yuan said in a dream: "I ate a lot of corn you sent me, but many of them were robbed by the aquarium." Everyone asked him again, "What other good ways are there?" Qu Yuan said, "There is a way. You can just put the dragon mark on the boat where you put the horn millet. Because the aquarium belongs to the Dragon King, when the time comes, the drums and horns will be ringing and the oars will be turned over. They think it's from the Dragon King and they will never dare to rob it again. " Horn millet is the present rice dumplings. Since then, the custom of making zongzi and rowing dragon boats has spread from Qu Yuan's hometown to the whole country, from ancient times to today. 2. Huxiang local flavor snacks Huogong Restaurant located in Pozi Street, Changsha City is a well-known "China Time-honored Brand" enterprise, which is known as the source of Xiangfeng snacks and the main representative of Hunan cuisine. Fire Palace used to be a temple dedicated to Vulcan, also known as "Ganyuan Palace", which was built in the 12th year of Qing Qianlong (A.D. 1747), with a history of more than 25 years. In the late Qing dynasty, it developed into a temple market for offering sacrifices, watching plays, listening to books, watching art and snacks. People compare it with Tianqiao in Beijing, Chenghuang Temple in Shanghai and Confucius Temple in Nanjing. It is a representative public place integrating folk culture, religious culture and food culture in Changsha and even Hunan. The Fire Palace is based on the "Fire Temple Culture", supplemented by famous vegetarian dishes, and its unique style has attracted the admiration of celebrities of all ages. Couplets written by He Shaoji, a great calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty, are on both sides of the stage: "The image is imaginary, and there are many human feelings in the world, so it is good to seek truth from the imaginary; The taste is bitter, and when you look at the loyal ministers and dutiful sons of the ages, they all return from bitterness. " In 21, the Fire Palace responded to the call of the municipal government to build Pozi Street as a "gourmet street", and inherited the characteristic of "one palace, two temples (pavilions), three links, four views and eight snacks, twelve dishes". (a palace: the palace of fire. Two temples: the Temple of Fire and the Temple of Wealth. Second Pavilion: Puci Pavilion and Mituo Pavilion. Three links: Nantong Pozi Street, Xitong Sanwang Street and Dongtong Simenkou. Four scenic spots: sunset glow in the ancient square, smoke in the temple profile, a piece of smoked wind and a secluded pavilion. Eight snacks: stinky tofu, dragon fat pig blood, boiled dumplings, eight-treasure fruit rice, sister dumplings, Dutch powder, braised hoof flowers and triangular tofu. Twelve famous dishes: hundred pages of hair, ham with honey sauce, turtle and sheep in Xiaoxiang, elbow with sauce, steamed bacon, shark's fin in Zuan, palace tofu, Dong 'anzi chicken, braised fish skirt claws, braised beef tendon, braised pork in Maojia and braised dog meat. ) Tasting snacks, tasting Hunan cuisine, listening to tanci and watching Hunan opera are the unique characteristics of our fire palace. Deyuan steamed stuffed bun refers to steamed stuffed bun, and Changsha people will call it "Deyuan". Deyuan was founded in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty. It was originally a couple's shop opened by a surnamed tang owner near Bajiaoting. It was named "Deyuan" after the meaning of "having virtue makes music last for a long time" in Zuozhuan. In the early years of the Republic of China, several unemployed official chefs raised funds to join the company, set up Deyuan, which changed hands several times but failed to achieve anything, and moved to Fanxi Lane, Huangxing Road to attract diners with official dishes and snacks. Because there are always excellent leftovers such as seafood and fresh goods left in the cooking, in order to avoid waste, they are chopped and mixed into the stuffing of the package. Who knows that this competition makes their package taste different and popular. Since then, Deyuan Steamed Bun has gained a great reputation, and it has been praised by the folk songs of "coming out of the cage with hot spray, white skin is loose, roses are sweet and fragrant, and the fragrance is refreshing and tender". After the "Wenxi" fire in Changsha, some masters of the original class raised funds again, built a shop again, named Deyuan Teahouse, and continued to manage meals and packages, and gradually formed the "eight famous packages" famous in Changsha. The "eight famous bags" are: rose white sugar bag, mushroom fresh meat bag, white sugar salt vegetable bag, crystal white sugar bag, mashed meat bag, golden hook fresh meat bag, yaozhu fresh meat bag and barbecued pork bag. After the liberation of Changsha, Deyuan Teahouse gained a new life, and once gathered a group of famous chefs and experts in white cases, making Deyuan's cuisine form five series and 3 varieties. Liu Defang Tangyuan Liu Defang Tangyuan is a famous snack in Changsha, which is exclusively operated by Liu Defang Tangyuan Store. It was founded in Qing Daoguang (1821-185). Liu Defang, alias Liu San, is called Changqiaoliu. When he was a child, his family was poor and he made a living by selling dumplings. Because of the excellent selection of materials, fine production and unique flavor, the dumplings are quite famous, and the buyers are not eating the dumplings of Liu San. In 1852 (the second year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty), Liu San bought flour at the South Commodity House in Hejie Street. Unexpectedly, there were 53 taels of Dabao silver in the flour, so he bought back six baskets and got six 53 taels of Dabao silver ingots. With this windfall, Liu San bought a shop floor to specialize in dumplings. Because the dumplings made by him are big, glutinous and stuffed, they are both salty and sweet, not sticky to the lips, not greasy, and have a long aftertaste, which won the appreciation of the majority of diners. According to legend, Zuo Zongtang, governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, once felt that his dumplings were delicious and sweet, and gave him Liu Defang's dumplings restaurant "come from the belly, so you don't ask for the price;" After the couplets of "I do what I want, I also pay attention to saliva", Liu Defang framed it and hung it in the shop. It was the opening of the college, and all counties took their children to Changsha to take the exam. They saw Zuo Zongtang's handwritten couplets at the Tangyuan Pavilion, all of which praised his pen strength and attracted more literati. From then on, it was not a temporary trend in Changsha not to eat Liu Defang's tangyuan. Changsha stinky tofu According to relevant historical records, stinky tofu originated in Beijing and was introduced to Changsha from Xiangyin. At the age of 12, Second Father Jiang studied art, visited friends from his teacher, devoted himself to research, and had rich experience. He was unique, with the characteristics of freshness, fragrance, spicy taste and tender inside. It really "smells bad and tastes delicious" and "black as ink, fragrant as alcohol, tender as crisp and soft as velvet". When Mao Zedong returned to Hunan in 1958, he still remembered the "stinky tofu" in the burning palace until he tasted it. Sister dumplings Sister dumplings are one of the traditional snacks in the Fire Palace. In the early 192s, it was created by the group master Jiang Liren and two clever daughters. The dumplings are soft, sweet and delicious. After steaming, the dumplings are transparent and slim, just like small pagodas carved by white jade, which makes people fondle, and the sister dumplings are famous for it. There is a poem saying: "Fried tofu smells delicious, and some guests recall being in Taiwan Province;" Young Tian Han went back to Xiangri, and sisters had dumplings for breakfast. "Yang Yuxing noodles Changsha folk song" Yang Yuxing's noodles, Xu Changxing's ducks, and Deyuan's buns are really delicious. " After five generations of Yang Yuxing noodle restaurant, the signboard with gold lettering on a black background never fails, and people who eat noodles every day flow from morning till night. Yang Yuxing noodles are reasonable in material selection, exquisite in production and rich in seasonings. Self-processed alkaline noodles are tough and soft, and taste good; Pay attention to wide soup, clear water and get out of here when cooking noodles; The soup is stewed with pig tube bone and old hen; There are dozens of noodle codes, from popular shredded pork, hot and sour to high-grade crab roe and yaozhu, which are readily available. The traditional dishes of "Xu Changxing"-one duck for four and one duck for four, namely roast duck pancakes, diced duck sauce, duck rack tofu soup and steamed eggs with duck oil, are the traditional dishes of "Xu Changxing". Roast duck pancake: Tear off the roasted duck skin, cut it into pieces 3 cm long and 2 cm wide, dip it in sweet noodle sauce, add scallion head, and roll the pancake made of flour to eat. The skin is crisp and fragrant, with Zhejiang flavor. Diced duck sauce: Cut the peeled duck into 12mm square dices, stir-fry with garlic, red pepper and magnolia slices, add a little duck stock, boil it, hook it with a little starch, and pour sesame oil on it. It is Hunan flavor. Duck rack tofu soup: Cut the duck rack into 15mm square pieces, stir-fry with tea oil, add duck broth and small pieces of tofu, boil in a earthen bowl, and add refined salt, monosodium glutamate, pepper, onion and sesame oil. Steamed eggs with duck oil: Stir the eggs, add cold duck soup, cooked duck oil, monosodium glutamate and refined salt, stir well and steam. Put a little soy sauce after taking it out, which is especially fresh and tender. Changsha Tasty Shrimp Changsha's famous snacks are the dried fruit in Huogong Palace, the hot brine in Pozi Street and the tasty shrimp in Nanmenkou. According to research, tasty shrimp first appeared at the south gate of Changsha in the 199s, which was the first recommendation for a family named Kong. As people's love for tasty shrimp continues to heat up, it has developed into the Education Street School and the Nanmenkou School. Up to now, after more than ten years' history, there have been many schools of tasty shrimp. While spicy taste is the mainstream, each school has its own characteristics. The main storefronts are: Shacheng Laodie Dry Fried Shrimp, Shanji Shrimp City, Laomeiyuan Shrimp City, Spicy Taste Shrimp, Spicy Taste Shrimp, Yang Yanjing Taste Shrimp, "Simian" Taste Shrimp, etc.