The first bowl of a banquet can fully show the host's taste in food and the sincerity of the banquet guests, and it is usually a hard dish full of ceremony. In Hunan, the traditional banquet routine, the first bowl is "family portrait", and the locals call it "hodgepodge".

hodgepodge

Whether it's a family photo or a hodgepodge, as the name implies, this first bowl is not a deduction of a single ingredient, but a master. The simplest hodgepodge is actually a mixture of big meat and big vegetables, with big meat such as red and white meatballs, fat meat, egg rolls, lean meat, chicken slices and belly slices, and big vegetables such as mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, yuba and Chinese cabbage. For the more complicated ones, aquatic products such as cuttlefish, squid, shrimps, scallops, and even sea cucumbers, shark's fins and fish maws will be added.

first bowl of dishes

In Hunan, anyone who holds a wine banquet always takes this dish as the first bowl of the banquet. Down to the small households in Pengmen, the anonymous people who drive cars to sell pulp, up to the princes and princes, and the people who worship the government, such as Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang, are no exception. There are three reasons: First, the logistics was not smooth in the old days, and the raw and fierce seafood in the southeast was rarely seen in the mainland. Although the recipe of this dish is established, the richness and simplicity of materials and the sophistication of cooking are different from family to family. Third, this dish is just a bowl, but it takes a lot of effort to cook, whether it is frying red balls, spreading egg skins, rubbing pork bellies, soaking dried cuttlefish, squid, shrimp, scallops, sea cucumbers, shark's fin and fish bellies, evaporating meat, egg rolls and white balls, or even preprocessing semi-finished products, all of them are meticulous and meticulous. Therefore, no matter whether the family is rich or poor, the chef is good or bad, this dish is worthy of careful cooking by every host, and it also makes every guest taste it carefully. Every link in the kitchen table is full of ritual, which is worthy of being the first bowl! After the complicated procedures, the products are naturally extraordinary: so many exquisite ingredients are stewed into half soup and half water, and all kinds of meat are mellow under the background of pepper, cuttlefish and squid are fragrant, fried meatballs, steamed meatballs and egg rolls are full of mouth, fried pork skins are soaked in soup, the entrance of steamed meatballs melts, and the belly slices are crisp and elastic. Take a bite of meat, pick a chopstick, winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms, yuba and tremella, and drink a sweet and refreshing thick soup. It's as happy as a fairy!

chop suey

In the era of material shortage, eating a family photo of chop suey is often an extravagant hope. Without him, it is difficult to have all the ingredients. Only on holidays can you have a taste. Parents will carefully calculate the non-staple food tickets at hand, and where to buy a few pounds of meat, fried meatballs or steamed pork and dry seafood, all need to be arranged properly one by one. When the materials are properly purchased, the procedures will be carried out in an orderly manner immediately.

white meatballs

the key to the success or failure of chowder lies in the quality of red and white meatballs and egg rolls. Chop three fat and seven thin pig forelegs into mud, add a little flour, and divide into three parts. One part is squeezed out of the palm of your hand and fried into red balls. One steamed into white balls; One part is spread on the egg skin, rolled into an egg roll, steamed and sliced. The belly slices must be cooked until they are fully stretched before slicing, and then soaked in the original soup after cutting. When in use, stir-fry the cooking wine before simmering. The belly slices made in this way are fresh, tender and refreshing. After this round of operation, adults often have to spend a night or two in the kitchen to prepare this family photo. And the children are the happiest, surprised to see meatballs bubbling in the oil pan, stuffing one in their mouth from time to time, and quickly jumping out of the kitchen.

Fried meatballs

In recent years, life has become more and more abundant, and with the smooth logistics, there are all kinds of delicious foods all over the world, and people are dazzled by flowers and become more and more awkward. Many post-9s, post-s, and post-1th generations lingered among online celebrity's exploding star foods, and they were not happy. They never experienced all kinds of happiness when we were young and accompanied adults to prepare family photos on holidays.

Chowder

As we are in middle age, we occasionally miss that bowl of delicious and warm family photos, only to find that we are far less capable and hard-working than our parents and grandparents, and we can't afford to handle this first bowl of dishes.