Of course, the most important dish in Fujian cuisine is the "Buddha jumps over the wall", which is known as "the first soup in China". This century-old chief Fujian dish has many origins with Zheng Chunfa, the owner of Juchunyuan restaurant. Juchunyuan Tea House was founded in the fourth year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1865), and it is the oldest old shop in Fujian.
According to legend, at the end of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1874), Zhou Lian, the chief secretary of Fujian, went to an official in Yangqiao Lane, Fuzhou for dinner. The host's wife is from Shaoxing, and specially prepared a special dish "Fushou Spring" for this family dinner. This dish puts chicken, duck, pork and several kinds of plum blossoms together in a jar for Shao wine, and simmers slowly for two hours, and the delicious food overflows the room. When Zhou Lian returned home after eating, he asked the chef Zheng Chunfa to do the same thing, so after Zheng Chunfa's improvement research, it gradually became a "Buddha jumps over the wall" food.
"Buddha jumps over the wall" is the representative of stew in the altar. Formerly known as "Fushouquan", it was later renamed as "Buddha jumping over the wall" because there is a sentence in a poem improvised by Ji Ya literati, Juchunyuan Restaurant. The "Buddha jumps over the wall" is carefully selected, using more than 30 kinds of raw materials and ingredients, including meat and seafood, mushrooms and fresh fruits. When it is made, it goes through more than a dozen primary processes, and then according to the properties and characteristics of different raw materials, it is carefully put into Shaoxing jar and simmered with low fire. After simmering, open the altar, the meat is delicious and unforgettable for a long time.
Speaking of the "Buddha jumping over the wall", the leader of Fujian cuisine, we have to mention that it was once listed as the first delicious food at the Manchu-Han banquet in the Qing Dynasty. Since the founding of New China, "Buddha jumps over the wall" has been the first main course of state banquets for foreign heads of state for many times. Former British Queen Elizabeth, former US President Ronald Reagan, and former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew all ate the Buddha jumping over the wall and were widely praised. Former King Sihanouk of Cambodia once said: "If you haven't eaten the Buddha jumping over the wall, you haven't eaten Chinese food."
An authentic "Buddha jumping wall" took more than a week to make. The materials are expensive and the methods are exquisite. There are more than 20 kinds of seafood delicacies such as shark's fin, abalone, sea cucumber, muscovy duck, old hen, etc.
In the production process, carefully selected ingredients are processed by frying, frying, boiling and frying. When frying pig's trotters, muscovy ducks, old hens and other ingredients, a lot of old wine will be added to the pot. Then pour in the pre-cooked broth, heat it in the pot, and put all kinds of ingredients and broth into the tank.
The last process, that is, the "Buddha jumping over the wall" after the altar was installed, was put on the stove and began to simmer. The fire must be a high-quality smokeless charcoal fire, and there is almost no fragrance during the simmering process. On the contrary, when simmering in the altar, the soup is brown in color and fragrant but not greasy.
"Buddha jumps over the wall" stews dozens of raw materials in an altar. After several hours of stewing, these meats still maintain their own characteristics. The taste is rich and fragrant, but it is not greasy, and various materials penetrate each other and taste delicious. After dinner, you can feel the upper and lower lips being gently stuck by the leftover soup, which should be boiled collagen. Therefore, people will also say that "Buddha jumps over the wall" is not only nutritious, but also promotes development, enhances immunity, and has the effects of beauty and delaying aging.
Now in Fuzhou, if you want to eat the authentic "Buddha jumping over the wall", you can go to Juchunyuan Hotel. Now its seventh-generation inheritors are continuing to cook this classic Fujian dish in the most authentic way. This Fuzhou dish has been listed as a "national intangible cultural heritage".
Some people say that the most healing thing in the world, sound first, food second. When your tongue is stable, your soul will no longer wander. "Buddha jumps over the wall" stabilizes the tongue of diners and soothes wandering souls.
TCM health preservation is the theory of ancient doctors in China who studied the theory and experience of seni