Huaiyang cuisine, together with Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine and Guangdong cuisine, is called the four major cuisines in China, which refers to the cuisines popular in Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Huai 'an and their nearby areas in Jiangsu, and is the representative flavor of Jiangsu cuisines. Huaiyang cuisine pays attention to knife work, with delicate knife method and light taste. The main dishes are braised lion's head, soft-pocketed long fish, Pingqiao tofu, shrimp seed Pu Cai, Wenlou soup packets and so on.

China cooking is culture, science and art. Huaiyang cuisine is one of its great crystallization, and it is also a major embodiment of the essential characteristics of China cooking, which is "taste as the core and cultivation as the purpose". Looking back at the long history of cooking in China, except for Shandong, Sichuan and Guangdong, it is the only Huaiyang cuisine which is called as the first of the eight major cuisines.

Huaiyang cuisine, together with Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine and Guangdong cuisine, is called the four major cuisines in China. Huaiyang cuisine, which started in the Spring and Autumn Period, flourished in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, is known as "the best in southeast China and the most beautiful in the world". Huaiyang cuisine plays the leading role in many banquets of landmark events: the first banquet of Chinese people in founding ceremony in 1949, the 5th anniversary banquet of Chinese people in 1999, and the banquet hosted by General Secretary Jiang for US President George Bush in 22, all of which are mainly Huaiyang cuisine.

Huaiyang cuisine is the general name of the local cuisines in Huai 'an (now Chuzhou), Yangzhou and Zhenjiang. Huaiyang cuisine was formed in Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in Qing Dynasty. Before the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Huai 'an (now Chuzhou District of Huai 'an City) and Yangzhou were both famous metropolises in China, and they all had their own food culture traditions. Huai cuisine was one of the four classical cuisines in China, which was famous in China during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Huai cuisine and Yang cuisine began to penetrate each other, gradually merged, and mixed the northern and southern flavors in one furnace, thus forming a unified cuisine.

Another saying: At that time, this area belonged to Huaiyang Road, and the government ruled in Shanyang (now Chuzhou), so it was called Huaiyang.

Huai' an, Yangzhou and Zhenjiang are located in the north and south of the Yangtze River, close to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Geographically, they are important transportation hubs connecting the north and south, the west and the east, and have been rich land of plenty since ancient times. Huai 'an and Yangzhou were quite prosperous as early as the Sui and Tang Dynasties. At that time, Huai 'an and Yangzhou were not only developed in cultural exchanges, but also understood as Huai 'an and Yangzhou were already concentrated consumption areas at that time! The famous name of Huaiyang cuisine can be traced back to more than 1 years ago. Like the development and heyday of cultural exchanges between Huai 'an and Yangzhou, it went through the Tang and Qing Dynasties, and reached its peak during the reign of Kangxi and Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty. During the frequent southern tours of the two emperors, it repeatedly stayed in Huai 'an and Yangzhou. During the Qianlong period, Huaiyang cuisine had become one of the four major cuisines in China.

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Cultural origin

Huaiyang cuisine can be found in the literature, starting from "Huaihai only Yangzhou" in Shangshu. From the pre-Qin dynasty to the Han and Jin dynasties, Yangzhou has been a "cooked food list" in history. Sui and Tang dynasties, Ming and Qing dynasties were especially prosperous. Especially after the Grand Canal was dug, Yangzhou became a land and water transportation hub for salt and water transportation, material distribution and import and export ports, and once ranked third among the top ten cities with a population of over 6, in the world. As a result, all directions converge, sails and walls stand everywhere, merchants gather together, literature and soil are like clouds, economy and culture are highly developed, and history is known as "Yang Yi Er". In addition, Yangzhou is located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River at about 12 degrees east longitude and 33 degrees north latitude, with a suitable climate and abundant products. Located in the area of rivers and water networks, the flora and fauna are fresh, such as fresh crucian carp, purple crab, spring onion, ginger bud and duck eggs mentioned in Su Dongpo's poem "Yangzhou sends a little tour with soil", and fresh bamboo shoots, shad and "crab wrapped in a bamboo basket, shrimp packed in a bamboo cage and fish pierced with wicker" described in Zheng Banqiao's poems are everywhere; Seafood producing areas are also close at hand. These constitute the strength of cooking raw materials with distinctive personality. With its geographical advantages of distribution and focus, it can extract the essence of cooking skills in Wu Chu and condense the essence of's food culture. It not only exercises exquisite cooking techniques such as knife and fire skills that are amazing to the world, but also brews the flavor characteristics of "fresh and peaceful, rich and pure, moderate salty and sweet, suitable for both north and south" that can adapt to all directions. As a result, the delicious food is repeated, the beauty is full of market, the poems and songs are praised endlessly, and the famous people's poems are especially difficult to enumerate. The "Manchu banquet", which was once praised as "the delicious food in the southeast", was also first seen in Yangzhou Painting Boat Record. It is on the basis of this historical background and economic status that Huaiyang cuisine was born, and its food culture is so profound that it is unparalleled in the world. Therefore, it has long established its position as a major flavor cuisine in China.

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Flavor features

Huaiyang is located at the intersection of north and south, and the land and water are at the crossroads. Huai 'an (mainly Chuzhou District of Huai 'an City today) was also a famous metropolis in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and Yangzhou was among the most prosperous cities in China from the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Therefore, Huaiyang cuisine has the following characteristics:

Its taste is fresh and peaceful, and it is suitable for both the north and the south. Moreover, the selection of Huaiyang cuisine pays special attention to freshness and tenderness; Fine production, pay attention to knife work, especially melon carving is famous in all directions; Seasoning is light and delicious, emphasizing the original taste, paying attention to the soup, and the flavor is fresh; Bright colors, refreshing and pleasing to the eye; Beautiful shape, unique and novel, vivid and realistic.

There are many dishes and a huge system.

Fine workmanship, with special emphasis on knife work, and attention to the shape and carving of dishes. Good color, smell and shape.

We pay attention to seasonal freshness in the selection of materials, and the raw material is fresh river, which accounts for a large proportion. "Drunken crabs don't watch the lights, wind chickens don't watch the lights, swordfish don't watch the Qingming Festival, and sturgeon don't watch the Dragon Boat Festival". Cooking makes good use of heat, and is good at stewing, stewing, simmering, steaming, roasting and frying.

elegant style. Yangzhou is famous for its thin-skinned, juicy and delicious snacks of all colors. As the saying goes, "Sichuan cuisine is better".

most of the raw materials are aquatic products, which are fresh, mild in taste, fresh and slightly sweet. Famous dishes include stewed crab powder lion's head, boiled dried silk, three sets of ducks, crystal meat (pictured), squirrel mandarin fish, crisp eel in Liangxi and so on. Its dishes are exquisite and elegant.

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Huai' an cuisine

Huai' an (now Chuzhou) is called the south of Huai River, and Huai' an is even called "the first magnificent southeast state" by poets. Huai' an cuisine refers to Huai' an (now Chuzhou District) and Huaiyin (now Huai' an City), and the cuisines of Huaibei City are collectively referred to, with Huai cuisine as the representative. Shangshu records that there was a "Huai Yi Gong Fish" in the Xia Dynasty, which seems to be the original literature record of Huai cuisine and even Huai Yang cuisine. Huai cuisine was already one of the four classical cuisines in China, which was famous in China during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the development of Huaiyang banquet reached a climax. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the Records of Huai 'an Prefecture recorded: "Huai 'an's diet is extravagant, the system is exquisite, the market is full of goods, and it praises the river table." This "system" includes the specifications and rules of catering. In the Records of Huai 'an Prefecture during the reign of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, it was recorded: "To the north of Shejiang, the banquet was full of treasures and mistakes, and Huai 'an was the most. Folk or extended guests, the abbot of the display, the mixed music of the ci-poetry, the unique taste, and the cost of a banquet. " During Qianlong and Jiaqing years, there were more records about Huaiyang banquet.

Mei Cheng (now a native of Huai 'an, Jiangsu), a great poet in the Western Han Dynasty. In his masterpiece "Seven Hair", there is a passage to persuade Prince Chu to taste delicious food, praising the food in his hometown of Jianghuai as "the most beautiful in the world": the young cows are rich and the dishes are bamboo shoots. The sum of fat dogs, taking the mountain skin. The food of Chu Miao is the food of An Hu. I couldn't understand it, but I dispersed in a sip. So Yi Yi suffered, and Yi Ya reconciled. The diaphragm of bear's web is the sauce of peony. The thin soup is baked, and the fresh carp is baked. Autumn and yellow are the su, and the dew is the ru. Lan ying's wine, wash your mouth. The meal of the mountain ridge, the baby of the leopard. Small meals and big sips are like soup and snow. This is also the most beautiful in the world ... The recipes described in the home banquet at that time used a variety of cooking methods, such as frying, boiling, roasting, stewing, etc., taking the five flavors as the standard, making rotten bear's paw with sauce, thin brand of roasted animal's loin, fresh carp meat filaments, fresh and tender vegetables, and luxuriously gargling with topaz perilla and orchids soaked in wine, so "Seven Hair" is not so much an allegory.

Huai cuisine is rigorous in material selection and tailored to its material; Fine production and elegant style; Pursue the original taste, freshness and peace. "Drunken crabs don't watch the lights, wind chickens don't watch the lights, swordfish don't watch the Qingming Festival, and sturgeon don't watch the Dragon Boat Festival." This time-varying principle ensures that the food ingredients on the plate come from the best state, and people can experience the wonderful Huai cuisine at any time.

Huai cuisine is very particular about swordsmanship, and its swordsmanship is fine, especially melon carving. The dishes are exquisite in shape and mellow in taste; In cooking, he makes good use of heat, pays attention to fire power, and is good at stewing, stewing, simmering, steaming, burning and frying; Most of the raw materials are aquatic products, which are fresh, mild in taste, fresh and slightly sweet. Famous dishes include stewed crab powder lion's head, boiled dried silk, three sets of ducks, crystal meat dishes, squirrel squid and so on. Its dishes are exquisite and elegant.

The Chinese people and Zhou Enlai, the founding premier of the People's Republic of China, loved Huaiyang cuisine in their hometown all their lives and always cared about the development of Huaiyang cuisine food culture. After liberation, Zhou Enlai lived in the West Flower Hall in Zhongnanhai, and still maintained the simple eating habits during the war years: most of the dishes were Huaiyang dishes, mainly vegetarian dishes. The raw materials of meat dishes are mainly fish, meat and shrimp, and chickens eat very little, which is said to be easy to get angry. Master An Zhenchang, who used to cook in Zhou Enlai's home, said that Zhou Enlai likes Huaiyang dishes and pastries: Pingqiao tofu, fried mushrooms with green vegetables, crispy eel (equivalent to soft-pocketed long fish), tomato fillets, carp radish soup, braised lion's head, mustard spring rolls, Huai 'an soup packets and so on.

Since 22, Huai 'an has held the "China Huaiyang Cuisine and Food Culture Festival" at the end of September and the beginning of October every year, which has carried forward and developed Huaiyang cuisine.

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Yangzhou Cuisine

There is a sentence in Shangshu Yugong, which means that the Huaihai area is Yangzhou. Later, "Weiyang" was used to refer to Yangzhou. Therefore, Yang cuisine is also called Weiyang cuisine. It should be said that a history of Weiyang cuisine is a history of Yangzhou people's survival, struggle and development; It is also a Yangzhou cultural history! From low to high, from rough to exquisite, from depression to glory, is the basic context of Weiyang's cooking history.

As early as about 4, years ago, the ancestors of Yangzhou had already broken away from the ignorance of eating animals and drinking blood, surpassing the primitive budding times of burning meat on Fuxi fire and burning valley on Shennong stone, and used ceramic cookers to cook cooked food on fire! The pottery age can be regarded as the formative period of Yangzhou cooking. Yangzhou entered the ancient Han Dynasty, that is, the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties in the Central Plains. Bronze Ding, Wei (cooking utensils), Ding cook the meat and Wei cooking dishes belonging to this period were unearthed at the broken mountain pass in Yizheng, and there were also Zun, Lu (wine utensils), Zhong (banquet enjoyment utensils) and four chicken dishes (food utensils) for offering sacrifices to cattle, sheep and pigs.

Zhou Li Zhi Fang Shi records that "Yangzhou is called in the southeast ... its valley is suitable for rice", which shows that Yangzhou is a natural land of plenty. These are enough to prove that Yangzhou cooking about 3 years ago has entered the bronze culture era.

in 468 BC, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, destroyed the ancient Han kingdom, dug the Han ditch and built the Han city, which was of epoch-making value not only to Yangzhou urban construction but also to Yangzhou cooking. The record of "King Wu Guan's Pot" in Zhou Li and the "Tao Ge with hard prints" unearthed from the Golden Dam in the northwest of the city show that Fu Cha introduced a whole set of dietary experience in the late Spring and Autumn Period. This is the first work that foreign food culture has influenced Yangzhou cooking.

After the dispute between the seven heroes in the Warring States Period, Yangzhou cuisine made great strides towards the realm of civilization, and won the title of "Huai Yang flavor in East Chu".

after the Qin dynasty, Yangzhou realized the transformation from natural division to administrative division. In the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Ying, the king of Wu, built Guangling, the capital of Yangzhou, and became the capital of southeast China, hence the name "Huaizuo Mingdu". Because of the benefit of cooking salt and casting copper, the financial resources are rich, the scholars are elegant and elegant, and the country is spared. Bao Zhao's "Wu Cheng Fu" says: "When the past was in its heyday, cars were hanging on their shoulders, and people were driving their shoulders. What's the matter with the punishment? Naturally, I am not hungry, and then I am full and I have to eat well. The bronze tripod unearthed from the tombs of Han Dynasty in the suburbs of Yangzhou, as well as lacquered eating utensils such as bowls, plates, pots and spoons, are very elegant, which not only tells us that the development and research of tableware in Yangzhou is in the leading position in the country and has its own personality; Moreover, it also reflects the exquisite diet of Yangzhou people at that time.

The revolving stone mill of Han Dynasty was unearthed in Fenghuang River, Yangzhou, which indicated that wheat flour could be processed in Han Dynasty, sketched the staple food structure of Yangzhou, which mainly consisted of rice and pasta, and unveiled the long history of Yangzhou's exquisite pastry raw materials. "Luxury has been said in Yangzhou since ancient times, and the smoke and the moon are everywhere." Although the restaurant in the Eastern Han Dynasty is small in scale, the swaying "wine" shop and the famous flag dish "raw fish" clearly tell people that the curtain of the development of Huaiyang cuisine has opened! Therefore, it was only after that that Jin Xie Xuan, who was appointed as Guangling's photo in Yangzhou, personally made fish sticks and sent them to Henan to honor his wife.

in the sui dynasty, Yangzhou cuisine made a leap forward that was second to none in the world at that time! Thanks to one person-Emperor Yangdi. The ancient canal connects the five water systems of the sea, the Yellow River, the Huai River and the Qian River, and immediately promotes Yangzhou to the position of the national hub for the exchange of cooking talents, skills and raw materials. The beans, wheat and miscellaneous grains in the north go south, and the grain, tea, fruit, salt and aquatic products in the south go north, all of which will be stationed in Yangcheng. Emperor Yangdi, on the other hand, was fortunate in Jiangdu, bringing Central Plains cuisines from Chang 'an and Luoyang into Yangcheng Sui Palace along with the dragon boat, and then spreading them to folk restaurants. What's more, at the place where the sail wall suddenly passes, "cook a hundred sheep at night for wine", and the state and county pay tribute to delicacies, and the chef deliberately fights. It is reported that the food that was paid at that time was fish, crab and honey ginger; The history of local officials gave a banquet to present treasures, and Zhao Yuankai was favored because of his peculiar smell, thus being promoted to Jiangdu County. To what extent are the dragon boat banquets and labyrinth banquets luxurious? From 53 famous dishes such as "Wuwei Wuyang Stewed in Beiqi" recorded in Shi Jing of Sui Dynasty, we can get a glimpse of the information inside. As a result, Yangzhou chefs have weathered the storm, seen the world, absorbed the essence, and the overall skill level has been upgraded from the "quasi-advanced" of the Han Dynasty princes to the highest "emperor level" of the Sui Dynasty. As recorded in the Five Dynasties Taogu's "Qing Yi Lu", they have created famous dishes such as "Golden Dragon, Phoenix and Crab". Yangzhou cooking industry flourished because Emperor Yangdi lived in Yangzhou, but the wine glasses did not decline because Emperor Yangdi was buried in Yangzhou.

Yangzhou, located at the throat of going north to Beijing on the Maritime Silk Road, developed into the southeast economic center in the Tang Dynasty. It's very important to have a three-point bright moon in the world, and Yangzhou accounts for two points! "Every merchant meets his wife at sunset, and the spring breeze and wine in one city merge." Yangzhou's food market has been stimulated to be hot, and its cooking skills are superb. Citizens and foreign businessmen are "rich, riding cranes to Yangzhou". Why? Li Bai's poem says, "Jade bottle sells fine wine, and it's between the cups." The excavation of Yangzhou marine fish fossils in the Tang Dynasty demonstrates that cooking materials have advanced from livestock, poultry, river fresh and wild vegetables to seafood! Drinking tea has also become a favorite of Yangzhou people. The Tang Dynasty's note novel "The Record of Immortals in Yucheng" once described the Guangling tea-basking, which "sells a cup of tea to the market every denier". Yangzhou's delicious food attracted great attention of the royal family and became a first-class tribute. When Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Yang Guifei appeased An Lushan and gave gifts to the palace, among them was Yangzhou's "golden spoon with a flat nose". All these factors make Huaiyang cuisine develop to a new peak.