During the Republic of China, some Hunan cuisine schools emerged in Changsha’s dining scene. One of the schools is the "Zu'an School" founded by Cao Jingchen, the chef of the home of Tan Yankai (also known as Zu'an), a celebrity in Hunan from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, and named after Tan Yankai's alias "Zu'an". Tan Yankai, a Chaling native, was a Jinshi in the 21st year of Guangxu's reign (1895). He was awarded the rank of Army General after the Republic of China. He served as the governor of Hunan, governor, commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army, and president of the Executive Yuan of the Nanjing Government. This man was a gourmet who loved food as much as his life. Therefore, the chefs employed by the Tan Mansion were all popular in the Huxiang restaurant industry, such as Cao Jingchen and Tan Xiting who later opened Yuloudong Restaurant. Li Liuru, a recent scholar, recorded in the book "Sixty Years of Change" that in order to cook a portion of "roasted cabbage heart", the Tan family needed to consume two loads of cabbage, which shows that they are not tired of eating. Tan Yankai likes to eat dog meat the most. At that time, a limerick was circulated among the people in Changsha, which vividly described the grand dog feast in Tan's house: "I have a dog feast today, and unexpectedly all the gentlemen came. The serving bowl fell from the top of the head, and the lifting The pot of wine is sifted to the ears." Cao Jingchen created many exquisite dishes for the Tan family, the representative of which is "Zu'an Shark's Fin". "Zu'an Shark's Fin", also known as "Red Stewed Shark's Fin", changes the traditional method of simmering shark's fin in red soup to simmering it with chicken, pork belly, and shark's fin, so that the protein, fat, inorganic salt and other nutrients in the ingredients can be During the simmering process, the food slowly penetrates into the originally tasteless shark's fin and becomes one, thus changing the phenomenon that the traditional cooking soup is delicious but the fin is tasteless, and has a unique flavor of soft, glutinous, smooth, pure and delicious , which has the health-preserving effects of moisturizing and nourishing. After making this dish, Tan Yankai devoured it and appreciated it very much. Later, the preparation method of this dish gradually spread to the society, and chefs in various restaurants followed suit, and it became a must-have dish at high-end banquets. The one made by Quyuan Restaurant, a century-old restaurant in Changsha, is the most exquisite. Cao Jingchen also carefully created many dishes for Tan Yankai. In the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930), after Tan Yankai passed away while serving as President of the Executive Yuan of the Nanjing Government, Cao Jingchen returned to Changsha and opened Jianyuan Garden on Pozi Heng Street, where he cooked these dishes under the famous brand of "Zu'an Cuisine". They responded to the market and publicized the event, so business prospered. The most famous ones in the "Zu'an Cuisine" series are "Zu'an Shark's Fin", "Zu'an Tofu", "Zu'an Fish Raw", "Zu'an Bamboo Shoots", etc. Among them, "Zu'an Tofu' is also unique. This dish uses steamed buns and tofu as the main ingredients, with mushrooms, scallops, fat hen meat, pork belly, cooking wine, pepper, green onions, ginger, chicken oil, soy sauce, and corn starch as supplements and seasonings. It is boiled, steamed, stir-fried, and roasted successively. The main and auxiliary ingredients are processed through other processes, but the final product only contains tofu and mushrooms, which are light red in color, soft and fragrant, and extremely delicious. The production is exquisite, ingenious and luxurious (only twenty pieces of tofu are made, It will consume 1000 grams of chicken, 500 grams of pork, etc., which will eventually be discarded). It is really comparable to the method of cooking eggplant (eggplant in "Dream of Red Mansions". See Chapter 41 of "Dream of Red Mansions") During the Anti-Japanese War, Lin Sen, Chairman of the National Government, took a bus from Nanjing to Sichuan and passed by Changsha. At that time, Zuo Xueqian of the Municipal Chamber of Commerce held a banquet in Jianyuan Garden to wash his hands with "Zu'an Cuisine", which won him a good reputation. "Ancestor Cuisine" became famous for a while. In the 1938 Changsha Fire, Jianyuan Garden was destroyed, but the cooking skills of "Ancestor Cuisine" were passed down.