Hunan is in the south-central part of China. For students who like to watch variety shows, Hunan TV Station is a perfect match for holidays. During the winter vacation, everyone can stay tuned for almost a whole day, because the programs of Hunan TV are so suitable for holidays, and the parties of various festivals are particularly wonderful. During the winter vacation, we will spend the Lunar New Year first, and there will be special food and customs on Lunar New Year's Eve. What will Hunan eat in the New Year? Hunan cuisine has always been famous. Let's take a look at what Hunan cuisine has in the next year.
1. People in Hunan are keen on setting off firecrackers. It is said that this is because Liuyang firecrackers are one of Hunan's specialties. Liuyang firecrackers were set off in founding ceremony that year. Based on this, Hunan's New Year is simply a deafening sound in the city.
a 1 kg carp and a 3 kg elbow-this is a necessary New Year's dish in Hunan, commonly known as "Tuannian Fish" and "Tuannian Elbow", and "Tuannian", as the name implies, means "reunion for another year, leaving the old year and welcoming the new year". Hunan people love spicy food. In the folk, basically, several strings of dried red peppers are hung at the door of every household, which is convenient for the host to sprinkle a few peppers when cooking every meal to meet the taste buds' demand for "spicy food". And this also continued to the dinner table of the Lunar New Year. They said that it was a good year to be popular and spicy. Eating New Year's Eve is auspicious, that is, it should reflect the gratifying harvest of the family in the past year and work hard for the coming year. Therefore, the bigger, richer and more auspicious the dishes on the table are, especially in areas where traditional customs and habits are more preserved, such as southern Hunan.
Take the "Tuannian Elbow" as an example. The elbow with the size of 3kg is definitely a monster on the table, which can't be eaten. But it doesn't matter. When it is served on the table, it will be a good color-the locals in Hunan call it "wrangling", which means "the unhappiness in the past is over, and it is time to usher in a new year and start over. Then, after New Year's Eve, the big elbow was slowly eliminated in the first month. As far as the practice is concerned, this Chinese New Year dish "Tuannian Elbow" in Hunan cuisine combines the cooking methods of "bittern" and "steaming". First, the elbow is soaked in bittern mixed with soy sauce, salt, spices and other ingredients. After a few hours, it is put into a steamer and steamed over high fire until it is crisp and rotten. The biggest feature of this new year's dish is that after steaming, it should be poured with a large number of Hunan local red peppers that have just been fried in hot oil. The fiery red color and fresh spicy taste can't help but make people covet.
2. In addition to the pot full of hot peppers, you will definitely eat chicken, meat, fish, etc. on New Year's Eve, and it must be big fish and big meat. The whole chicken should be stewed, and some herbs such as Codonopsis pilosula, Lycium barbarum and Gastrodia elata should be added by the way. The rooster should be selected, and the head of the chicken should be put up after stewing. After the fish is steamed, sprinkle red peppers on it, and don't finish the fish for 3 nights. You should wait until the first day of the month to eat it, which symbolizes that there is more than enough food every year, and the peppers certainly represent the prosperity; In some homes, there will be chicken paws, called "grasping money paws", which means making a fortune next year. In addition, there is the increasingly popular mutton hot pot in the local area, and the picture is lively; As for cold dishes, stir-fried dishes and snacks, the characteristics are actually not obvious.
the word "spicy" can't be removed from cold dishes and cooked dishes: stir-fried bacon, sausage, dumplings and bacon with red pepper and chopped pepper, mixed with preserved fish and pig's ears with coriander and pepper, and several vegetables-there must be green vegetables, which means that the whole family is harmonious in the New Year and their career is thriving. This is a full table, and Hunan people's New Year's Eve dinner is almost ready.
3. The staple food is rice and sweet wine. In addition, there is no custom of eating jiaozi here, and rice is the staple food, but sweet wine brewed from rice and distiller's yeast. No food is not spicy, no spicy is not happy, but also hemp and spicy, Hunan people enjoy the New Year's Eve dinner. It usually starts at seven or eight o'clock in the evening and doesn't end until eleven or twelve o'clock. The locals think that the longer the New Year's Eve, the better.
Hunan people are keen on setting off firecrackers. It is said that this is because Liuyang firecrackers are one of Hunan's specialties. Liuyang firecrackers were set off in founding ceremony in those years. Based on this, during the Spring Festival in Hunan, the sound of the city was deafening and the smoke was filled. On New Year's Eve, they will set off firecrackers three times: once, before eating the reunion dinner, they told people to eat the reunion dinner; Once again, when the new year bell rings, it means to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new; The other time is when the door opens in the morning of the Spring Festival, indicating that a brand-new and beautiful year is coming. The size and setting-off time of firecrackers are determined by each family, but they can't be interrupted when they are set off, so it will be lucky.
4. When the New Year is high, people in Hunan basically have "rice cake" and "sesame tea" for their first meal: the rice cake is made by every household, the size of bricks, and when it is ready to be eaten, it is cut into pieces, then put in an oil pan, fried on both sides, and then put in caramel and boiled together, which is very soft and sweet; And sesame tea is to take sesame drink and drink it with water. The similarities between these two snacks are similar in meaning-rice cake, homophonic for "Niangao", sesame also has the meaning of "increasing year by year", so they are all good colors, and the sweet taste also symbolizes the sweetness of the new year.