Jiudou Bowl, which focuses on steamed vegetables, was originally named after the "nine major dishes" of steamed vegetables. Namely: soft fried steamed pork, steamed ribs, steamed beef with flour, steamed soft-shelled turtle, steamed muddy chicken, steamed muddy duck, steamed elbow, salted pork and boiled white. At the same time, in Sichuan dialect, "dou" means a big container, and using nine bowls to call this scene also means praising the abundance of its dishes.

It is the local custom in rural areas of Chengdu Plain that any family who wants to get married, have children, build a house, etc. should invite friends and relatives to get together and have a big meal, which is commonly known as eating nine bowls. The origin of this term is because it was popular to drink in large bowls in Chengdu during the Republic of China. It is called "nine bowls" because there are generally nine bowls of vegetables in each seat. In addition, there is another reason, that is, the people regard "Nine" as an auspicious number, and there are some sayings such as "Long life in Nine", "Nine children get into the exam" and "Forever (Nine)". For such a banquet, "nine bowls" is the minimum standard. Of course, there are also seven bowls in poor families or eleven bowls in rich families.

history

"Nine bowls" can be seven or eleven bowls, but never eight or ten bowls. Why is this? In western sichuan bazi, pig troughs for feeding pigs are generally made of stone, which is a folk custom. It is a pig's argot to take "eating ten bowls of stone" as a curse, so it is impossible to entertain guests with ten bowls of vegetables. And the dishes on the table can't be placed in eight bowls, because beggars (beggars) will usually come to congratulate or cry when the seats are opened. They often play with lotus flowers, singing wherever they go and what they see. Because the host family believes in the principle that "guests go to the prosperous home", whether it is red happiness or white happiness, we should warmly entertain beggars who come to join us. It's just that they didn't eat a few dishes from other guests, but a bowl of mixed rice for each person. In this way, a square table with two people sitting on one side happens to be eight bowls of rice, so people in western Sichuan call it a "beggar's mat". Therefore, the numbers of eight and ten must be taboo when hosting a banquet.

"Jiu Dou Bowl" is a traditional Hakka food for returning guests, and it is also called "Dam Banquet" because it is often placed at the head of the farmhouse dam. The dam banquet can best reflect the eating habits of Chengdu people. However, if you want to eat the taste and atmosphere, you must be very elegant in form and content. In form, the more diners, the better. Eating is like fighting a war of annihilation, with great momentum, prosperous soldiers and fierce movements.

Nine Bowls Scene Every Spring Festival or weddings and funerals, we can often see such a scene in the rural areas of western Sichuan: dozens and hundreds of people gather in one place, and after a burst of firecrackers, they are scattered at the square tables according to the difference between men and women and the level of seniority in the sky, stretching their food and drinking glasses. Not far away, the earthen stoves dug everywhere are stacked with high steamers and steaming vines, and the simple chopping board is full of dishes and tableware. The chef with a greasy apron tied around his waist quickly waved his spatula or kitchen knife, and bowls of vegetables were served on the table like running water. The host family kept calling the guests to say that there were few people and the food was not good, so everyone would forgive them a lot ... This is the lively scene of eating "nine bowls" in rural areas of western sichuan bazi. In Sichuan dialect, "Dou" means a big container, and using nine bowls to call this scene also means praising the abundance of its dishes. Because the content of this banquet is steamed vegetables and preserved meat (all meat), the jargon is called "three steamed and nine buckled" (pot steamed, cage steamed and bowl steamed), so the folk also call the rural chef who specializes in "nine bowls" banquet "oil cook".

The content of nine bowls is that farmers usually make ready-made chicken, duck, fish, meat and eggs with seasonal vegetables into Sichuan's home-cooked dishes. For example, hibiscus eggs, steamed chicken and duck, steamed chop suey, sweet boiled pork, salted boiled pork, steamed pork, steamed elbow, kung pao chicken, shredded leek, fish-flavored pork slices, white oil liver slices, pepper chicken pieces, hot double crisp, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, three fresh white sauce, roasted elbow in sauce, hot nest chicken in ginger sauce, steamed duck strips in powder, etc. Of course, sausages, bacon and sauced meat produced by farmers are indispensable. Up to now, there is still such a song "Nine Bowls of Songs" circulating in Shuangliu County near Chengdu: "The host invited me to have lunch, and the nine bowls won the victory over Gusu. The first bowl of fish liver fried fish belly, two bowls of chicken stewed Fritillaria. Three bowls of stewed tofu with lard and four bowls of fried carp's bird's nest. Five bowls of gold hooks with vinegar and six bowls of money hanging gourds. There are seven bowls of chopping blocks and eight bowls of fat. Nine bowls of clear soup wash your mouth, and you are full of wine and rice. "

Yibin Jiudou Bowl

History

Since the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Yibin folks have celebrated the opening of the business, invited a "full moon" and so on. The traditional banquet is mostly for nine kinds of meat dishes, which is commonly known as "nine bowls" or "nine bowls". It is said that this custom of "nine bowls" of hospitality originated from Xiaogan Township, Macheng County, Hubei Province. This kind of "Xikou", which is popular among Yibin people, has the characteristics of "Dahebang" among the five major schools of Sichuan cuisine, and its spicy taste is slightly inferior to that of "Chongqing Bang". The salty taste is slightly stronger than that of "Chengdu Gang"; Unlike the "Xiaohe Gang" in Suining, Santai, Nanchong and Guang 'an, it focuses on "frying"; What's more, it's not like the "self-help" who wins with "strange dishes" to satisfy the tastes of "the grandfather of salt" and "the boss of sugar mill"; Almost all of the nine bowls are named "pig", and they are matched with bamboo shoots, taro, pedaling (also known as "Huaishan" and Huotiao) and so on. In the old days, materials were scarce, and most ordinary people took "nine bowls" as their best treat. Therefore, up to now, Yibin folks still take "eating nine bowls" as the pronoun of banquet guests. Although today's dishes are mostly in the form of ten or twenty when entertaining guests, Yibin people still shout with the humor of "fuzzy numbers" and "misty poems": those gentlemen are eating "nine bowls" again.

Structure

The structure of the "Nine Bowls" of Yibin folk banquet guests is roughly as follows: Steamed head bowls (generally including shredded head bowls, crispy meatball head bowls and miscellaneous shaking head bowls), pork buttons (boiled white) and miscellaneous buttons (steamed pork with powder) are the main dishes; In addition, it is served with pig's tripe and leftover materials of the above four dishes, and mixed with bamboo shoots, taro, simmered or kelp and vermicelli to make five bowls, that is, nine bowls. If it's all pork and mutton (beef didn't serve in the old days) and there is no chicken or duck, it's also called "big water mat". The poor farmers often subtract the braised pork from the last meal and mainly go into the water with their heads and feet (miscellaneous belly), which is also called "eight bowls of water" Rich people, in order to show their wealth, often add main ingredients to the first bowl, which are called "tendon mat", "bamboo sun mat", "sea cucumber mat" and "shark fin mat" respectively to show their higher grades. Some also make a fuss about the last dish, adding steamed chicken, pork ribs and seaweed with mushrooms as "mushroom seats", burning sand hot pot as "hot pot seats", and the top-grade chefs from Zhaotong and other places are invited to hold "barbecue seats". In the 199s, the "nine bowls" not only changed their packaging, but also spread from pork to chicken, duck, fish and seaweed. At the same time, the number of dishes also increased from nine to several times that of nine. The old "Nine Bowls" only remain in some rural areas.

People have begun to discuss whether it is still appropriate to use "nine bowls" when entertaining guests. Some have been accusing the outrageous behavior of "the more dishes, the better". Most people think that when recalling the "Nine Bowls", don't forget the difficulty of "white-boiled wax gourd", especially people over 4 years old think that we should cherish the hard-won food and clothing.