Several towns in Kunshan are only tens of kilometers apart from each other, but each town can have its own unique food classics. Food is particularly easy to be the introduction to the story of a small town, and foreigners like to go there to explore the story and true taste of a certain food regardless of horses and chariots. In the prosperous days of Jiangnan, the wanton journey to find food is often an important pleasure for ordinary people. In Zhouzhuang, stories and topics are inseparable from Shen Wansan, a rich man in the south of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty. Master Shen not only changed the wealth ecology of Zhouzhuang, but also left traces of food, clothing, housing and transportation in history, which became a blueprint for future generations to enjoy reconstruction. The "Three Thousand Banquets" is one of them.
Shen Wansan's story is hard to distinguish between true and false, and most people laugh it off. However, Shen Jufu has married thirteen wives all his life. He prefers Li Niang, who is of high value, good family and knowledgeable, but it is a story that everyone talks about. In the popular version, this Li Niang is an excellent cook, and her skillful cooking skills usually please the squire officials from all sides, paving the way for Shenyang's official and business with banquets. Today, the signature banquet of Shenting Restaurant is Li Niang's specialty "Wansan Banquet"-Wansan hoof, ancient mandarin fish, stewed meat with snail, stewed meat with farm oil, garlic-flavored eel, pastoral eel, carp dish, fried golden brick, Sanwei Yuantang and eight bowls on the table of Redwood Four Immortals, all of which are representative works of family banquets in Shenyang water towns.
There is no need to order meals at rural banquets, and it is the best sincerity that rural chefs can present. When bowls of hard dishes are served, most people can't help being cruel to the "three hooves". Look at that big pig's trotters. The color is very attractive. It is said that it is necessary to choose pig hind legs weighing more than 2 kg and 22 liang, as well as salt, ginger, soy sauce, cloves, cinnamon and other 18 seasonings. Only by simmering for 5 hours can we burn a deep sauce red that can fully show its connotation. The longevity banquet is a legendary dish that was once served to Zhu Yuanzhang. It tastes a bit fancy: because you can't cut the pig with a knife, you should extract two long bones that run through the pig's trotters, use the bones as a knife, cut the stewed trotters smoothly, and then let people cut them and eat them. People who eat well live wisely. Shen's ideal is that everyone in the world has meat and the rich and the poor share it equally.
Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish with thick bright red sauce is also the focus of everyone's eagerness to try chopsticks. The ruler held the long head of mandarin fish high on the plate, and the fish was boneless. After frying with a skilled flower knife, pour tomato juice, which is sweet and sour, crispy outside and tender inside, and warm at the entrance. The whole table was immersed in the sizzling pleasure and intoxicated.
A black snail stuffed with meat can be seen at a glance as a collection of the wisdom of many peasant women. During the slack season, women in the village dig fresh snails in the fields, take them out, add pork leg meat and chop them up, add onion and ginger as seasoning, then put them back in snail shells and stew them in an iron pot with high fire until the taste penetrates. The appearance is black, but the taste is delicate. Snail meat adds a layer of fresh monotonous pork flavor, but when it is stained with sauce, it thinks that it has been bathed in water by a rainy rice field at the end of summer and is full of rich harvest flavor.
Eel and carp dishes are actually steamed amaranth. In spring, fresh Chinese cabbage is picked, cleaned and pickled and then put into an urn for natural fermentation. It spends 365 days a year in Chenfang, and then it is taken out after the autumn harvest and stored in winter, sprinkled with white sugar, vegetable oil and yellow wine and steamed. After cooking, amaranth is black, red and purple. After absorbing enough oil and water, it is full and moist, and a bite has been included for a whole year.
There are also braised eel tubes, fried golden bricks (stinky tofu), fried meat and three-flavor round soup, all of which are really simple and rich. Holding chopsticks and a bowl, a white wall of black China appears in front of you, flowing, and the entrance is both greasy and clear. Show off your wealth with a table of dishes, everyone is happy, and there is probably only Zhouzhuang in Shenyang.
Some people say that this is a menu that does not match the identity of the super-rich family. No matter the ingredients or the names of the dishes, they are too vulgar and lack the elegant accent of large families in the south of the Yangtze River. If Suzhou cuisine represents the exquisite charm of Jiangnan, then paying attention to the Kunshan flavor of tradition and ingredients just reflects the pastoral flavor and human feelings of Jiangnan.
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Wensan Xiao Si Le
Edit | Hu Di
The original text is taken from the authentic scenery of Kunshan, with additions, deletions and changes.